<p>bedizzy, do you have any experience 1.) with paying off $55K or more of debt; and/or 2.) working in biology?</p>
<p>No, I’m an undergraduate biochemistry major. Are you an M.I.T. graduate with a degree in biological science?</p>
<p>I have a friend with a wife with a Bio Phd from an ivy. She graduated into the recession last year and got a few nibbles but no offers. She then accepted a position as a mom though it took 9 months of searching.</p>
<p>I have a friend with a research mentor who’s been obscenely successful in private industry.</p>
<p>bottom line, OP, you should already know the hard work you have to put in to be a successful scientist… if you have the work ethic & ambition, do not let a little debt hold you back.</p>
<p>There are no guarantees in life or this economy. The only guarantee is that the loan is going to have to be paid back. I am debt adverse and recommend to any kid that they try to keep their debt as low as possible. Granted one would assume that a degree from MIT would open more doors and possibilities than no name U but still no guarantees other than the debt. 3 years ago people were saying don’t worry about borrowing money for a home because it’s a good investment and you’ll make money off of it one day. It’s in a great area and everyone is dying to have a home in that area…You just never know…</p>
<p>^^^As I mentioned above, I have a close friend (biochemist) who has been “obscenely successful” in private industry. His annual salary makes the numbers you posted above laughable. His undergraduate degree and his doctorate are from schools people at MIT sneer at. He graduated without any debt, allowing him to spend several years doing post-docs at NIH post-doc rates–which were very paltry at that time, and probably still are.</p>
<p>Speaking only for myself, I am not trying to discourage the OP from pursuing a biology-related field, nor from attending MIT. The issue is whether or not the OP can expect to pay off the loans before they become huge, and the extent to which the debt burden limits future options.</p>
<p>Only someone with a lot of years in front of (rather than behind) her/him thinks debt should not be considered. Only someone with little experience in the larger world thinks a degree from MIT or anywhere else is a sure-fire path to professional success.</p>
<p>The saddest thing about this thread is that the OP will attend MIT - he will graduate from a prestigious school in a science/technical field with debt roughly equal to his first year starting salary. The likely scenario is that he will easily pay off that debt and have a successful career.</p>
<p>How many students across the USA are graduating from middle of the road schools with a major in communications or psychology, have close to 70-80 grand in loan debt, and no job prospects? </p>
<p>It’s more than you realize. Students are told “sign on the dotted line and you can go to school.” Rightly or wrongly, they buy into the idea that a college degree means a well-paying job and loans are “an investment.”</p>
<p>Of course, one could argue for hours about this situation, but my point is that across the country there are hundreds of thousands of students deep in debt with no realistic hope of a high paying job. At least this student stands a good chance of making that 55K pay off for him.</p>
<p>All these parents who whine about 5K/yr loans being “too much” for their kid to take on seem to be unaware that for a large number of poor students, 5K a year would be a dream because they are looking at 12-17000 a year in loans if they want to go to school at other than a CC.</p>
<p>Debt works well in an inflationary environment. It works really badly in a deflationary environment. At the moment, we are in a deflationary environment though our government and central bank have made it clear that we are going to try to inflate our way out of this recession. Deflation lasted for a generation the last time this happened. We think that we’re a lot smarter today but there are no guarantees. If you graduate with a lot of debt into an environment where prices and incomes are dropping, then the debt could be a substantial challenge.</p>
<p>We are also debt averse.</p>
<p>Only someone with a lot of years in front of (rather than behind) her/him thinks debt should not be considered. Only someone with little experience in the larger world thinks a degree from MIT or anywhere else is a sure-fire path to professional success.</p>
<p>That’s fair enough, maybe in twenty years I’ll have entirely different viewpoint. For now, my advise to the OP is in my above posts. He or she should know that the only opinion on student debt isn’t from concerned parents, but future colleagues too.</p>
<p>bedizzy, one thing I’ve learned from having a couple of very smart kids is that middle-aged people who think they know everything just by virtue of the fact that they are older are fools. You don’t have to convince me that the opinions of smart college kids are worth considering.</p>
<p>Just to warn you, though. One of my kids, perhaps one of your future colleagues, decided during his senior year in high school that he wanted to graduate debt-free and with the college savings in the bank so he could work for himself ASAP. With that in mind, he attends a top-20 private on a full merit scholarship, although he could have bought a little prestige with a lot of money. Not all super-smart students are making the same decisions. Time will tell, I guess.</p>
<p>“bedizzy, one thing I’ve learned from having a couple of very smart kids is that middle-aged people who think they know everything just by virtue of the fact that they are older are fools. You don’t have to convince me that the opinions of smart college kids are worth considering.”</p>
<p>There can be considerable wisdom with age.</p>
<p>Certainly those that lived through the depression could see the mess that we got ourselves into in the 1990s and 2000s. Some that are younger could see that too and take a course of action to protect assets. Unfortunately most form opinions based on their experience; and this can be tragic as we’re only around for a short period of time. You have to study multiple generational cycles through history to learn that what you’ve experienced may only be part of a large and dangerous multigenerational cycle.</p>
<p>^^^Certainly I don’t disagree with you, BCEagle, about that. However, merely being “aged” is no guarantee of historical perspective, or knowledge.</p>
<p>If it were, we wouldn’t be where we are.</p>
<p>“However, merely being “aged” is no guarantee of historical perspective, or knowledge.”</p>
<p>I’ve found that those that are older fall into two camps: those that are open to learning because they have learned some life lessons, and those that are pretty stubborn as their experiences match their outlook. The latter camp is much bigger than the former. I’ve run into lots of people in the former that are traders - their mentality is that they want to do what works over the long-term and have learned to manage risk. Many have spent a lot of time studying crashes through history and have that little cautious voice that reminds them of what can happen.</p>
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<p>Even knowing about it doesn’t prevent reckless behavior. Alan Greenspan was well aware of K-Waves but he figured that he was smart enough to defeat them should he run into a K-Winter. Self-interest and politics are part of generational cycles and it is truly amazing that we run into these problems over and over again.</p>
<p>It’s difficult, I think, to fully appreciate the adverse consequences of overextending financially, until you’ve done it. Most high school and college kids don’t have a good handle on finances and credit and debt. How it works, how easy it is to get sucked into unmanageable debt. How to budget. Why paying off the just minimum on the CC each month is a bad thing.</p>
<p>At the same time, college aged kids often have unrealistic expectations of the sort of incomes they’ll likely have in the years just out of college. Averages are just that-- they include the wages of those who have worked in the trenches for decades and secured promotions to make a notable salary. The typical starting salary for any occupation will be much much lower than the published averages, particularly in this economic environment, where new college grads will be competing against experienced, but laid off workers, for positions.</p>
<p>If it were my kid, I’d say avoid that much debt.</p>
<p>Debt is your future self sending you money back in time. So the question is, are you and your future self both happy with the deal? Clearly you can borrow too much, but you can also save too much. We’ve just got to get the balance right, and that’s not easy because the future is uncertain.</p>
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<p>No, nor need I be to know what a burden too much debt can be.</p>
<p>Borrowing is good with inflation; saving is good with deflation. We are at a crossroads with deflation in play right now. But central bankers can try to inflate like crazy to avoid deflation. The US and four other countries are trying this approach. Europe and other countries are deeply skeptical. History has not been kind in debt deflations though the US has the dollar as the reserve currency of the world. It is an epic battle and it is unclear as to which will win.</p>
<p>A reasonable strategy right now is to remain conservative and save. If inflation wins, then you can always borrow and spend. If deflation wins, you can’t always whip up savings.</p>
<p>I’ve seen whole categories of jobs basically wiped out by technology over the period of my career. Company tasks that took a roomfull of skilled people now only need a few unskilled people and two or three skilled people. That’s deflation in that job area. Being an autoworker has meant deflation in income over the long term. Deflation or less inflation has come to some professional jobs in the US.</p>
<p>We saved up enough for full-pay for our kids but they’ve chosen public so far. I’m thinking of giving them the difference at some point in the future.</p>
<p>Well, one thing is you might change your mind as to what career you want. I would not hesitate taking out 55k total from a practical science degree from an institution like MIT. But what if you end up not pursuing a PhD? What happens if you change what you want to study? What happens if you choose something that requires major loans for graduate study (ie med/law school)? I would not want to walk into med or law school having 55k in loans already. You should think had about how likely you are to change you mind about your future.</p>
<p>Go to school. Get your degree.</p>
<p>Go home and live with mom and dad for a year. Pay debt in full.</p>
<p>1 years sacrifice for 4 years at MIT.</p>