I grew up relatively poor but was encouraged by my high school teachers to attend a nearby private undergraduate university, which at the time (2005) was $40k/year. Even as a 17-year-old I was worried about carrying a lifetime of debt. My parents weren't involved at all in the situation (neither having gone to college and not particularly concerned with my choices -- long story), so these teachers were the trusted adults I turned to for advice. They universally said, "the degree will pay for itself! Don't worry about the debt!" I did get some financial aid and scholarships, but now 7 years post graduation my total debt is still around $50k, with about $44k of that being federal loans.

Just an anecdote of someone who not only wasn't educated about the options, but actively encouraged to ignore them.

I was in a similar boat, but picked the cheaper state school (which now, btw, is not cheap 15 years later).

I think, realistically, the only benefit I maybe missed out on at a more expensive school is that I could have (completely anecdotally) met a larger, richer network. And now, I would be using said contacts in that network to get me better job(s). For example, I've seen perfectly regular people come out of Cornell and they just mint money.

On the other hand, investing in a network doesn't stop at college, so it can be overcome in various ways.

Perhaps unsurprisingly I got my current job because the owner of the company is the brother of one of my professors.

I guess what I find most disappointing in retrospect was that I wasn't encouraged to research further out from the local area. My original comment may have been a bit hyperbolized in that clearly I knew about state schools, but my idea of what constituted a "state college" was influenced by the three within an hour drive of where I grew up. In my state's college system these three also happen to rank toward the bottom of most lists in terms of job placement and campus quality of life. I toured two of them and wasn't exactly impressed. So belief became that "state college" meant "cheap college", as in the degree would be worthless. Again, this is the naivete of a rural-raised 17 year old.

In the summer before my final year at my expensive university, I did a "Research Experience for Undergraduates" internship thing at one of my state's larger research universities and was blown away by how different (and better) it was compared to the state schools I was familiar with. I was 21 at this point and had a better understanding that even though it was about a 7 hour drive from home, it really wasn't that far away, and if I had known about it when I was graduating high school it would've been doable.

For curiosity's sake, I just looked up what the tuition plus room and board for this state school, and in 2016 it's still less than half of what I paid for my school in 2005.

But that's all in the past. I think I got a decent, though not stellar, education from professors who genuinely seem to care (even now, as I stay in contact with a few), in addition to the networking opportunities. In the end I don't regret it, but I do try to advocate to my younger relatives that they should shop around and take the decision seriously, and of course ask me for guidance should they need it.

Fellow poor student checking in. My experience was roughly similar but I also didn't get any real advice from my high school. Basically left to work much of it out on my own.

You were supposed to meet a rich girl/guy at that college and be set for life. That you didn't understand the real game is whose fault?

I'll keep that in mind for my next reunion.

$6-$8k a year, including room and board...sounds like you're mistaken or haven't paid as close attention as you think. Back when I first went to my state school in 1999, you were right, but now, my school has jumped to $28k a year, in-state, for tuition + room and board. Source: http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl...

Also, I'm still paying off the loans from when I went back to school a five years ago. The jump in tuition after 10 years away from school was a major shock when I went back.

Then don't let them. Why is so much money being lent to such people? It's just usury.

That's not what usury means, because it's not illegal and it's not unreasonable high rates of interest. My highest student loan, which is private, is about 6%.

Also, who are you to tell someone that they can't go to a school if they can find someone to lend them the money to do it?

> My highest student loan, which is private, is about 6%.

If you're in the US and you don't think that rate is unreasonable, I'm curious as to why. We're talking about loans that cannot even be discharged in bankruptcy, in a 0% interest rate environment.

2007 was not a 0% interest rate environment.

Oh, that's an old loan. My sympathies.

But I'm paying roughly the same for loans taken out in the last five years. It's irritating.

Maybe the problem is not with the financing but with the product itself. Billions of dollars wasted on zero-sum games is a tragedy no matter who I am and no matter how legal it is.

If it is a zero-sum game, then you should be just as happy to not have an education, as long as you can live in a country where no-one else has one either. If you want to talk about billions of dollars, why don't we get rid of primary and secondary education too?

Speaking of primary and secondary education, I heard that in America people try to move to expensive neighborhoods when they have kids because those have the best schools.

That part is also a zero-sum game, because all parents work harder to afford the best neighborhoods and that makes the price of living in those neighborhoods go up, leaving everyone right where they started only they now work two jobs instead of one.

Decoupling property tax from school funding can help with that. In Universities, a system that is free but only accepts the people with the best grades, IQ, or some arbitrary qualification can help, but brings its own problems.

6% for a US private education loan? How does 9% sound instead?

My best investments are the raises I get when paying off my student loans ahead of schedule.

For the sake of one-upping you, mine were at 10%. Those were the first thing I attacked once I got out of school.

Except that most loans are for things that you can liquidate if you get into financial trouble.

I would probably go the CC route today, but when I was in high school the risk of not being able to transfer into a good school for whatever reason outweighed the cost.