<p>I’m a nursing major and will have to take out about 6k in loans for my BSN. I don’t feel that this is a huge burden. However, I want to go to psych NP school which could easily put me 50k (or more) in debt if I go right out of college. Any opinions? Should I work for a year in a non-ideal job to avoid debt or go straight to grad school? :)</p>
<p>I would work a year or two to get my footing financially or even for experience. Working a little while couldn’t hurt. In those two years you could pay off your loans and even save up for NP school (which would decrease that 50K price tag).</p>
<p>My first choice school was, and still is, Emerson College. I fit right in there. I could see myself growing there and becoming a better person while expanding my knowledge. I think that it’s a blessing, and I’m not religious at all, that I’m not able to afford going there. I think that since my family is not eligible to take out loans, it is a further blessing that I have many options. Ultimately, I’m going to my state flagship, UConn, for undergrad. Sometimes I freak out about it because my goal was to be in a city because I am a city girl. I thought that I’d have more opportunity to do what I wanted to do in life if I had more resources around me. While this is true, and living in Boston or New York would have been more ideal for me, I’m saving money.</p>
<p>In the end, I would have had to take out roughly $100,000 to get my bachelors degree if I had chosen Emerson. By going to UConn, I’m going to be taking out $30,000. After college, I plan on attending graduate school. If I can find a job in the work force at that point, doing something that I love of course, then I will. You see, I want to be a journalist when I grow up. The starting salary for a journalist is about $35,000. If I were to go to grad school, then I’d be even deeper in debt. I’d love to hold a position in our government as possibly a senator or congresswoman, and hell, maybe even as President one day. I can’t do those things if I have so much debt from student loans. Even $100,000 is too much for me to handle. I’d never get my feet off the ground. If I were to go to grad school after college and rack up more debt, I’d never end up leaving my dad’s couch.</p>
<p>College debt isn’t a bad thing. As someone who is receiving every single federal and state grant there is, I’m fully aware just as much as everyone else here is that sometimes you just have to suck it up and take out the loans. I’m investing in my education, and I’m proud of that. I know I’m going to make it some day, so I’m okay with “betting” $30,000 on myself. But, just because I don’t know how things are going to look in four years when I get out of college, I’m not okay with putting down $100,000. That’s too much. At some point one has to figure if it’s worth it.</p>
<p>I’m pretty happy.</p>
<p>Debt can be a real noose around a person’s neck, forcing them to take jobs they would otherwise not take, or worse, not being able to find any jobs at all and thus preventing them from buying houses, getting married, having children, going on vacations . . i.e., resulting in a person having no life after college.</p>
<p>When attending an undergraduate college, no matter where, the student really should ask himself what he is paying for. Lets assume a core course is History 101 or economics 101. At some colleges, the tuition for such a course may be $4500+ ($1500 per credit hour, or more). At some public colleges, that course may cost $450.00 ($100 per credit hour, at least at community colleges). Basically the same course, the same book, the same general lecture. Is it worth going into significant debt at the much more expensive college? Anybody know how quickly this debt increases when not paid back pursuant to the terms of the debt?. Does everybody realize this debt is almost always non-dischargeable in bankruptcy and can follow you until you are a senior? College today is big business. $4500 plus for a single course is an awful lot of money for nothing more than an undergraduate education. People will negotiate for hours to save a few hundred on the purchase of a car, but will spend ten times the value received at some colleges for the educations they get.</p>
<p>I’m guessing because of the sheer size of it?</p>
<p>What happens if you don’t pay your student loan debt?</p>
<p>Do you actually go to prison?</p>
<p>If not, can they garnish your wages?</p>
<p>What if I don’t have an income/assets?
(Say I dont have a job and I put all my assets in my parent’s name, but since I’m over 18, in this situation, they wouldn’t be my guardian, so the government can’t take away my gifts to people…)</p>
<p>It isn’t that simple. </p>
<p>Based on the situation you gave, you’d be leeching off your parents. You wouldn’t have any assets. Your parents would. You want to know what else they would have? $50,000+ of student loan debt. So I doubt they’d be giving you a place to live when your debt is eating into their retirement funds. Also, you don’t have any income. How can you give gifts to people with money you don’t have?</p>
<p>Oh, and, yes, they can garnish your wages.</p>
<p>If you don’t pay your student loan debt (FAFSA) it screws up your credit rating and you won’t be able to buy a car, a house, get credit cards, or be able to rent a place to live - because all do credit checks. Also, yes they can garnish your wages - so unless you are paid cash under the table - they will start taking it from you eventually. On any personal loans you take (which always require a co-signer) - if you don’t pay, they WILL go after your co-signer. They will be reported to the credit agencies, they won’t be able to get car loans, mortgages, credit cards, etc., a lien can be put on their house (so when they sell it the money will be taken) and their wages can be garnished. Not paying your debt can also impact your ability to get a job. Many jobs require credit checks and won’t hire someone who owes money if it is a job that handles money in anyway - because you are a high risk for theft. So no jobs facing any kind of customer that would be paying you in anyway, etc.</p>
<p>Going to a school with a lesser reputation is not necessarily limiting. My daughter was admitted to many schools. She received generous offers to most of those. The night before decision day she had narrowed her choices to a full-tuition offer at a prestigious university (we would still have room, board, fees, etc. to pay) or a full-ride plus stipend at a decent, but less prestigious and certainly less glamorous state university. She took the state university. Upon graduation from there, she received a full-tuition offer to a good law school and a Rotary Fellowship. The scenario with law school was the same as undergraduate. When she graduated from law school, she was offered a prestigious opportunity AND has NO DEBT!
As long as the school is decent, accredited and a good fit for the student, the cream will rise. A premium student in a bit lower-rated program will stand out! S/he will get more opportunity at the extras, like research grants and close work with professors. These experiences really help enhance the r</p>
<p>If you don’t pay your student debt, your debt goes to collection agencies. The debt immediately increases because of that. Your credit rating will be ruined which will impact your ability to buy or rent a home, buy a car, get credit of any form, and even get a job (potential employers often check credit ratings). On top of that, your friends and family will be getting phone calls from the debt collectors. (my son still gets phone calls from debt collectors searching for his ex girlfriend - they broke up over 4 years ago and he has no idea where she is and he moved over 1,000 miles away after he graduated. ahe thought she was maybe still giving his number out and asked them the last time they called, but they said it was from her student loans. He keeps telling them he hs not spoken to her in 4 years, but they keep calling every few months).</p>
<p>“Going to a school with a lesser reputation is not necessarily limiting”. (maryjay60)</p>
<p>Here’s my story - take it for what it’s worth.
I graduated in the late 80’s, attended previously known as Marymount College in Arlington VA. Now, it is Marymount University. (yes, there were students that hated the school after they arrived, but it is what you make of it when you are there) I was your average student GPA, but I had aspirations to make a difference in the world.
To summarize the 4 years of college experience, I have no complaints. I had a very positive experience, and discovered that I was more motivated in college to perform well than I was in high school. I rose to the top, received grants and scholarships after my freshman year. Any given class was no more than 20 in my major, which was political science. (at the time the school was known for it’s nursing program, not even on the radar for Poly Sci) The discussions and debates were as I would have imagined - very intense. Ethics, AIDs, autonomy, cold war, amnesty and nationalism, Jeffersonian and Descartes philosophies and etc… I look back now and I consider myself very lucky to have had that experience. I interned on Capital Hill and worked part-time for my Congressman, and I had access to every library in the D.C. area to study and take classes! All those experiences, inside and outside the classroom - contributed to my success.</p>
<p>My point is don’t get caught up in the public Ivy or “in the box” universities and colleges.
There are over 4000 + schools out there, use the online college web sites that help you find matches (financially/academically/future career interests) for your student. (if only we had that in the 80’s) Old cliche’ but “think outside the box”!</p>
<p>What do I do now? Well, I’ve made some very good choices in my employment career. I moved away from politics to business and technology, because it was more lucrative for me. (lucky my generation had a technology wave that I caught) I don’t have my Masters, but that’s because I changed my priorities, family first. However - here’s the bottom line, “Undergraduate education” is just the first step of many more to come. Help the student find the right fit. The first foundation is so important… that’s another post. :)</p>
<p>My son is a Jr, and as we visit schools and attend college fairs - I try to guide him to keep an open mind and look at all the factors. (collegeboard.org - lays out all the factors at the click of button to help start down that path) </p>
<p>There was another thread where a parent commented to not set up the wrong expectations. It was part of acceptance rate post. But you know what I mean. :)</p>
<p>^^^^^^ I don’t think many students or their parents recognize just how life destroying student debt can be. I feel especially terrible for those sinking hundreds of thousands of loans into various law schools and there are jobs, at best, for 50% of law school graduates requiring a law degree (and by some studies, after removing the dead end jobs from the picture, only 1/3 of law students are getting decent jobs). </p>
<p>This is the thing. This debt, under current law and court cases is virtually impossible to discharge in bankruptcy. If you default on this debt, it increase by 50% with collection costs and attorney fees added in. The interest rate itself, more than 6%, is a killer. It can even follow you to your social security years where 15% can be taken to pay off the government.</p>
<p>So lets assume you graduate from college or grad school with large amounts of debt, even if from a top - elite - prestigious school. If you are lucky, you will get a great job and will be able to afford the debt burden and might be able to pay it down in a few years. If you are not top of your class, that great job may not be waiting for you, even if graduating from a great school.</p>
<p>But worse, that debt almost guarantees you will have to accept that great paying job even if it is a Job you hate, and totally unrelated to where your true interests lie.</p>
<p>For the rest of the debt laden students, many of them can’t even get decent paying jobs in this horrible economy. Corporations have abdicated their responsibilities to being good corporate citizens, and have not been hiring despite sitting on piles of cash, and they are outsourcing as much work overseas as they can get away with. So although college graduates can still find jobs as compared to non-college grads, they are often under-employed and not well paid.</p>
<p>The only way to keep your options open in this economy, to avoid debt servitude is to graduate with no debt, or at least as little as possible. If that means going to the State School instead of paying full ride at the elite school, then go to the State School. At the undergraduate level, getting the degree and graduating without debt is far better than graduating with a lot of debt from a more elite school for most people, imho.</p>
<p>^very true
most of the horror stories I hear/read are from ppl getting liberal artsy degrees, graduating bottom of their class, and expecting their college degree to get them a decent job
I don’t think I know anyone who went into engineering/finance/business/law/medicine who had a problem paying off their debt, and some of them had quite a lot</p>
<p>Having SOME debt when you graduate from college is not a terrible thing. The point is that the debt should be REASONABLE for the type of career you are pursuing vs. the cost of that education. While we can quibble over what the ‘average’ salary is for any given field, there are obviously wide differences in the cost of various colleges as well. Unless you have unlimited college funds, it is reasonable to consider how much debt you will accumulate by the time you graduate and how long it might take to pay it off. Only a portion of your salary will be available to pay off college loans since you will also have a variety of other living expenses (rent, car, food…etc.)</p>
<p>That is part of the reason you need to consider the cost of the colleges you are consdering applying to and not just blindly follow arbitrary lists of ‘highly ranked’ institutions.</p>
<p>My spanish teacher who went to UC Santa Cruz is still paying his undergraduate debt, after all those years! </p>
<p>As I was choosing what college to go to, I was researching about how bad college debts can be. I bumped into this article. o.o</p>
<p>[A</a> new Stanford grad on food stamps - CBS News](<a href=“http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-57359795/a-new-stanford-grad-on-food-stamps/]A”>http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-57359795/a-new-stanford-grad-on-food-stamps/)</p>