I was the oldest of the brood, and my parents didn't have any money, so I chose to go to SUNY whatever for something like $8k/year.
Graduated with $1,200 in debt, for my apartment deposit and repairs to my ancient car.
MANY of my friends who went to prestigious private schools got bait and switched on aid in their sophomore year and got stuck with loans that they are paying to this day.
I would take it if I had a rich father, but mine wasen't.
He liked to brag he was a well paid union electrician, but we seemed to barely get by. After taxes, and my mom's depression shopping. (She didn't spent much, but she needed to buy something everyday. She was clinically depressed before people knew about depression. Later in life when she got a job, the depression went away completely. She is now literally afraid to retire.) My father always said she was the reason he didn't have any saved money. It wasen't the tiny amount she was spending, it was taxes, bills, life, etc. We did have money for emergencies though. I remember the family dog, a dachshund, slipped a disc. My father walked in, and said no to the operation. We all started to cry, and he asked how much. He gulped, and he finally said yes. She lived another 7-8 years?
Oh yea, why wouldn't I take money from him to go to college?
I just didn't want any more stress to succeed back then. I was taking hard courses, but my father was working harder at his job. When he died, he told me thanks for not asking for money growing up. Yea, we had our differences, but I never felt indebted to him for any big decisions in my life. It was a liberating feeling at the time. Looking back, I could have used some help, but glad I didn't take it. I did take the student loans though.
Plus, going to college was easier in the 90's. The courses weren't easier, but the price was reasonable, or at least I thought. My biggest gripe was the cost of used books, and transportation to school. I still think if I had a reliable vechicle back then, my college life would have been easier. Later in life, I went to automotive school. One of the reasons was I just want to know how to work on vechicles the right way. It was still pretty cheap to go to a community college in the late 90's.
I got by cheaply by going to a state school, and working security jobs. Actually, my best college jobs were mini-storage assistant manager jobs. These mini-storages are 99% full. You just basically sit in an office, and walk the grounds every once in a while. I would get all my studying done on the job.
Cost of going to school back then was cheaper than today though. I repeated that because I see how you young graduates have been extorted.
And it definetly wasn't a party school. I don't remember one party, but then again it was a state school that was out in the boonies, and most of the students just wanted to graduate.
I still knew the worst day at school was better than working construction.
I assume you never worked construction? As someone living in a rural area, working outside, staying physically fit (honestly a huge factor for me), working in a different place (all local) every 6-months to 2-years, making a minimum of ~$35K (and more as you learn more skills and management know-how) is not so bad.
I'm not saying education is bad, not at all. I am saying be careful what you disparage...
I have a good friend of mine who moved locally from the Kansas City area. He was a union carpenter, electrician, and framer there, so he approached our union hall. They snagged him up the same day, and was out on site the next.
He has full benefits. 401k, insurance, vacation, sick pay, etc... And he works for the union hall. He decides the radius where he works, and gets paid 38-52k year, depending on the specifics of the job.
Contracts last here from 6 months-2 years, just because there is that much work available.
I've honestly given thought going down that path, purely because everywhere needs construction. It's damn useful for houses to high rises.
I consolidated but I know that some of mine were at 6.8% fixed thanks to this lovely change:
2006-07: Replacement of separate variable in-school/grace and repayment rates on the Stafford Loan with a single fixed rate of 6.8%. Replacement of variable interest rates on the PLUS Loan with a fixed rate of 8.5% (FFELP) and 7.9% (DL).
We're at 6.8% right now.
Consolidation loans also offer a longer repayment timeframe I believe. In this way if you make the payment amount small but pay double, the extra will be entirely on the loan principal.
Back when I consolidated SoFi (and probably others) didn't exist. It might be worth comparing rates and terms with them as well.
My British student loan, from the government, is currently at 0.9%. It's never been more than 5%. I have cash I could use to pay it off, but it earns more interest in a savings account. (And may be useful if I want an extra £12000 towards a house at some point.)
http://www.studentloanrepayment.co.uk/portal/page?_pageid=93...
My loan balance was $96k when I graduated 4 years ago. I have not made any real payments on it and the balance is now $125k from interest capitalization.
Note, I went to one of the lowest tuition schools in the nation for my grad program and lived at home with my parents the whole time.
Despite the statistics, there is no obvious choice here. Why are the wise old people encouraging young people to choose the path their generation just got screwed out of? This generation of students has only ever heard of our parents longterm careers getting vanished by computers or foreigners.
There are still many state schools w/ scholarships that are low priced; or upper tier schools if the family doesn't make enough money.
It's not like they're taking out loans to buy their way into Dartmouth. They're taking out reasonable amounts of money to go to a reasonable school to get a reasonable job.
The "unrealistic idealists" in this situation are the people who think it's the student's fault for planning on getting the job that was more or less promised to them by society. And when they are woken up by the fact that there aren't jobs waiting on the other end, the rhetoric seems to be, "these stupid kids listened to what every adult in the country told them for the first 18 years of their lives!"
It's shameful to act like kids should've known better than to pay for a quality education. What the hell kind of society actually places that blame on children?
Now, the alternative is the same thing. Now adults are telling kids to go to vocational schools. Okay. By the time they get established in those fields, those jobs will be gone too. Then we can blame the kids for listening to us again!
I'm doing fine now and paying back my loans. But I wish I better understood APRs and monthly payments and what those numbers actually meant in context.