<p>I know that with the whole economic downturn, everyone is very wary of credit and loans etc. My family is middle class and we look pretty well off on paper. The calculator thing said that we can afford to pay 40000, which is wrong because my brother is very sick and has cost my family most of our savings. I got accepted at Bucknell which is really expensive. I got almost no need based financial aid and I got 10000 in merit based. With room and board I'm looking at 40000 each year in debt. I'm applying for loans and stuff but my parents are freaking out about the debt I will be in when I graduate. I plan to be a civil engineer or an engineering professor, and I know that with my field I have a stable future financially. Is it ok for me to be that far in debt if I know I will be able to pay it off in the future?</p>
<p>No. $40,000 a year is a horrendous amount of debt. If you are paying the interest as you go then your total debt after 4 years will be $160,000 and at, say, 8% interest your monthly repayments will be almost** $2000 a month every month for 10 years.** </p>
<p>If you are unable to pay the interest as you go ($3200 year 1, $6400 year 2, $9600 year 3, $12800 year 4) then the interest will be added to the loan and you will pay interest on the interest. the debt will have grown to $195,000+ meaning monthly repayments of around $2400 a month every month for 10 years. </p>
<p>Such a debt will be an enormous burden and severely limit your choices. For instance you talk about the possibility of beeing a professor. That requires several more years of education with the debt growing all the time.</p>
<p>go to community college and then transfer to a state school and finish the program.</p>
<p>posts like these are why i made my post in the main section saying this is the worst time to add on tremendous amounts of debt.</p>
<p>That kind of debt is just not a wise choice. There are excellent engineering programs at state schools and less expensive privates between Bucknell at $50k and Community College at $3k. Where else did you get admitted?</p>
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<p>Engineering Professor and repay $160,000 in loans? Surely you jest.</p>
<p>Civil Engineer… What happens if you decide not to be a Civil Engineer? What guarantee do you have that the job is stable?</p>
<p>A quick search on careerbuilder.com shows CE jobs up to $65,000/yr. If you intend on being an engineer, you should be able to calculate the numbers. Note: Can easily pay $17,000/yr is the wrong answer.</p>
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<p>Are you starting college next year - if so, why the online calculator - you should have an award letter by now! Anyway, you have a legitimate special circumstance. If you haven’t already, I would call FA at Bucknell and ask what they need you to submit for a special circumstances review. Have your parents gather all of the medical bills for the family and submit them with the letter/form. Although it’s kind of late in the FA award game, Bucknell may be able to come up with more need based aid for you.</p>
<p>Please understand that I say this with as much love and respect as I can muster, but…</p>
<p>ARE YOU INSANE?</p>
<p>You might find this article worth considering
[Student</a> Debt - Stop this insanity!](<a href=“http://realcollegesavings.com/blog/student-debt-stop-this-insanity/]Student”>http://realcollegesavings.com/blog/student-debt-stop-this-insanity/)</p>
<p>There is no reason you should be $160,000 in debt after undergrad!</p>
<p>Engineering isn’t really a field where you have to go to the best school in the world to get a good job…most public universities have pretty good engineering programs, particularly if you happen to live in Georgia (Georgia Tech).</p>
<p>Going into some debt is reasonable in college, but as swimcatsmom says, that debt will cost you almost $2,000 per month for the next 10 years of your life. $2,000 is a lot of money, trust me. With a monthly salary of anything short of ~$60,000, you won’t be able to afford it. And even if you are making $60,000, that will be a struggle (it will leave you without about $3,000 a month to live on, which is doable of course, but not the point of going to college).</p>
<p>Think about it this way – do you really think that Bucknell will help you make $223,000 more over the 10 years after you graduate than any other school’s salary? That’s approximately $23,000 a year more. That’s how much it would cost to be worth it to you. And it has to be significantly more – even if you make $80,000 at Bucknell when you would’ve been making $57,000 somewhere else…you’re still just breaking even.</p>
<p>Can someone post a link to one of those loan repayment calculators? I could only find stuff for mortgages. My worst case scenario is about $45,000 in debt for undergrad, so I’d like to know what that is monthly.</p>
<p>[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Loan Calculator](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Loan Payment Calculator - Finaid)</p>
<p>Looks like you and I are in the same boat, yesnomaybeso7.</p>
<p>Our family looks like we could afford Bucknell too, but I was sick with cancer (took a lot of our savings) and we have one sister in grad school and the oldest sister now wants to start college, something she didn’t do after high school. </p>
<p>Bucknell said that even though the oldest one still lives at home and can’t afford to be independent (she waits tables at Denny’s and only gets part-time hours) they won’t count her as a sibling in college…even though my parents are her main source of support.</p>
<p>I won’t be able to go to Bucknell because of the high cost, so I’m thinking of going to a cheaper college first and then transfer to Bucknell. Have you considered that or is that something you’d not want to do? </p>
<p>Someone earlier suggested that you submit proof of the expenses needed for your brother’s care as evidence that your family cannot afford what Bucknell thinks they can. That’s a great idea! </p>
<p>But seriously, do NOT take on that much debt at your age. Unless it’s to buy a house, you shouldn’t borrow that much. </p>
<p>GOOD LUCK TO YOU.</p>