College people: Does this pic just about sum it up?

[LegendKiller]

I call shens on OP also.

 

[Slew Foot]

I call shens on OP also.

Agree, theres no student loans with terms like that. And even so she should have consolidated in the early 2000s when rates were dirt cheap. I got my 30K locked in at 2.2%, costs me $180/mo.

Stupid people going to stupid

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

$60K job with $0.5 million in student loans = http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/1444775/

Do not jump into a "hot" major just for the money because it may become cold when you are done with school.

To be fair, most people have pointed out that the OP in that thread is/was too lazy to move.

Which makes complete sense. The stupid OP expected to get the pharmacy position down the street at a local Walgreens/CVS in a major city when (surprise surprise) there are an abundance of other qualified people. It was pointed out multiple times that in order to start a career you may need to do some work... such as move to a city that is in higher demand (IE: Small towns that obviously don't have a lot of pharm grads near it). The pay will be high, and you will have much less competition.

That is one of the biggest problems and applies to EVERYONE jumping out of college. No one wants to move to get a job. They expect jobs to come to them.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Been out of school for about a year and half now. I've already paid $14k on my $26k loan.

 

[jpiniero]

To be fair, most people have pointed out that the OP in that thread is/was too lazy to move.

Plus he has a kid. That was dumb.

 

[Markbnj]

Nope - there are plenty of state schools with good programs in the sciences. Better to save that money for graduate school. Paying $200k for undergrad is silly unless you have money to burn.

We have some decent state schools with good sciences programs, I agree. Not community colleges, but state universities. As far as I know all of them will cost more than $100k for a four year degree. Two that we looked at in NJ were close to $150k.

 

[child of wonder]

May I ask how old were you guys when you started University? Also what is a AAS degree? How did you pay offff $14k in less than 6 months after graduation? Did you get a super duper job or something? Also you don't ask for how much maintenance loan you receive, they give you x amount based on your family income. The max you can get is 3.5k pounds for 1 year. I dunno how it works where you live but I'm studying in the UK and everything is different here. I dunno maybe someone can correct me here. Still sucks cuz coupel years ago it was 3k/year but now it's 9k/year juss shows how fked up everything is atm. I'm mad. I wish I was born 5 years earlier ;D

12 years ago wife and I had one child, were not yet married, and had a low income. I was 23 and she was 19 at the time. Got some grants to help with school costs but had to borrow to cover remaining costs and to supplement our income. After 2 years I received my AAS degree (Associate's degree) in Network and System Administration to work in IT. My loans were about 5% interest and we paid extra whenever we could. After 5 years in repayment (5.5 years after graduation), my $14k loan was paid off.

5 years ago, my income was enough to support the entire family so my wife went to college to get a 2 year degree in Nursing. When she was done, she had $22k in student loans at 6.5% interest. Between our own savings and a large stock grant I received from work (worth over $25k) we were able to pay off her loan in 6 months after she graduated, less than one month into repayment.

We've been very fortunate over the years, have worked hard, and made good choices having to learn from the bad ones we made to start with (not using protection and having two kids when we weren't ready for them). We both chose marketable majors and have a great passion and work ethic with our career fields and have been very successful.

Our story is atypical, but when someone choose to take out a massive student loan, pursue a poorly marketable major, doesn't pay their student loan, or makes stupid post graduation decisions like not taking whatever job they can get out of school to start getting experience, I have little pity for them.

 

[Markbnj]

make her study for the SAT or ACT all summer! if she can get in the 99th percentile she might be eligible for scholarships.

when i was applying for college, case western was giving full tuition for a 35/36 on ACT and half tuition for 33/34. i had 35 so was debating going there, but went somewhere else because case's room/board and fees were still pretty high. but not nearly as bad as the tuition.

Yeah that's the current strategy. To be clear, we can manage to pay for this. It will be a big expense, but we can swing it over time. I'm not bitching necessarily about my own personal situation, but it gives me pause when I consider that I am a software engineer near the top of my profession, and combined with my wife's salary as an experienced RN we make more than 91% of the people in the country.

 

[Rage187]

not for me, i borrowed 0$, paid 0$ and owe 0$

This

 

[Fayd]

Yes, a first class college education that will put you right up there in competitive standing is actually only $6.95, but most of us are just too dumb to figure it out!

1: there were students from the community college i went to who went on to ivy leagues (harvard, yale, etc), public ivies (All of the UC's, etc. credits transferred completely for UC's.) and other very prestigous schools. Many public schools have automatic acceptance of students from community colleges who maintain a sufficient GPA.

2: there are many VERY good state schools.

but hey, it seems to be a point of pride for you that you're spending way more than you need to, so don't let me keep you from doing that.

 

[Red Squirrel]

That's insane. So glad I was able to go through college without incurring debt by going to community college. No need to go to a super high end university. It's just going to cost more and MIGHT land you a better job.

I actually had money left over at the end and my parents had setup a scholarship for me. I ended up paying them back a lot of that money as they actually needed it more than I did at that time.

 

[TridenT]

not for me, i borrowed 0$, paid 0$ and owe 0$

Ditto.

 

[Wuzup101]

We have some decent state schools with good sciences programs, I agree. Not community colleges, but state universities. As far as I know all of them will cost more than $100k for a four year degree. Two that we looked at in NJ were close to $150k.

Rutgers is about $25k a year for in-state with room and board (according to their website - you might have more accurate info as you are obviously doing more research than I am lol). Not sure what the other schools run. $11-12k of that $25k is room and board... which can be drastically discounted for years 2-4 (and maybe the second half of year 1) if your daughter is willing to become an RA (which has it's advantages). It's also work experience... The RA thing applies at most colleges. Most give them free room/board and many give discounts on tuition. You also typically get your own room which is nice.

 

[Exophase]

$60K job with $0.5 million in student loans = http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/1444775/

Do not jump into a "hot" major just for the money because it may become cold when you are done with school.

The government really shouldn't be giving people $500k worth of loans in the first place. Maybe if they stopped doing that pharmacology schools would be forced to lower their tuition.

That's more money than a lot of people were getting on mortgages before the housing bubble burst. There, if they no longer pay you can repossess the house, but they don't even make you start paying the student loans until you graduate, and your ability to graduate is far from assuring your ability to pay the loans in the future. And unlike with a mortgage you still have to pay for housing on top of paying back your loan.

 

[pcgeek11]

:thumbsup:

Stooopid!

X 1000 :thumbsup:

 

[pcgeek11]

Funny how college students are charged 6 percent to borrow but banks and wallstreet pay significantly less interest rates.

Apples meet oranges. Do you think these two are even remotely comparable?

 

[kaerflog]

Thats a dumb fucking sign.
Its like paying the minimum payment on your CC and wonder why its not paid off yet.
There are just clueless people in this world.
I had $20K of debt of I graduate in 1998. $20K back then is almost $30K now.
I had to move my ass home. As soon as I got a decent job(not even a real job) I started paying off that debt quick and moved my ass out as soon as I could.
People are stupid these days. If you don't have the money, go to a community college, get a 2 year before transferring to a university. You will get the same fucking degree as the other kids who went there for 4 yrs. But but its for the experience.....thats fine if you have the money.

My wife is going to school now, pretty much starting over.
She's getting her 2 yrs at a community college before heading to UCF.
We kinda guessed it will be around $28K all together for tuition and books(nothing else) which I think is not bad. Thats like getting a new car vs a college degree.
Then I dumbass found out about this so-called American Opportunity Act that gives you back $2500 every year until 2017 so thats another $10k back in our pockets making tuition and book around ~$18K for the 4 yrs.
To me thats a hell of a deal for a college degree and thats without any type of grants.
If you run up a $100K college debt and not knowing how to pay it back, you're just plain stupid.

 

[Markbnj]

but hey, it seems to be a point of pride for you that you're spending way more than you need to, so don't let me keep you from doing that.

I don't even know what the final bill will be. We have yet to work out all the various cost saving possibilities, many of which have been mentioned. We could definitely send our daughter to a less expensive school. That really has no bearing on whether college costs too much (it does), whether the cost of college rises at an insane rate relative to the rate of inflation (it does), whether college deans and presidents make too much money for the services they render (they do), whether we are the only first-world nation that saddles its young people with up to six figures of debt in return for a degree (as far as I know, we are), or whether the whole thing has become a systematic scam (as far as I'm concerned, it has).

I mean, the woman in the OP aside... are we really arguing about whether the individual cost of higher education is out of control in the U.S.? Really?

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I don't even know what the final bill will be. We have yet to work out all the various cost saving possibilities, many of which have been mentioned. We could definitely send our daughter to a less expensive school. That really has no bearing on whether college costs too much (it does), whether the cost of college rises at an insane rate relative to the rate of inflation (it does), whether college deans and presidents make too much money for the services they render (they do), whether we are the only first-world nation that saddles its young people with up to six figures of debt in return for a degree (as far as I know, we are), or whether the whole thing has become a systematic scam (as far as I'm concerned, it has).

I mean, the woman in the OP aside... are we really arguing about whether the individual cost of higher education is out of control in the U.S.? Really?

You seem to be, he clearly wasn't. Even if we accept that state colleges are still too expensive, they're cheaper than six-figures.

 

[Ns1]

I mean, the woman in the OP aside... are we really arguing about whether the individual cost of higher education is out of control in the U.S.? Really?

Maybe it's cuz I went to a private school but public education costs seem pretty reasonable to me...

 

[Exophase]

I don't even know what the final bill will be. We have yet to work out all the various cost saving possibilities, many of which have been mentioned. We could definitely send our daughter to a less expensive school. That really has no bearing on whether college costs too much (it does), whether the cost of college rises at an insane rate relative to the rate of inflation (it does), whether college deans and presidents make too much money for the services they render (they do), whether we are the only first-world nation that saddles its young people with up to six figures of debt in return for a degree (as far as I know, we are), or whether the whole thing has become a systematic scam (as far as I'm concerned, it has).

I mean, the woman in the OP aside... are we really arguing about whether the individual cost of higher education is out of control in the U.S.? Really?

I agree with all of that, but I think you should take the suggestions to place less stock in the value of sending your daughter to one of the most expensive universities to heart too. In a STEM job, where you got your graduate degree is going to usually matter more than where you got your undergrad. A more prestigious undergrad degree could help you with getting into a better grad school, but there are a lot of other things that help here too, like GRE score. Particularly if there's a subject GRE for the major and she does well in that. These are things she should be thinking about down the road.

 

[KeithP]

$60K job with $0.5 million in student loans = http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/1444775/

Wow...and I thought someone less intelligent than the woman holding the sign couldn't exist. Guess I was wrong.

-KeithP

 

[OverVolt]

"I went to college and I can't maths good!"

Thats what her sign should have said.

 

[Ns1]

$60K job with $0.5 million in student loans = http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/1444775/

Do not jump into a "hot" major just for the money because it may become cold when you are done with school.

Sucks for that guy but not totally unexpected. Around that timeframe everyone and their mom wanted to become a pharmacist for the easy money.

 

[OverVolt]

Sucks for that guy but not totally unexpected. Around that timeframe everyone and their mom wanted to become a pharmacist for the easy money.

Guess who dodged that bullet.


<-- this guy.