What do you think, parents: is 30K in student loans worth it?

Parents Forum
1

<p>Is 30K in student loans over three years worth it for UNC over no loans at the University of Alberta? I loathed the U of A: the program was bad; they were cutting funding to my department; there were no research opportunities; and it was very depressing. I'm just worried about graduating with debt.</p>

2

<p>30k is a considerable sum, but manageable depending on your job prospects. It would likely rule out grad school, since interest-only payments would be around $100/month when you graduate.</p>

<p>UNC-Chapel Hill is a great school (I assume this is the UNC to which you refer), but I know nothing about UAlberta. If you truly loathe UAlberta, then it wouldn’t make sense to spend three more years there. Are there other options that might be cheaper than UNC that still get you out of your current situation? Can you take a year off to work and save money to reduce the debt upfront?</p>

3

<p>I’m an economics and math double major. I also plan to go to grad school after, but I might have to work for a couple years</p>

4

<p>Yes. Worth it.</p>

5

<p>$30,000 over 3 years (not per year) is a manageable sumn and for UNC-Chapel Hill it’s a very worthwhile investment.</p>

6

<p>What about with grad school factored in, guys? I want to get an econ PhD</p>

7

<p>Most PhDs are fully funded but incredibly hard to get into-- so if you’re good enough to get in, they’ll pay for you.</p>

<p>If you’re looking for just a master’s, that’ll just be incredible amounts of debt, period.</p>

8

<p>Why would you ever spend 3 or 4 years at a place that you loathe? There will be plenty of time for that when you enter the workplace.</p>

9

<p>

This made me chuckle!</p>

<p>Go for UNC! Don’t go to U of A. There’s no space for misery in a place where you’re supposed to grow and learn.</p>

10

<p>Is UNC your only other option?</p>

11

<p>Northwestern was the only other place I was accepted, but it would have been 100K worth of debt so I scrapped it!!!</p>

12

<p>My rule of thumb, debt equal to a new car is worth it.</p>

<p>Debt equal to a mortgage (law school) not worth it.</p>

<p>Your mileage may vary.</p>

13

<p>

Oh, goodness! I’d love to see the variations of amounts with this approach.</p>

14

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<p>Then estimate the present value of your future earnings and see if it’s worth it. </p>

<p>Hint. The present value of your future earnings has a lot more zeros.</p>

15

<p>Your student loan repayments are postponed while you’re in grad school and it shouldn’t be terribly hard to get into a funded PhD program in your field, so I don’t see why grad school would be an issue.</p>

16

<p>I think that $30K in debt is manageable. As someone said above, a car sized debt is manageable, a house sized debt is not.</p>

17

<p>I think 30K debt for a math and econ major is doable. As others have said, this is a car size debt. You may have to share an apartment, or forgo new cars for a while, but I don’t see this as an overwhelming burden.</p>

18

<p>Do you think that it was a good idea to refuse Northwestern? Turning down one of the best universities in the world didn’t sit too well with me</p>

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<p>Yes, it was a great idea. You will get get a great education at UNC. Don’t get me wrong Northwestern is great, but it’s definitely not worth $100K in loans.</p>

20

<p>It always puzzles me that presumably sharp HS/College students can’t look up a financial calculator to see the effect of $100K in debt.</p>