Should I be worried about paying back around 70k in loans after college?

Parents Forum
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<p>I'm asking this on the parents forum because I thought I would receive better answers. I am going to be 65-70k in debt after college with an applied math degree and an econ/comp sci double minor. I have 2 years left.</p>

<p>I changed my major at the last minute from Biology to Math and my parents went insane. They told me I was throwing my future away by not becoming a doctor and that they have tried way too hard to help me go to college. I don't think that they understand how much money it actually costs to get into medical school not to mention how competitive it is and how stressful the actual profession is. I just don't have a passion for it and they kept telling me it was the only way.</p>

<p>I honestly don't think I'll be getting a job related to statistics or informatics (my interests). I go to a decent LAC, but reputation most definitely won't get me a job nor will my mediocre gpa (will be a 3.15-3.25 by the time I graduate). I heard that most college graduates end up living with their parents and work at a fast food joint. I know that's going to be me because I didn't pick a secure degree like engineering (my school didn't offer it) or get good enough grades for medical school. </p>

<p>My parents aren't doing so well financially and they have told me this over and over again. My parents thought I was going to become a doctor, but I don't have the grades for it nor do I think it's worth it. I ended up studying what I liked, but I feel as if this is going to bite me in the end.</p>

<p>I don't want my parents to suffer financially because of my loans that they cosigned. If I pay the monthly fee for all of my loans for 10 years, I will have to pay have a total of 85-90k due to interest.</p>

<p>Should I still apply to masters programs? What are the chances of getting my masters paid for in let's say Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, or Computer Science?</p>

<p>Also, if I have to pay for my masters or take out loans, should I work for a couple of years and pay off my loans completely?</p>

<p>I really want to be independent, but that's impossible with my loans. </p>

<p>Let's say I have to pay approx. 700 dollars a month towards my loans. And the job I get out of college pays minimum wage. I work 40 hours a week (if I'm lucky to get that many hours). 40 X 7.25 X 4 = 1160 a month.</p>

<p>1160 - 700 (loans) = 460 - 300 (cost of rent for an apartment if I room with someone) =160</p>

<p>160 - 20 (for some clothes from walmart assuming my parents take all the stuff they paid for) = 140/30/3 = 1.5 per meal. So I would basically have to live off of beans.</p>

<p>This would be my life for 10 years, always trying to make ends meet. It would be completely miserable. Then I would try and get a loan to go get my masters and the process would hopefully be less stressful and I would get a job related to my degree.</p>

<p>Now... if I lived with my parents after I graduate at 22 years old... I would have 65k in debt let's say. I get a job and work with the family business as well. Work 60 hours a week.</p>

<p>60 X 7.25 X 52 = 22620. Let's round that down to 20,000 after taxes and stuff.</p>

<p>65,000/20,000 = ~4 years (rounded up to 4 years because of interest) living with my parents, using every last one of my paychecks for nothing other than my loans. My parents provide me with food and gas and all I do is work and do chores for them.</p>

<p>I would be living less miserably because I would have homecooked meals, but I still would have a minimum wage paying job. 22 + 3.25 = 25.25 years old. I would almost be 30 and I wasted 3 years living with my parents just to pay off my college loans (before anyone gets mad, yes, I know it's my fault for taking out loans, but the only reason I didn't get more grants is because of my dad's income). I don't even have time to date in college or socialize as much as I used to as a freshman or a sophomore. This might sound trivial, but I'm also concerned about finding someone to spend the rest of my life with and start a family with.</p>

<p>With the way things are going, I'm going to graduate college with a degree that has the same job prospects as any other degree and I'm going to graduate feeling stressed out. My classes are going to be tough from now until I graduate. After I graduate, I have to worry about my loans. The stress doesn't end. I still won't have time to socialize or find the right person to spend my life with and once you know it, I'll be almost 30 and it will almost be too late for me to get back into the dating scene.</p>

<p>My question is, should I be worried about paying back my loans? And does living with my parents until all my loans are paid off sound like the best plan? What advice can everyone give me about my situation?</p>

<p>Edit: I also refuse to let my parents try and pay for my loans, unless it gets to the point where I can't pay for them even if I do live at home and work from there (which isn't likely at all).</p>

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<p>That’s two years you could be making a much better decision about, which is to not go into that kind of debt. Have you considered transferring to a state school instead of staying on at your LAC? That would be my first step…</p>

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<p>My state school is 2500 more expensive than my private school (when comparing financial aid packages). Plus all of my courses might not transfer. It seems like a hassle to do so.</p>

<p>Also, I feel as if my LAC has a better reputation than my state school. I mean, I’m definitely learning a lot and I feel like I wouldn’t be getting the same attention at a state school.</p>

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<p>Then why the mediocre gpa? You have two years left, make your focus getting your gpa up to a level that will help you get a job.</p>

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<p>I’m not going to address your college situation, but since you are interested in math, after graduation you could get a job as a business analyst at a bank or a large company that has tuition reimbursement and get your Masters at night. It takes a while, but plenty of people do it.</p>

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<p>Why wouldn’t you drop out and go burger at McDo – and take night courses? If you think you have no future with a BS beyond fast food … why get the degree since it’s not a requirement for a job like that. </p>

<p>Actually I think that you are selling yourself short – you have two years to make your math degree really count for something. At the very least, bank tellers make pretty decent money as compared to minimum wage.</p>

<p>I read a fascinating article in this weekends NYT magazine about shopper patterns as determined by infometrics geeks … and I bet they are earning way more than minimum wage to figure this stuff out!</p>

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<p>Idk. My school is known to be very rigorous. It’s very difficult to get an A or an A- in courses. It’s even difficult to get a B or a B- at times.</p>

<p>And when I said I feel like I wouldn’t be getting the same attention at a state school, what I meant was my professors had very accessible officer hours and they would go out of their way to help me out. The class sizes are also pretty small and the campus isn’t huge. </p>

<p>My state school is huge and I feel as if I would just be another number. I don’t want to imagine how difficult it would be to register for classes and go from building to building to get things done.</p>

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<p>Well, if your GPA is only 3.1 to 3.2, MD medical school in the US is an extremely unlikely possibility; do your parents realize that?</p>

<p>On the other hand, if you have completed two years of biology major prerequisites, you likely have completed most or all of the pre-med courses anyway, so you can make a token effort for the sake of your parents to take the MCAT and apply to medical schools (known full well that the results will be unfavorable).</p>

<p>Math / statistics / economics / computer science tends to have better job and career prospects than biology does at the bachelor’s degree level, though small LACs may not attract too many recruiters due to small size. You may have to be more aggressive at seeking companies to apply to. Consider taking the VEE courses listed for your school at [Be</a> an Actuary](<a href=“http://www.beanactuary.com%5DBe”>http://www.beanactuary.com) to keep the door open for that job and career direction.</p>

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<p>Ohiomom,</p>

<p>How can I become an analyst? I’ve read plenty of comments on CC from people saying that you can become an analyst as a math major.</p>

<p>I looked up jobs on jobs.com and all of them require experience. I’m sure even those that don’t require experience are even more competitive. I messed up a couple of times and right now I’m paying for it by having a mediocre gpa. I don’t see how I can compete with others for an analyst job.</p>

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<p>Finish school where you are. Pay off your loans as soon as you can. (To accomplish this you need to do better than minimum wage.) Don’t get an advanced degree until you have your student loans under control.</p>

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<p>ucbalumnus, </p>

<p>I was actually 3 classes away from completing premed. I don’t think it’s worth taking the mcats if I’m not passionate about becoming a doctor. I want to be able to have a job that relates to my interests that can also pay for my debts.</p>

<p>And are you saying that I should transfer to my state school and shell out the extra 2500 per year for better job prospects for my degree?</p>

<p>Edit:</p>

<p>Pea, </p>

<p>How can I get a job that doesn’t pay minimum wage with my degree if I’m going to have a mediocre gpa with some ok ECs? I’m going to attempt to get an internship, but I heard those are almost impossible to get because they are so competitive.</p>

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<p>For help finding a job go to your career advising center.</p>

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<p>You have to change your attitude first. There are times you are going to have to walk from building to building to get things done, not to be harsh. You’ll have to do some research, I think you need statistics classes, some business classes. If you like math, should be a breeze for you. With a math related degree you could get a job as an analyst, pay off your loans and get your Masters at night with tuition reimbursement.</p>

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<p>I see I see. Would it be a good idea to talk to the department chair and talk to my advisor about getting an internship?</p>

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<p>My applied math major is concentrated in statistics. And I’m not lazy, I’m just intimidated by all the offices at my state school. There are so many students they have to keep track of and I feel like I will get lost in the 35k other students.</p>

<p>At my current school, all the buildings are near one another and I can easily go from financial aid to a professors office if I need help. The school is small enough to the point where each student can get the attention and support they need.</p>

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<p>I am not a fan of loans beyond about $25k for undergrad.</p>

<p>This analysis is way too optimistic …

Income taxes and payroll taxes (social security and medicare) will take about 1/3rd of your income … of your gross pay is about $1200 your actual take home pay will be closer to $800 after taxes … and there are likely to be other on-going expenses such as insurance and utilities.</p>

<p>If you were my child I would recommend changing plans do no more loans are needed … starting with $70k in debt will limit/delay your ability to purchase a car or a condo …and might affect timing of marriage and kids.</p>

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<p>Yes, talk to your the department chair, your advisor, the career center. I think your situation may not be as bad as you think, as for job prospects. It’s not like you’re majoring in History, nothing against History majors.</p>

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<p>People with 3.1 and 3.2 GPAs get non-minimum wage jobs after college. You may not be working on Wall Street, but there are lots of other places to work in the country. Agree with cnp55 to work very hard for the next two years, keep making contacts with professors, try to get research and internship jobs to set yourself up for after graduation.</p>

<p>$70K is A LOT of debt though…much tougher than you realize now to pay it off…</p>

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You’re right and your parents are misguided. Why do they think you have to be a doctor to be successful financially? Are they from Asia or something? (it’s stereotypical but it seems to apply 90+% of the time)</p>

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<p>Why would you plan with the idea that you’ll have a minimum wage job upon graduation? Most people don’t go to college with the idea in mind that when they graduate they’ll work at a FF joint for minimum wage and in fact most of them don’t end up there. It’s possible you could end up there but it’s unlikely. Go have some discussions with your career counseling center to have a better idea of opportunities and starting salaries, along with the likelihood of job placement, for someone graduating with your major/minor combo. That’ll give you a more realistic idea - not certain, but something closer to what it’ll likely be.</p>

<p>$70K is a lot of money but not totally crushing either. The payment would be somewhere around $775/mo for 10 years (lower/higher payment as the payback period extends or shortens). That’s around $9,300 per year. If you had a job that paid $50K/yr that’d be about $37,500 after taxes (I’m doing a very gross approximation). After paying for the loan it’d leave about $28,200. If you rented an apartment for $1200/mo you’d be left with about $13,800 to buy groceries, pay for car insurance/gas, save, do a vacation (not exotic). Skip worrying about a car payment by not buying a brand new car, especially an expensive one, a mistake a lot of new grads make. Drive an inexpensive used car until you’re in a financial position to spend more on something optional like a new car.</p>

<p>My numbers are made up but probably not that far off. I don’t see why you can’t continue your plan and still pay off your loans and still have your independence. You don’t need to stay living at home if you don’t want to. A hybrid version would be to live at home for about a year and pay even more of the student loans down. You don’t need to get them all paid off before moving out and it wouldn’t make sense for most people to do that.</p>

<p>It sounds as if you’re down in the dumps a bit. Arm yourself with some practical knowledge of opportunities and costs. You’re getting a good start on that in your post here so that was good thinking on your part. You need to be optimistic about your opportunities ahead which should motivate you to do even better ins school and to look forward to a bright future.</p>

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<p>You’re a CS minor. Become really good at programing. Programers are in great demand and make good money. The math would be a big plus to employers with complex software development needs.</p>