(01-04-2015 11:51 AM)Fo Shizzle Wrote: (01-03-2015 10:59 PM)mptnstr@44 Wrote: (01-03-2015 10:10 PM)dfarr Wrote: I have 4 degrees, one a masters, without any student debt, and no my parents didn't pay for my school. It's called going to an affordable college and making good grades and applying for lots of scholarships.
Exactly.
When did it become a right to go to the school of your dreams regardless of cost?
Why do students today not work part-time while in school?
When did it become ok for students to take 6-7 years to get a bachelors?
Why do college kids need expensive hi tech latest technology?
Do they need lattes, saunas, rock climbing walls, spring break trips, study abroad?
Go to a local community college for your gen eds.
Go to a state school to finish your degree.
Live at home.
Do without a car if possible.
Do without hi tech gadgets, expensive clothes and eating out.
Work 20+ hours a week.
Apply for any and all scholarships.
You can still get through college with zero debt but…
it will take sacrifice.
Good advice...
My daughter finished 2 undergrad degrees and her Masters without a dime of debt. My wife and I started a UTMA account with Fidelity when she was born. We added to it every month. With that account, a small amount of scholarship money and her working all the way through school part time....she finished with money left in the account to start an IRA for her future. I mention this because I know we have some young parents on this forum. Start saving for your child's education early and often if you can. Fidelity and Vanguard have very good college savings programs that are invested in the market and get you a max return over the long run. You can help them avoid this debt mess with some planning.
Excellent advice on parents saving for college with 529 programs.
I actually think a big part of the problem with college debt today is indulged children who parents can't say no to and parents/guidance counselors who don't provide good college financial advice.
A guidance counselor or parent telling a kid that they should attend the school that feels right or is the best for their major of choice, regardless of cost, is providing stupid advice.
Parents taking out second mortgages to put their kids through college when they are within 10-20 years of retirement, is again stupid advice/decision making.
One of my sons has a friend who borrowed $110K to go to a local private school to major in history. Another borrowed $125 to go to a Chicago private school and major in religious studies. Both young men are complaining about their loan debt as unfair. Sorry, you made choices, you live with the consequences.
It's best to graduate debt-free but borrowing
responsibly for college is ok:
A good rule of thumb for an amount of debt upon graduation is to borrow no more than you can
realistically make in your first year of work with a degree in your chosen field.
Choose engineering, borrow 40-50K over 4 years.
Choose education, borrow no more than 30-35K.
Choose to major in the Classics, you better not borrow much as their aren't many jobs that ask for a degree in the classics.