Comments on: Is an Education a Debt Sentence? http://studenomics.com/debt-reduction/is-an-education-a-debt-sentence/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:14:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Keith http://studenomics.com/debt-reduction/is-an-education-a-debt-sentence/#comment-24215 Keith Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:55:23 +0000 http://studenomics.com/?p=644#comment-24215 Parents need to take a larger role in insuring their children do not take on too much debt. Parents usually understand the debt issue; many students do not understand what a $50k+ debt load really means. We told our 3 children we would only pay the $50k per year for a private school only if it was an Ivy (or equiv. such as Stanford, etc). If they opted for a "Tier 2" school we were not paying the $50k per year and they therefore weren't going there. Child #1's first choice was Lehigh; we told him it was a very good school but clearly "Tier 2" (not Ivy) = no way we're paying the $50k and we're not signing any student loans. He then chose Virginia Tech and the Univ. of Maine (both far lower cost with excellent engineering programs), graduated with a Chemical Engineering degree, had 11 written job offers, he has a very good job now as an engineer...and had no debt when he graduated.. Child #2's first choice was the Univ. of Miami. Good football team, but not great academically. Clearly "Tier 2" = no way. She ended up choosing Pitt (far lower cost), graduated with an Industrial Engineering degree, turned down job offers from IBM and Accenture to teach math at one of this country's most notorious prisons...and has no debt when she graduated. Child #3 chose the Univ. of Colorado ($40k out of state). Clearly "Tier 2" = no way...fall in love with a school close to home. He chose the Univ. of Buffalo = far lower cost = no debt. My point is that parents need to take a role in insuring that the debt burden does not get out-of-hand for them (don't cheat yourself out of retirement savings) or the children (don't sign for student loans). Go the community college route for a couple of years and then transfer to a good state school. I work with Fortune 100 companies all the time and I can tell you that, unless you KNOW you want to work on Wall St. when entering college (how many high school kids know that?; many Wall St. firms only interview Ivy grads), paying the big money for an Ivy or private school and putting yourself in debt is a very subjective decision and I'm not sure it's really worth the cost. The starting salary for a teacher, engineer, financial analyst, nurse, and almost every profession out there is virtually identical whether you graduate from SUNY Buffalo or Princeton/Lehigh, etc. Yes, the Princeton degree looks better, but if you are a very good student, you bust your butt at Buffalo, co-op / intern every summer, and stay on the ball.....you'll get a job at the same salary and do just as well financially as the private school graduate and there are numerous studies to show that....and you'll have little-to-no debt to go along with it. Some of the private schools are under tremendous pressure to free up their endowment money to give more financial aid to students and if that's available, the choice can be a no-brainer. But many endowments have taken a hit with the recession and some schools are not able to offer big financial aid packages as a result. If that's the case, and the option is to go there and take out loans....I'd look very hard at other options (community colleges / lower-cost state schools). Parents need to take a larger role in insuring their children do not take on too much debt. Parents usually understand the debt issue; many students do not understand what a $50k+ debt load really means.

We told our 3 children we would only pay the $50k per year for a private school only if it was an Ivy (or equiv. such as Stanford, etc). If they opted for a “Tier 2″ school we were not paying the $50k per year and they therefore weren’t going there. Child #1′s first choice was Lehigh; we told him it was a very good school but clearly “Tier 2″ (not Ivy) = no way we’re paying the $50k and we’re not signing any student loans. He then chose Virginia Tech and the Univ. of Maine (both far lower cost with excellent engineering programs), graduated with a Chemical Engineering degree, had 11 written job offers, he has a very good job now as an engineer…and had no debt when he graduated..

Child #2′s first choice was the Univ. of Miami. Good football team, but not great academically. Clearly “Tier 2″ = no way. She ended up choosing Pitt (far lower cost), graduated with an Industrial Engineering degree, turned down job offers from IBM and Accenture to teach math at one of this country’s most notorious prisons…and has no debt when she graduated.

Child #3 chose the Univ. of Colorado ($40k out of state). Clearly “Tier 2″ = no way…fall in love with a school close to home. He chose the Univ. of Buffalo = far lower cost = no debt.

My point is that parents need to take a role in insuring that the debt burden does not get out-of-hand for them (don’t cheat yourself out of retirement savings) or the children (don’t sign for student loans). Go the community college route for a couple of years and then transfer to a good state school. I work with Fortune 100 companies all the time and I can tell you that, unless you KNOW you want to work on Wall St. when entering college (how many high school kids know that?; many Wall St. firms only interview Ivy grads), paying the big money for an Ivy or private school and putting yourself in debt is a very subjective decision and I’m not sure it’s really worth the cost. The starting salary for a teacher, engineer, financial analyst, nurse, and almost every profession out there is virtually identical whether you graduate from SUNY Buffalo or Princeton/Lehigh, etc. Yes, the Princeton degree looks better, but if you are a very good student, you bust your butt at Buffalo, co-op / intern every summer, and stay on the ball…..you’ll get a job at the same salary and do just as well financially as the private school graduate and there are numerous studies to show that….and you’ll have little-to-no debt to go along with it. Some of the private schools are under tremendous pressure to free up their endowment money to give more financial aid to students and if that’s available, the choice can be a no-brainer. But many endowments have taken a hit with the recession and some schools are not able to offer big financial aid packages as a result. If that’s the case, and the option is to go there and take out loans….I’d look very hard at other options (community colleges / lower-cost state schools).

]]> By: tom http://studenomics.com/debt-reduction/is-an-education-a-debt-sentence/#comment-1950 tom Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:47:17 +0000 http://studenomics.com/?p=644#comment-1950 Another thing that I read about recently and it seemed to make sense to me is when someone finishes high school, have them go out and work for like a year or 2. Get a feel of what they want to do, and make some money and then determine where they want to do. I find it very hard to imagine how someone can live with themselves and having 100K student loan debt. I got freaked out when I had 10K in debt. Another thing that I read about recently and it seemed to make sense to me is when someone finishes high school, have them go out and work for like a year or 2.
Get a feel of what they want to do, and make some money and then determine where they want to do.

I find it very hard to imagine how someone can live with themselves and having 100K student loan debt. I got freaked out when I had 10K in debt.

]]> By: Studenomist http://studenomics.com/debt-reduction/is-an-education-a-debt-sentence/#comment-1944 Studenomist Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:08:32 +0000 http://studenomics.com/?p=644#comment-1944 @Roger There is no shame in attending a community college in order to save thousands of dollars. @MyLifeROI As costly as it may be I don't see switching majors as a huge issue. I will be discussing this topic more tomorrow in my post. Thanks for bringing it up! @BeyondBeerMoney I agree with you but that's a whole other issue because you're assuming that the person has certain grades and what not. Many prestigious schools may be cheaper after all the financial aid but it all depends on the school and your grades. Congrats on the financial aid you received! @Stephanie PTY I can definitely relate to you. As mentioned in the article I was only 17 when I started college. I had no clue what I wanted to do in life nor did I even know the first thing about high paying careers. I just got into the business field because I liked money. After a few years of school I realized that I should have gone into Science in some form because I love fitness and many different science disciplines. Thankfully I am still in the business program and even considering graduate school, but many of my friends have either dropped out or switched majors. @Roger There is no shame in attending a community college in order to save thousands of dollars.

@MyLifeROI As costly as it may be I don’t see switching majors as a huge issue. I will be discussing this topic more tomorrow in my post. Thanks for bringing it up!

@BeyondBeerMoney I agree with you but that’s a whole other issue because you’re assuming that the person has certain grades and what not. Many prestigious schools may be cheaper after all the financial aid but it all depends on the school and your grades. Congrats on the financial aid you received!

@Stephanie PTY I can definitely relate to you. As mentioned in the article I was only 17 when I started college. I had no clue what I wanted to do in life nor did I even know the first thing about high paying careers. I just got into the business field because I liked money. After a few years of school I realized that I should have gone into Science in some form because I love fitness and many different science disciplines. Thankfully I am still in the business program and even considering graduate school, but many of my friends have either dropped out or switched majors.

]]> By: Stephanie PTY http://studenomics.com/debt-reduction/is-an-education-a-debt-sentence/#comment-1942 Stephanie PTY Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:13:02 +0000 http://studenomics.com/?p=644#comment-1942 I got trapped when my major turned out not to be something I was good at, but the credits in it weren't going to transfer to anything else. I was already nearly $30,000 in debt at the point that I realized this, and wasn't entirely sure what the path was. I ended up getting a multidisciplinary studies degree, and I probably won't ever use my degree for what it's intended for. Also, it looks like if I pursue the field that I love and have talent in (backstage theater work), I won't ever make enough money to justify my $42,000 film degree (which is barely tangentially related to theater) because theater really only pays about $30,000-$40,000/year after you've been doing it for 10-20 years. Of course, I never would have known I wasn't good at film if I hadn't gone to film school, so it's a big catch-22. In the end, I don't regret anything - I made the best choices I could with the information I had at any given time. I got trapped when my major turned out not to be something I was good at, but the credits in it weren’t going to transfer to anything else. I was already nearly $30,000 in debt at the point that I realized this, and wasn’t entirely sure what the path was. I ended up getting a multidisciplinary studies degree, and I probably won’t ever use my degree for what it’s intended for. Also, it looks like if I pursue the field that I love and have talent in (backstage theater work), I won’t ever make enough money to justify my $42,000 film degree (which is barely tangentially related to theater) because theater really only pays about $30,000-$40,000/year after you’ve been doing it for 10-20 years.

Of course, I never would have known I wasn’t good at film if I hadn’t gone to film school, so it’s a big catch-22. In the end, I don’t regret anything – I made the best choices I could with the information I had at any given time.

]]> By: BeyondBeerMoney http://studenomics.com/debt-reduction/is-an-education-a-debt-sentence/#comment-1939 BeyondBeerMoney Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:14:06 +0000 http://studenomics.com/?p=644#comment-1939 To play devil's advocate, "prestigious" schools often have big pools of money for financial aid. I actually got better financial aid at the more prestigious schools I got into than the smaller, less expensive schools, making the prestigious schools cheaper at the end of the day. I'd say do a lot of research about financial aid at various schools and work your butt off so that you are as qualified as possible. To play devil’s advocate, “prestigious” schools often have big pools of money for financial aid. I actually got better financial aid at the more prestigious schools I got into than the smaller, less expensive schools, making the prestigious schools cheaper at the end of the day. I’d say do a lot of research about financial aid at various schools and work your butt off so that you are as qualified as possible.

]]> By: Roger http://studenomics.com/debt-reduction/is-an-education-a-debt-sentence/#comment-1935 Roger Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:37:52 +0000 http://studenomics.com/?p=644#comment-1935 Not bad advice. I'd add that considering a community college at least your first few years of school could be a good choice. It'll allow you to knock out many of your graduation pre-requisites without needing to pay the higher price of a state or private school. Not bad advice. I’d add that considering a community college at least your first few years of school could be a good choice. It’ll allow you to knock out many of your graduation pre-requisites without needing to pay the higher price of a state or private school.

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