Young adults, crushing debt

Parents Forum
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<p>Interesting article here:
<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/15/RVG40GI9M71.DTL%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/15/RVG40GI9M71.DTL&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Deferred futures
Why young adults can't hang on to what they earn</p>

<p>EXCERPT:</p>

<p>*Draut cites ample evidence to show that financial burdens are forcing the young to put off the usual benchmarks of adulthood: One survey found that debt was causing 14 percent of young adults to delay marriage, 20 percent to delay having children, and 40 percent to delay buying a home.</p>

<p>A major problem is the dramatic decline of government funding for college since the Reagan years, which Draut says has created "enormous student loan shackles that define young adults' entry into the real world." By 2000, 65 percent of college students left school in debt, up from 49 percent in 1992-1993, and more than one-fourth owed more than $25,000. *</p>

2

<p>Well I'm in the 14% delaying marriage due to debt! yay...I've become a statistic :(</p>

3

<p>What bothers me as much as the amount of debt is the precedence of student debt. One possible best case scenario is a student gets a decent job and makes loan payments for 10 years equal to half his income. But the worst case scenario is not, no job, bankruptcy, loans discharged. The loans will follow you "through sickness and health" even if that means garnishment of disability or social security checks. Borrower beware! (yes I have said this before - have a habit of repeating myself)</p>

4

<p>I am a proud member of the one-fourth that owes over $25,000.</p>

5

<p>^I'll probably join you in that demographic a few years from now. :eek:</p>

6

<p>I'll owe WELL over $25K after grad school.</p>

<p>C'est la vie.</p>

7

<p>here's my question. Why can states like florida and california provide cheaper college educations? IE) my daughter applied to central florida university, if you are a florida resident, tuition is $3000, outside its $16,000. And for us in pennsylvania, $16,000 is still better than what we pay at our state schools!!! what's going on with that, and why aren't we all moving to florida and california?</p>

8

<p>
[quote]
Why can states like florida and california provide cheaper college educations?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Heating costs?</p>

9

<p>Tuition at Slippery Rock University in PA (similar to central florida) is only $4,906 for PA residents. Not that different.</p>

10

<p>CA room and board is expensive. I'm looking at UC Berkeley and Smith and the difference in room and board between the two is well over $5000 a year.</p>

11

<p>What you make up for in heating costs you lose in air conditioning costs. ;-)</p>

12

<p>My daughter applied to slippery rock, it is approx $5000 per semester, $10,000 per year not including dorm. Univ of central florida is approx $3000 per year for residents, over $16000 per year for non-residents. How is that even possible?</p>

13

<p>we looked at financial safities- D chose the one private school she applied to- but they cover EFC.
We ( the parents) cover the EFC- D takes out small subsidized stafford and perkins loans every year. after 4 years they will total about $15,000 and almost $5,000 will be able to be subtracted right away from her educational voucher from her year of CityYear! :)</p>

14

<p>I believe that the in-state tuition rates for all state of Florida public colleges and universities are very inexpensive. I live in Florida and am not quite sure why this is, but there also is no state income tax here. Not sure if the two may be related or not.</p>

15

<p>There are different tiers of PA state schools. The cheaper, easier to get in ones like West Chester, Millersville, Slippery Rock are reasonably priced and then there is Penn State and it's satellite campuses - $9,700 up to $11,000 tuition plus about $6,000 for room and board. That's in-state. Out of state students pay a little bit more tuition. I think you pay for the PSU brand. During our college tours, the psu dorms were among the smallest and shabbiest but the campus was so lively that they probably aren't a deal breaker.</p>

<p>As far as debt goes, there is something to be said for HS students getting checking and savings accounts as soon as they get their first summer job. Both of my kids have debit cards connected with their checking accounts and learned pretty early on about not spending more then they actually have. Our problem right now is that my daughter did not go for any of the credit card offers that flooded her way as a freshman and now as a junior, she's been denied three times because, "she lacks a credit history"! We want her to have a credit card for when she does her study abroad this Spring, just in case....</p>

16

<p>
[quote]
I think you pay for the PSU brand.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Nope...that's not it...PSU is a state-supported school, not state school. Thus, they don't get (nearly) as much funding from the state as the true state schools of Millersville, West Chester, Slippery Rock, etc.</p>

17

<p>Less than 15% of PSU's budget comes from the state. In-state students do pay comsiderably less than OOS students who next year will be looking at tuition and fees in excess of $23K.</p>

18

<p>"My daughter applied to slippery rock, it is approx $5000 per semester, $10,000 per year not including dorm. "</p>

<p>Slippery Rock's website shows it costing $11,007 for the whole year including room/board & fees. <a href="http://www.sru.edu/pages/1258.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.sru.edu/pages/1258.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

19

<p>Did somebody say move??????</p>

<p>With 5 kiddos, all teens, that is what we did almost 3 years ago. We were in CA two years before that and I started to panic. Even with the UC's relatively low tuition/fees/room&board, I as a single parent was really feeling overwhelmed. </p>

<p>So I started researching state systems, cost of living, housing and jobs. Narrowed it down to Missouri, Tennessee, Florida and North Carolina. Also based on the availability of some programs and grad schools, ie vet schools, for oldest daughter. (those 4 all had vet schools)</p>

<p>More research and more looking and we ended up in North Carolina. My younger sis also moved for the same reasons. Jobs were decent in the triangle area, public schools good, housing prices much lower than the west coast, tremendous growth and.....low in-state tuition, for UNC-Chapel Hill, NC State, Charlotte, Wilmington, Asheville....the list is long. Plus if they did really well, Duke could be an option.</p>

<p>NC State tuition is $2200 per semester, same as Chapel Hill. DD lives at a research facility on campus so her room and board is free. And it has the vet school. She is a happy camper. So she has no loans, her "work" is her research on campus, she is putting some money away and she is having a great time.</p>

<p>The various campuses within the UNC system actually vary in tuition. NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill are the most expensive. The others just get less and less expensive. And that also is reflected in the room and board. At some of the campus' r & b is very low. Other DD is at another state school but in another state, but that is another story. But she too is on a scholarship, with no loans. She did her research and really looked around.</p>

<p>So with my five it really did make sense to move. And the fact that I really do love it here!!!!</p>

<p>Kat</p>

20

<p>I would think the propery taxes on your home are quite a bit less in NC too!</p>