<p>Not coming from a top 20 engineering school, but a top 50ish. Would 40k-50k max be too much? My parents can't afford to help me and financial aid won't be much help because our high income is misleading to our financial situation.</p>
<p>$40-50k seems high to me for undergrad. I would really try to limit your debt to Stafford loans, which I think is capped at around half that amount. Anything over that is going to be at higher rates and will come with less gracious terms.</p>
<p>Ideally around 20K but aim for around 10K.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t do much beyond $25K.</p>
<p>you guys are lucky. im looking at 40k when I graduate</p>
<p>Under 20k is sadly not an option for me unless the last couples of schools I’m waiting on give me a better financial situation. Out of the 4 I’m waiting on, I expect 2-3 of them to be denials, so one left to give me that “ideal” situation.</p>
<p>As an engineering major you will make $60k starting.
So assume you can put $10k a year towards your student debt.
Really the question is: how many years are you comfortable putting $10k a year towards your debt?</p>
<p>Most student loans are set up to be paid off in 10 years. If you owe $20,000 at 7% (the interest rate could be lower, but lets just ballpark at 7%), then your monthly student loan payment will be $232.</p>
<p>If you’re lucky enough to get a job for $60,000 per year, you’re getting paid $5,000/month (gross). </p>
<p>$5,000
-20% taxes ($1000).</p>
<p>Now you’re at $4,000 net per month.</p>
<p>Out of that $4k you need to pay health insurance premiums. Let’s estimate them at $200 per month.</p>
<p>Now you’re at $3,800 net per month.</p>
<p>Subtract your student loan payment ($232), leaving you $3,568 per month.</p>
<p>So with that $3,568 you need to pay rent, car payment, insurance, cable, phone, internet, utilities…These are all personal to living style.</p>
<p>So with a $60,000 a year job, $20K in student loan debt isn’t that bad.</p>
<p>If you push your student loans up to $45,000 you are going to be paying $522 per month.</p>
<p>PS - the tax rate might be low depending on what state you live in. I live in a state with no state income tax so I really don’t pay attention to state tax rates.</p>
<p>I would also agree that $25K should be the limit. Your NET pay will be somewhere around 0.6667 of your gross. Maybe even less depending on how much you store away in a 401K which is even more important now because who actually thinks social security will be around much longer (different thread).</p>
<p>Of course geography figures into this because some of the folks in the Northeast, Chicago area and California will be paying extremely high rent…if they want their cars to still be untouched each night.</p>
<p>Sigh what to do, what to do…this sucks. >.<</p>
<p>Would going to community college for two years and then transferring as a junior to a good university (probably state university, as they are often more community college transfer friendly) be an option to keep costs down?</p>
<p>Yes it would be. there are several schools that give scholarships/grants to those transferring. If on the other hand you go straight to uni without a good enough scholarship/grants, you probably wont get one later down the road. Dont sweat the loans though. Some ivy engineering will cost $60k-200k. <$20k is ideal but impossible without assistance or settling on a second-rate school. just make sure you have a reasonable plan for post-grad. dont go into some niche engineering major with no demand</p>
<p>oh and whatever you do, dont pay tuition with private loans or credit cards. borrow money from your relatives if you have to.</p>
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<p>If you are planning to go into engineering right after your degree, this method can be one of the most-practical methods out there. I say engineering because going to a community college pretty much kills any chance of doing high-finance and such.</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t know why more students do not go this route if they are short on cash. In my area, the University of Maryland (very good school) has guaranteed admission and 95% credit transfer from the local community colleges. I say 95% because the first two computer science courses of the BSCS program are NOT in any of the local community colleges yet and a transferring student needs to take a Java test to get out of those first two CS courses.</p>
<p>Look at this…</p>
<p>University of Maryland is like $17,000 (in-state) per year. A local student can attend Anne Arundel Community College (with a good ranking for CC’s) for $6,000 combined for 60 credits. I don’t think you can beat $6000 for 60 credits and just about all the credits will transfer.</p>
<p>Some universities will work with you. If the community college doesn’t offer a particular needed course or courses, then the university will still accept you. Ask as many questions as you can to be sure. Even the people working at schools will give you the wrong info.</p>
<p>A financial college planner, on NPR, recommended, “No more than your first year salary, for any field.”</p>
<p>A lot of assumptions need to be answer inorder to intelligently come to good approximation.
I always like to query the prospective borrower, “How many variables are there in a loan?” and “How many of the variables does; the lender control vs the borrower ?”</p>
<p>Any freshman engineering student, should be able to answer these questions. The answer is found in Calculus AB.</p>
<p>I just received a full tuition scholarship to my public state university, leaving about $9,500-$10,000 per year in room + board costs. I’m taking on the costs without the help of parents, and $10k is below my EFC, so no financial aid. Any tips to cut down an expected $40k debt at graduation?</p>
<p>Oh and Commmunity College is definitely NOT an option.</p>
<p>^ Ahahha, that is my EXACT situation.</p>
<p>Umm… get a job?</p>
<p>You could make some money by working part time job during the year, participating in a co-op program, working summer internships, and applying for other scholarships.</p>
<p>Work for the four months you have off every year. I’ve managed to make over 10k my freshman and sophomore summers. You could potentially graduate with no debt at all if you get good jobs/internships.</p>