General

@igetaroundxD: do you live in the US? Most private universities require to live on campus the first year or two.
And dude everyone (who goes to a good university) gets cillege loan debt and many people can pay it off pretty quickly a few years after college.

@fradddd:
How much do you anticipate getting paid per hour? I can guarantee that it won't. That rule is extremely malicious for your college to do. Again, contact people off a FB group. That is extremely sketchy that a university would attempt to monopolize housing. I don't believe the legality of it, especially if you can't afford it. Which you can't without taking out a loan. That is utter sht, I would transfer out Pronto, that policy is heavily money-driven and may speak for other parts in your colleges for-profit geared policies. I will guarantee you that you won't be able to come close in covering your housing working seasonally. But anyway it's not like I can change an 18 year olds mind, they know everything. Just remember this conversation for me when it all hits you within 0-2 years.

Major Debt..
Eh, I don't really even know what to feel. Right now, it isn't even the last thing I would be worried about.
I am far from having such a fear at this time. ..or maybe I might never come to fear it - not just because of being extremely well off, but rather because there are far more scarier things out there than debt.

@igetaroundxD: Can't live off campus freshman or sophomore year unless your parents live within 30 miles. And mine (we) don't.
So...here's to getting lucky with a job that will help me pay off my debt *clinks glass*.

Also, a few hours of work (literally--work study and my summer job) will probably pay for most of my room and board anyway.

this is why i dont want to go to a big university. Money

Definitely.
My parents' lives have been absolutely crippled by it, and I fear it doing the same to me.

[quote=igetaroundxD]Live off-campus, you need to join FB groups and ask around for roommates (a lot of groups will take stragglers around this time) within the next few weeks. You'll slash your housing costs from 10k/yr to 2-3k/yr or sometimes less depending on the number of residents (and some groups pay off their housing rent by hosting a party(s) every weekend and having people pay @ the door, but thats upperclassmen wisdom, they end up paying nothing to live there). Call your college's housing and cancel your deposit.

It will be almost a 25-30k savings decision for your four years in college (+ the savings you get on interest which by the end of 4 years will be an additional ~3000) just by living what could be five minutes away from campus. And in a way, you can invest those savings into a vehicle that actually holds equity and value, if you're worried about transportation. Become an adult, take responsibility save yourself money and use it to acquire transportation and equity. Something that holds value and can be resold.

Instead of pissing away your money to live "on-campus" because of "generally speaking" the fears of living on your own without your parents. I say it like this because a lot of underclassmen realize their mistake freshman/sophomore year. And they realize it the hard way and move out in droves when they wise up, but your first year you can save 7-8k just by contacting people and putting your name on a lease. That is it, I wish I could counsel incoming freshmen, we all make the same mistakes and these simple decisions ends up costing us thousands.

Just a few hours of work can save you 7-8 grand this year, remember this decision because if you don't live off campus. You are going to hate yourself when you're older.[/quote]

Haha Ikr. Good post.

Must be getting some dirt cheap rent for that price though. Most places near my uni is like 400/mth at the lowest. I also laugh at the people paying like 1k/mth rent lmao. All this means is I get to invest into my IRA and stuff earlier. I don't know if anyone has ever read this article or not, but it's real interesting. Let me summarize it for you all. There's two people. One guy invests 2k into his IRA for 10 years from 20-30y/o or whatevers. Assuming that you get a 7% return each year until you retire 40 years later. You'd have over a million by the time you retire. Alternatively if a person starts investing 2k each year until he retires, he will put in 80k total, but still come out behind. Essentially the idea is investing/saving money earlier in life will get you a lot more.

Also, honestly getting 7% returns aren't really that hard. It may be harder on a huge scale. However, if you diversify it shouldn't be a problem. I.e. I've made 10% gains each year on small investments on peer to peer lending at lendingclub.com. Then there's also mutual funds you can invest in, or even investing in blue chip stocks on the stock markets in different sectors etc.

I guess if people can afford it, they can do what they want. Just don't regret it. I have a boss who works in a non-profit with me and he's in his 30s. He owes over 200k getting his psych phd. He doesn't work in the psych field at all. Honestly most universities teach you essentially the same thing on the almost the same level. The only difference is prestige and cost. (Except for community colleges.)

Focus on your education and worry about your loans later. I'm pretty you'll be able to pay them off once you get a job, and if not then maybe look into repayment assistant plans. I'm from Canada so idk if's the same for the US, but in Canada if you can prove to the government that you don't have the means to make your monthly payments, they'll help you pay a little and also waive all interest.

I borrowed ~$50k for my undergrad and the government waived $15k off automatically as a grant. I still have $35k to pay back and I'm currently looking at paying ~$415/month over the next 9.5 years. It's daunting but shouldn't be too bad with a steady job.

[quote=fradddd]@igetaroundxD: I don't know I still need to accept them actually. And I kept forgetting the exact numbers of everything. All I know for sure is that my scholarship is worth $56k over four years. Right now tuition is $33k/year and room and board is ~$10k/year.

So $43k/year - $14k/year = 29k/year. Then financial aid. I think I'm basically just taking out loans for room and board maybe...[/quote]
Live off-campus, you need to join FB groups and ask around for roommates (a lot of groups will take stragglers around this time) within the next few weeks. You'll slash your housing costs from 10k/yr to 2-3k/yr or sometimes less depending on the number of residents (and some groups pay off their housing rent by hosting a party(s) every weekend and having people pay @ the door, but thats upperclassmen wisdom, they end up paying nothing to live there). Call your college's housing and cancel your deposit.

It will be almost a 25-30k savings decision for your four years in college (+ the savings you get on interest which by the end of 4 years will be an additional ~3000) just by living what could be five minutes away from campus. And in a way, you can invest those savings into a vehicle that actually holds equity and value, if you're worried about transportation. Become an adult, take responsibility save yourself money and use it to acquire transportation and equity. Something that holds value and can be resold.

Instead of pissing away your money to live "on-campus" because of "generally speaking" the fears of living on your own without your parents. I say it like this because a lot of underclassmen realize their mistake freshman/sophomore year. And they realize it the hard way and move out in droves when they wise up, but your first year you can save 7-8k just by contacting people and putting your name on a lease. That is it, I wish I could counsel incoming freshmen, we all make the same mistakes and these simple decisions ends up costing us thousands.

Just a few hours of work can save you 7-8 grand this year, remember this decision because if you don't live off campus. You are going to hate yourself when you're older.

[quote=RitoPls]I'm trying to buy a $33,000 car with $8,000 of my own money and don't plan on working until after I graduate college in 2 years.

Luckily my education is taken care of.[/quote]

Bad idea.
If there's one thing I've learned in my first 2 years of business, it's that you shouldn't invest in luxuries you can't finance.
Just wait 2 years until you start working to buy a car that's that expensive, especially if you only have $8,000 of your own money at the moment to put into that car.

@igetaroundxD: I don't know I still need to accept them actually. And I kept forgetting the exact numbers of everything. All I know for sure is that my scholarship is worth $56k over four years. Right now tuition is $33k/year and room and board is ~$10k/year.

So $43k/year - $14k/year = 29k/year. Then financial aid. I think I'm basically just taking out loans for room and board maybe...

[quote=ArlongNight]My tuition is like 3k a semester and i have no scholarships and my parents pay for it. American universities are dreadful.[/quote]

no they ain't dreadful. Your parents make too much money and that's why i'm assuming they gave you no help.
My tuition is the same and I get mine paid via financial aid

I'm paying for my undergraduate studies and my family is too well off to qualify for aid. I'm not looking forward to paying it off, but I know it's within my abilities since my tuition isn't that expensive to begin with and the average starting pay for my major from my school is around the 6 figures fresh out of undergrad.

@UAPaladin: It depends on what kind of doctor you are. I'm pretty sure very few family doctors make 400k in the US. Most doctors with that kind of salary are surgeons or anesthesiologists.

13k yearly debt scares me

@UAPaladin: Oh I see sorry I'm very unfamiliar with residency, starting pay and such when it comes to these kinds of things. I was just getting the overall idea but in the end I just think its best to just take it day by day you know? What else is there to do if it's not in your power.

[quote=Clownified]Also think about the money you'll be making as starting pay, don't freak out just live your life come on now! You can easily hit off chunks of it your first few years of working since you won't have so many responsibilities such as a wife and kids, a house and car etc etc. Don't sweat it always keep your head up and focus on school, you're doing it all for a reason. I want to get into pharmacy myself or law but by you saying this, you're freaking me out too haha[/quote]

"Starting pay" is going to be like $55-65k/yr for him/her because s/he'll have to go into residency (which I believe is like 7 years for neurology, which will really suck). That pay would be somewhat decent for some other jobs, but it sucks with this much debt.

@lightxtc: You say that like doctors in the US don't make crazy money

I live in Canada. Tuition here is dirt cheap compared to what you're all paying. Med school at the local uni here is like 50k for the entire 4 years. Doctors here make some crazy $$. I know my family doctor makes 400k/yr.

@qinshihuangdi

Don't worry, you'll break even by your mid-30's at the latest. Channel your frustration into something positive (i.e. better marks) to secure a spot in one of your top choice residency programs.

Comparing medical school to any other professional program is like comparing apples to oranges; there's utterly no use. People take the Hippocratic Oath because they are genuinely passionate about saving lives and furthering medical research; you've made this far so I'd assume that you share this sentiment. In pursuing an M.D., you're basically signing away much of your 20's to the prospect of aiding a greater good. It's not the right path for everyone, so I suggest you do some major soul searching before moving forward. Financially speaking- yeah there is a monetary burden, but its only a small piece of the puzzle, and believe me, you're not alone.

Besides, if you can't handle the stress of a little* debt (that will inevitably get paid off), how would you expect to be able to perform spinal surgery in miniature humans?

I graduated with about $30k debt after my undergraduate. Went a year without having a job after I graduated so I had to defer, and for the last 3 years I've been paying about $360 a month for them all. Thankfully most of my debt was in federal loans so interest didn't accumulate. Now it's down to about $20k in total (I'm on a 10 year payoff plan). I'm making the payments fine and living comfortably, but the idea of debt does scare me away from going back to school and getting a second bachelors or a masters

People say it's worth the investment, but at this point in America you pretty much have to have a degree to compete in the job market...There's such a surplus of older workers with so much experience it's tough for younger people to get a job, which is causing younger people to stay in school longer and get even more education (which raises competition even further, and increases the public debt)

Things are tough, but at least older workers are starting to retire and the economy is improving. Student debt is a huge issue though that our country will have to deal with eventually. At what point does the cost outweigh the benefits? If college continues to be a prerequisite for employment, will kids have no choice but to sell their futures for student loans?

My tuition is 14k a year, for which I get a loan.

[quote=ArlongNight]My tuition is like 3k a semester and i have no scholarships and my parents pay for it. American universities are dreadful.[/quote]

Guessing you're not American lol. It really depends on what college people choose. I mean I pay 3k a semester as well after just financial aid. However, I guess I just got lucky in terms of aid. I attend a state school that normally cost 18k for tuition so yea.... Even got a 5k scholarship for this year too so woo! I just hope I can make it into grad school now...

My tuition is like 3k a semester and i have no scholarships and my parents pay for it. American universities are dreadful.

[quote=fradddd]Jesus Christ that's a lot of money.
I think I have loans that total around $9k/semester or something. Luckily I got some scholarship and financial aid money or else it'd be more than twice that.
Still, $72,000 is a lot of money to borrow lol. I might be able to pay about $2k-3k per semester, and my parents will pay their loan, so maybe I'll only have to worry about paying off $48k in the 10 years after college.

Good luck to you though.[/quote]
Good luck with your 50k debt
what's the avg interest rate on all of your loans?

Jesus Christ that's a lot of money.
I think I have loans that total around $9k/semester or something. Luckily I got some scholarship and financial aid money or else it'd be more than twice that.
Still, $72,000 is a lot of money to borrow lol. I might be able to pay about $2k-3k per semester, and my parents will pay their loan, so maybe I'll only have to worry about paying off $48k in the 10 years after college.

Good luck to you though.

debt sucks, don't do it.
Interest on loans are the real killer. Especially for first-year students since loan providers will kick up your interest rates and will slightly lower it as you go on (next time shop around heavily to find the best rate).
Take out a calculator and alone, calculate your projected debt after four years with the highest interest that you've received (included federal loans). Calculate the interest increase on your principal.
I'm 22 and I know old buddies that have decent jobs but because of loans they are in poverty. Interest will accumulate hundreds of dollars per month (and for my buddies @ professional schools, 1000+/mo when they graduate) which is at times how much a person can afford to put down on the principal so their debt becomes pretty stagnant (and by the way these are MINIMUM payments). Projection Projection, do not be afraid to seek finance counseling @ your college. Do not be stupid, loans suck big time. I always hear people say well remember how much you will make starting out. No just no,

1. You haven't graduated yet, you do not have THAT job yet and by the way, try not to drink the kool-aid from those promo job statistics and facts. They tend to be pretty skewed which promotes the green-machine of post-secondary education that has the unfortunate end product of a young population in debt before they even join the work force (you'll have a bitter taste in your mouth when your an upperclassman and things start clicking). The real work force and the real market is always different then what you read on those pamphlets and from those promo sites off google. You need to talk to people within that profession to get insight.
2. Interest is a factor, your debt will accumulate as you're in school and out.
3. You will have plenty of other expenses in your life post-graduation, you will be barred the same way as a person that's in poverty is barred from things that require financial freedoms. Enjoy.

I've had professors that were well in their 40s announce to us that they either were still paying off their debt or just finished, it was the interest that put them behind and they were making 80-90k/yr. There are so many ways not to have debt, if you are in year one or two in your degree. Just drop it and find a better alternative because you failed yourself. Don't be like the idiots that I've met in college that pretended like their loans didn't exist (or the idiots that thought that their parents would have them covered LOL). Their lives suck SOOOO much now, SOO SOO much. There are alternatives, and in some you just have to be willing to do what most would not.

*I got accepted to pharmacy school in 2013 and decided not to go because i crunched in those numbers and realized that I would have to restrict myself heavily in my late 20's, early 30s just to kick off this HUGE debt that most graduates accumulate. Not for me, no. fq that noise

if it makes you feel better, the average med school graduate has at least $200k debt once they're done school. Most of them have little to no problem paying that off after a couple years

I wonder why the US doesnt have some form of government loan system, where as you take a loan from the government when doing university, and then once you get a job and earn enough, you then pay it back bit by bit. This way there is no stress on debt seeing you dont need to worry about it until you earn enough in the future.

Also think about the money you'll be making as starting pay, don't freak out just live your life come on now! You can easily hit off chunks of it your first few years of working since you won't have so many responsibilities such as a wife and kids, a house and car etc etc. Don't sweat it always keep your head up and focus on school, you're doing it all for a reason. I want to get into pharmacy myself or law but by you saying this, you're freaking me out too haha

my sister paid off her pharmacy school debt around last year or two. she graduated in 2010 i think.my other sister is pretty much done with her debt too, only a few more thousand. they went to the same school for pharmacy. they pay for my undergrad lol . med school i think is more expensive than pharmacy school, but they make more too so it evens out.

I'm trying to buy a $33,000 car with $8,000 of my own money and don't plan on working until after I graduate college in 2 years.

Luckily my education is taken care of.

This is why I'm glad med-school is Texas is so cheap.

And yes the worst fears I have are of crippling debt and failure.

I don't care for debt/loans I just pay enough for it so it doesn't raise, I'll pay the rest later or If I stay in the country.

Even though I'm still in undergrad, I had to pull out a small amount loan for my first year cause something went wrong with my aid. Now I'm worried cause I'm planning on applying for pharm school. I just hope all those scholarships that I've been doing would help me in some way or the other.

I unno how to relate cuz my parents pay for everything til im married pre much but good luck tho

Postgraduate education debt is just something you'll have to live with.

Though, take it from someone on a PhD track; you'll have far better luck paying off your medical school debt (provided you do well, of course) than I will with my research PhD debt, which is mind you, far cheaper than a medical doctorate.

It's just a better investment considering job markets for surgeons as opposed to scientists or lawyers (considering juris-doctorates). That's always something you could keep in mind. The better you do, the less likely you'll have to worry about some lingering death-trap of a debt.

All that said, I'm not entirely afraid of it. If I was, I wouldn't have gone into academia. After all, you don't go into scientific research for the money.

My friend is going through the same thing. I can't relate because I'm going to community and I don't pay for anything yet. </3