<p>queen4aday,</p>
<p>I wouldn't go that far. After all, the money came in part from your pockets too.</p>
<p>An undergraduate education at Chicago is worth living with $160K in debt afterwards. That's what I meant in my original post. I'm a student at Chicago, and I can attest that I learned more in my first year there than I learned in the rest of my academic career. Do you think that happens at just any college?</p>
<p>ChicagoScholar,</p>
<p>
[quote]
I can attest that I learned more in my first year there than I learned in the rest of my academic career. Do you think that happens at just any college?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>And seriously, you're not being realistic here. Where are you going to get the $1600 or so a month you need to pay back that $160K loan? That would mean that you're spending over 50% of your starting income (assuming you start around $45K) on loans.</p>
<p>Where do rent, food, and all the other necessities come from?</p>
<p>Assuming you want to spend no more than 10% of your annual income on your loans, you would need an income of around $200K a year. Assuming you are willing to spend 15% of your income a year, you need to earn $132K a year.</p>
<p>ChicagoScholar, I don't want to be harsh here, but you're not thinking realistically at all.</p>
<p>There is more than one way to look at this. First of all, OP didn't say he'd have to take out $160,000 in loans. But assuming he does, then another way to look at the loan payment is: Is the degree from the prestigious U likely to bring in $12,000 more per year (or whatever the annual loan payment is) after taxes than the degree from the state u? It may not be so unrealistic to assume that Chicago, Darmouth or WashU could do that (say, $56K starting salary vs. $40K for state u).</p>
<p>well i am planning to go into medicine... lol</p>
<p>There was a MAJOR thread that sadly CC took down eventually. It involved the question of incurring substantial debt for your dream school. Everyone should go to and read over the following thread:</p>
<p>redluke, you can definitely get into med school from either UCF or USF or other similar universities. In fact both USF and UCF have medical schools (UCF is pending). They also have programs that will guarantee medical school admission as an undergraduate if you qualify. You can check their web site to learn more.</p>
<p>Bay,</p>
<p>I know that the OP didn't say that. I'm just trying to show how onerous debt loads can be. I don't think most 18 to 22-year-olds realize how awful a large debt really is.</p>