<p>Brief but cogent article by Zac Bissonnette of the Wall Street Journal on the intersection of financial issues and quality of life. He starts with the story of a graphic designer who's working as an assistant building manager in NYC. Why? Because he would need to work as an intern to break into his field, and his $50K in student loans mean that he has to stay at a better paying job to service the debt.</p>
<p>Money</a> Lessons for Every High-School Graduate - WSJ.com</p>
<p>Interesting article and Zac Bissonnette is a persuasive writer and speaker, but having read much of his book, I feel his advice (in the book) should be taken with a bit of salt. A big box university, like UMASS Amherst where is is graduating from, is not a good fit for everyone and cutting back on take-out coffees will not go far in saving for college. He was lucky in that big box u worked for him. He also advocates getting second jobs (if only my d could find one job). So while he is correct that debt is slavery, there are many students and families who cannot avoid it totally.</p>
<p>Upstatemom - totally agree that many if not most will not be able to aviod debt completely, I think the important take away though is the limiting of debt and, when that is the only option, the necessity of realistic, rock solid planning of how to get out of it even if everythig doesn’t proceed according to plan. </p>
<p>Kids don’t have the real world experience to know that planning to pay back a loan is so much easier than actually making payments month after month and when it comes to college, parents are sometimes too guilty about the finances to be as helpful as they could be. This usually isn’t just the kid’s investment in a dream - it’s Mom and Dad’s dream too.</p>
<p>Debt scares me. My parents are paying for a pricey undergrad but I will have to foot my grad school bill. Do you think I’ll have the same problems as the kid in this article?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is the mantra that young people blinded by the brand names need to memorize.</p>
<p>What my mom has told me is that the debt I come out of college with should be no greater then my yearly salary directly out of school. Sure its a little depressing how this limits you at first, but now I am beginning to see the wisdom in it.</p>
<p>While that is a good rule of thumb, VeilofMaya, most young people have an inflated idea of how much they will be paid upon graduation and many recent graduates are having a hard time finding work at all.</p>
<p>raiderade -</p>
<p>Paying for grad school is another animal entirely. If you aren’t good enough to be offered full support for a Ph.D. program, well frankly, they are telling you that they don’t think you are good enough to make a career in that field. If you are pursuing a work-related Master’s degree, try to get your employer to help pay for it. If you must pay for the Master’s degree yourself, consider studying part-time while you keep working, and/or look for programs that are generous with teaching and research assistantships for second year students in that program. Law, Med, Dent, Vet, Physical Therapy, etc. you will almost certainly have to pay for with loans, so be dead certain that you want that career, and be dead certain that you will be able to pay those loans off once you graduate.</p>
<p>Getting funding for an academic master’s degree is harder than a Ph.D, but not at all impossible. You might have to apply more widely and look at a different subset of schools. But the slots are out there, depending on your field. I start an MS program at Indiana this fall on a full assistantship.</p>
<p>I agree that long term success is tied more to an individuals character and aptitude than the name on his/her diploma. If a person has the necessary initiative and skills they will succeed regardless of where they go to school. The two most professionally successful people I know went to state flagships. </p>
<p>However, if an individual has the aptitude and work ethic, how does one measure what would have become of them if they had attended brand-name private school. Is it possible they would have reached a level of success sooner? Or reached a higher level of success? </p>
<p>As an extreme example, Bill Clinton would have had a very successful career regardless of where he went to school. He has expectional interpersonal skills and a great understanding of issues that he faces. But would he have become president if hed attended University of Arkansas as opposed to Yale? Would he have made the same connections? He wouldnt have met Hillary. Ha. </p>
<p>I guess what Im trying to say is, it’s true that no one NEEDS to go to a brand-name private school to become a success in their professional life. But Im not sure the corollary exists that private schools do not provide a benefit to those that attend.</p>
<p>Thank you for the advice!</p>
<p>I agree very much with the article, especially the bit about peoples’ misconceptions about wealthier people boosted by the media.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is better advice than one may believe. It is absolutely true that many high school students contract loans without knowing what they are getting into. This isn’t necessarily due to predatory lenders who don’t counsel borrowers, it about social attitudes. High school students are raised, as the article points out, in a brand-conscious, materialistic society where they are told to “follow their dreams”, whereby “dreams” equals status symbols. Students get caught up in wanting a diploma they can brag about and assuming that more expensive and prestigious means more post-graduate wealth and a better time in college. “Following your dreams” means going to that reach school you can barely pay for. Sadly, students may end up saddled with debt they are forced to spend much of their income paying, which they can’t default on, and which lowers their quality of life.</p>
<p>Of course, no one will ever know what “would have happened” if one went to the best college if instead they “settled” for a cheaper alternative. While going to a prestigious school may help, the question is whether or not that help is worth the debt. Again, our society places before us examples of people (Clinton, like was mentioned, or even Obama) who went to the Ivy League and succeeded, but we don’t here of the middle class student who had trouble paying his debts. While it is true that all the Presidents since Reagan went to a HYP school, I doubt the Ivy League has such a stranglehold on national politics (Harry Truman and Abraham Lincoln are famous presidents who did not even attend college!)</p>
<p>great article.
I’m starting to rethink about my parents’ loan for my college.
They are normal working class Chinese parents and are willing to sold their real estate and all their lifetime savings to send me to a American prestigious school. This year, I was only admitted by Fordham U, and was waitlisted by Emory U and Grinnell C. So I’ll take a GAP year.
This post just wake me up about the post-graduate things. My parents will live extremely thrift and can’t enjoy their life because of my nearly luxury American college education and I’ll have no freedom to pursue my dream to be a entrepreneur after graduation because I guess if so I can’t afford the risk, or my family can’t afford the risk. Then I’ll have limited choices but to work in some fast-money industry say banking…oh, what a nightmare. And that I’ll work for so many years to pay my debt and take care of my parents to fulfill my responsibility for them.
And never have time to realize my dream, then what’s the meaning of college education?
I guess I will not attend a great college w/o FA or maybe I should find a job and do some business to make money now.
Yeah! So, thank you for the post~! A great warning for kids who are haunted by the heavy college tuition.</p>
<p>Some science MS programs at Oregon State are fully funded if anyone is interested.</p>
<p>I agree that cutting out take out coffees is not exactly ideal when it comes to saving on college expenses. We all need to cut out the “little” things more often, but coffee will hardly cover the costs of education.</p>
<p>I am an international transfer student. I applied to a couple of liberal arts colleges in the US and got into bennington. Now bennington is giving me a lot of aid, but I still have to pitch something in. The amount that I have to pitch in is pretty meager compared to what they’re giving me, but from where I come from (Pakistan) it amounts to a lot. In th three years that I would be spending there, it would amount to a lot of money which will take take to pay off. Considering Bennington is a very small, almost obscure college even in the US, would it be worth taking out that much loan? Would it not hinder my Post grad plans?
I’m currently an engineering student at a top notch college in Pakistan. I applied for a switch to the liberal arts because thats what I wanted to do in the first place. What are PG admittance stats after Bennington and what are the employment possibilities?</p>
<p>I think students have a lot of hurdles to overcome to make college affordable. The job market is tough and a lot of internships don’t pay much. My daughter, who is fortunate to have received a full-ride for her UG is already looking toward professional school costs and has decided to start the Army ROTC program this coming semester, her sophomore year. She is making contact with the school’s ROTC Major and working out like crazy to score high on the physical fitness test. She knows if she does well she will have a chance to get her professional school paid for by the Army and then make a career of the Army.</p>
<p>Two-years ago if anyone had told me she was going to do this I would have told you that you were crazy, but watching the economy fail has opened her eyes up to looking at the military. I am proud of her for taking the bull by the horns and giving it a shot.</p>
<p>My favorite part of the article was when it said Princeton and Berkeley performed the study on borrowing money for school.</p>
<p>Oh, irony…</p>
<p>Debt scares me. My parents are paying for a pricey undergrad but I will have to foot my grad school bill. Do you think I’ll have the same problems as the kid in this article?</p>