I wonder how much of the glam industry (hair/nails/makeup) is propped up by our Instagram culture?
It took me 10 years to pay off law school debt, and in hindsight it wasn’t a huge amount of money compared to today. But still, wow. I have never forgotten the pressure I felt. And my parents put me through undergrad! I don’t think all 17-18-19 year olds comprehend what they are committing to.
SouthFlorida- great post.
Unless someone is actually working in the beauty or fashion industry, the requirements for a normal corporate job are actually pretty minimal (from a financial perspective). Shower daily. Hair which is neat and doesn’t require you to play with it during a meeting to keep your bangs out of your eyes. Shoes which cover both your toes AND your heels. Jewelry which doesn’t jangle as you tap a keyboard or sit on a conference call.
Every summer my company does a collective groan as we deal with the “intern wardrobe malfunction” seasonal problem. No, we don’t expect you to go out and buy an entire wardrobe of “work appropriate” clothes for a ten week internship. No, tube tops are not acceptable even when it’s hot out.
“Would it help to define “large amounts” of money? Sometimes I wonder if these kids have any perspective at all on what’s considered a large debt. Are we talking about anything greater than the maximum Stafford loan amounts?”
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There’s a reason the maximum amount in federal loans a student can take out on their own is 5500, 6500, 7500, 7500 each year in college. I tell the families that I consult for that if a school isn’t affordable after the family contribution, the above yearly amount in federal loans, work study and/or summer work… then it isn’t affordable.
@CourtneyThurston is right. The federal loan amounts for Direct loans are really the max, and likely some studies have showed that’s the reasonable amount that the typical newish grad can pay back.
And, when you add in Perkins Loans and add’l $4k-5k per year in loans if parents fail Plus, the total debt becomes so high that only someone who will certainly be earning a high income should take on.
the problem is that so many schools gap, and so many families can’t afford their EFCs, so there’s a lot of pressure to borrow whatever’s needed to fill in the holes.
as @mom2collegekids said, families can’t afford their EFCs, so there’s a lot of pressure to borrow whatever’s needed to fill in the holes. In addition, somehow going to community college for 2 years then finishing at a 4 year, or going to your state non flagship is considered a real disappointment.
My response to the OP’s question thread of ‘No, it’s not worth it to borrow LARGE amounts for:’
Any college if you have a reasonable, affordable option elsewhere.
Parents and students STILL are NOT getting the message to apply to a couple of financial safeties. Even students who think their parents can/will pay need these financial safeties because situations change…and we always see students posting in the spring saying that their parents misled them into believing that they would pay…and suddenly cannot.
I’m not complaining about my niece’s $3000/month nor is she, it’s just a wake up call that it isn’t a lot of money. She’s been living an upper middle class princess life. She knows it and is a kind and grateful kid, but is in sticker shock. My kids are used to being poor, to $10 haircuts and thrift shop (or Macy’s coupon) wardrobes. My niece is going to have to learn. And she will. She won’t be getting $80 haircuts or her nails done. She won’t be going to Beyonce concerts. She knows but is just in the acceptance phase.
Rockville mom has a great post in the parent plus loan thread. It’s not that she didn’t know about the loans or the payback schedule, but it is still a surprise when the actual notice arrives that you have to start paying $xx permonth.
My kids were unaware of things like the price of gas until they started driving. Passed those same gas stations for years with the prices posted, but no need to look or understand what $3.50/gal meant or how far it would take you. When they’d go to the grocery store with me, the bill was always higher because they didn’t look at the prices, just threw things in the cart. When they pay now? Suddenly cheese is too expensive.
So glad my mini-mes bargain shop. I can send them to the store for me with confidence. One kid is better at it than the other, because that one went with me and got the full benefit of my explanations about why buy this instead of that. The shelf labels with the unit prices, etc.
I have probably deprived her of that no-cheese rite of passage (in favor of the cheese-that-is-on-sale-because-it-has-to-be-eaten-in-2-days section of our store ) 
I have a question for @mom2collegekids though.
“The Answer is No! No, it’s not worth it to borrow large amounts for:”
What IS it worth borrowing large amounts for?
A home, and then only if it’s not more house than you can afford.
Ok. I admit I just clicked to see how many times NYU appeared:)
I was thinking in terms of education, but OK @austinmshauri
@CourtneyThurston I really like that rule of thumb. It makes a lot of sense.
I’d borrow up to $75k for HYPSMIT and the like if my major was translatable into a decent starting salary. $250k? Nothing could get me to do that. The payments are not sustainable!
Medical school? Law school, perhaps?
not law school unless it’s top 20.
^^ That’s ridiculous. There are plenty of students graduating from law schools every year and finding work, as lawyers, in the states where they graduate. If students only went to the top 20, who would live in Kansas City or Boise and work at the DA’s office or represent children? Wall Street would be packed and no one would be able to find and estate lawyer.
Well, that may be an exageration, but there’s such an oversupply of lawyers that no, “plenty of students graduating from law school finding work” isn’t true. Statistically, only 30% recent law graduates find a job related to law.
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When they’d go to the grocery store with me, the bill was always higher because they didn’t look at the prices, just threw things in the cart. When they pay now? Suddenly cheese is too expensive.
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Older son was so much like this. He thought I was crazy for ordering something on Amazon for much cheaper rather than just “getting it now” at Best Buy for 5 times the amount.
BUT…now that he’s paying for (mostly) all of his bills, when I showed him some bath towels to buy for this apartment, his eyes got big at the total price (and they were a bargain!). He then asked me if I would buy new towels and he’d take my old ones. ha!
He has to buy a new car and will no longer be on our insurance, so he’s not too happy about that. We still pay for his cell phones (yes, plural), because he has two phones, a watch, and an iPad…all on data. When I tell him he’ll need to start paying for those, he acts like he’s being disowned.
What I see daily in my job is a young nurse (age 28) who graduated from a nursing diploma program with around 10,000 debt but then decided to “bridge” and get her BSN/MSN (not as a NP) at a private university and added 48,000 to her debt.
Now she works as an RN but owes 58-59,000 dollars. This causes her to live paycheck to paycheck even though we live in a low COL area.
Further delaying when she can start to build a strong foundation