<p>The chances of death increase greatly when you’re persona non grata in a politically unstable country whose population is known to blow up people they don’t like, and the government pays you a pittance to be there, constantly understaffs everything, and won’t give you adequate protection in the form of body armour.</p>
<p>christ, everybody dies</p>
<p>Also as a doctor you won’t be on the frontlines. The majority of deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan have been combat deaths. A military doctor doesn’t go out on the frontline; in the Army they have combat medics and in the Navy and USMC they have corpsmen. So yes your chance of dying will still be a little higher than if you stayed civilian, but it won’t be that of an infantryman.</p>
<p>Plus, some people consider dying for their country to be worth it. I’m not saying that is or isn’t right, but it is the case.</p>
<p>My point is one shouldn’t join the military for the college/med school benefits. You might end up dead before you go to college/med school.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t go so far as to say that you can’t consider the benefits to college costs of joining the military. But the process has to be “huh, the military sounds kind of cool AND I can pay for college”, not “huh, the military sounds kind of bad BUT I can pay for college”.</p>
<p>@FNYUS </p>
<p>There’s people that join the military and are never deployed once during their contract. There’s people that do deploy but could have been tasked with pushing papers around during their whole tour. Only people in a combat mos who is placed in a combat unit and tasked with a combat mission during their tour have a slightly higher chance of death. </p>
<p>The reason why people work or choose their job is because of the benefits that certain job gives you. The military is the same way. The whole “you shouldn’t join because of the education benefits they’ll give you…” is laughable.</p>
<p>Nah, I’ll graduate with 0 debt because i was smart enough to go to a college that gave me close to a full ride, as opposed to all of the colleges that gave me loans. I would’ve loved to go to JHU but it wasn’t worth $40k in debt when I could go to NYU for low cost. I know $40k isn’t too much but I believe in debt minimization. Maybe if I had gotten into a top college like Harvard or something (hah yeah right) I might’ve taken out loans. </p>
<p>I don’t understand why people take out $60k + in loans or so. State schools generally cost a lot less and I think it’s only worth taking out loans if you get into a college with some amazing program. I would’ve happily gone to a SUNY if i didn’t get a scholarship anywhere else; decent education, good price, right? :)</p>
<p>@Purple: Sorry about your dad. </p>
<p>I don’t think you’re screwed because most parents don’t pay for Grad/Professional school, and most people don’t expect their parents to foot the bill after college. Personally, i wouldn’t even ask my parents. I think it’s nice when parents chip in for college, but I wouldn’t want to leech off of them in my mid-twenties or something.</p>
<p>@gotakun you are not alone depending on what ever internships i get i will end up with about 50,000-80,000 in debt Not going to grad school until i save up enough money and get work experience</p>
<p>if i go to cornell, i will probably be 60K in debt but i plan on work-study, so hopefully i can reduce my debt to 40K or sopostgraduation…i need to if i want to shell out another 15-20K for grad school…</p>
<p>I’ll finish my bachelors with about 60k. I went to community college for two years and then went to the only school I could. This was the only way I could have gone to college.</p>
<p>If I’d been smart I would have postponed college until I was able to do FAFSA independently and then go. I could’ve done all the things I’m doing now, but it would’ve been with a much smaller debt load. Oops.</p>
<p>More than 100k :(</p>
<p>I suppose this is the most egregious case of the pot calling the kettle black ever, but what in god’s name are you 100k+ people thinking? I thought I was crazy and seeping into a pseudo-suicidal depression over my debt, I can’t imagine where you guys are at.</p>
<p>We should start a support group. Like, maybe actually. We could share saving and frugal living tips, and warn our successors about the perils of student loans. :P</p>
<p>“I don’t understand why people take out $60k + in loans or so. State schools generally cost a lot less and I think it’s only worth taking out loans if you get into a college with some amazing program. I would’ve happily gone to a SUNY if i didn’t get a scholarship anywhere else; decent education, good price, right?”</p>
<p>Because the B students don’t always get merit aid, community college only takes you so far and then you likely don’t get scholarships no matter how awesome you are, and not everybody with more than a 0 EFC has parents willing to contribute. The cheapest state school here is still like 15k a year not counting any of the inevitable extras like travel or textbooks. I think the only scholarship I got was a nonrenewable $1000. So even if you do get merit aid, if it’s not enough and you have to go to CC, you then have to pay out of pocket the last two years. That’s 30k in loans right there, which will likely be closer to 40k in the end anyway-- especially if you have to take summer classes because you needed to transfer from a CC and you needed more time to fit in requirements not offered at the cc-- and this is the cheapest four year university in the state. So if you go someplace whose median accepted GPA isn’t a 2.5, because you know-- maybe you want your brain to only half rot out your ears from boredom, it’s even more than t hat.</p>
<p>(P.S. I wish like hell I’d just let my brain rot out my ears, but as an idealistic 18 year old it is hard not to aspire for more. XD)</p>
<p>I will graduate with zero debt, since I am fortunate enough to go to a school that is paying for nearly all of my expenses.</p>
<p>None, hopefully. My lovely, amazing grandparents are footing the 19k/yr bill. Had they not stepped up, I’d be anywhere between $32k and $76k in debt.</p>
<p>Parents/grandparents footing the bill FTW</p>
<p>hopefully less than $5k If i graduate in 4 years.</p>
<p>My financial aid grants have my parents contributing about $10k/year, so I’ll technically be debt-free when I graduate, but hope to repay my parents back at some point in my life.</p>
<p>I feel awful for my cousin, because with her combined undergrad/grad debts (she went to law school. passed the bar exam then decided it wasnt for her) she has over 200k+ debt. Her dad recently passed away and left her 100k… You can guess where it all went.</p>
<p>Many of you are very fortunate to graduate undergrad with minimal debt! Any idea on the average costs of grad school? More specifically, med school?</p>
<p>I’ll probably be about 20-30 grand in the hole. Which actually scares me quite a bit. :/</p>
<p>Med school=$300k or thereabouts.</p>