If college sent you into the real world last year saddled with $10,000 in student loan debt, take solace in the realization that there is someone out there who owes $40,000 in order to average things out. A newly released study found that the average balance of a student who took out loans and graduated in 2010 was $25,250 — a 5 percent increase from the previous year.
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I'm not really sure what happened to higher education after I passed through it. I worked during the day and paid (myself) for college classes in the evening. I only signed up for what I could afford. Yes, it took me longer than others but I owed nobody when I finished.
ReplyDeleteWhat changed?
College used to be about higher education. It's just another racket these days. They sell a piece of paper for 5 figures now.
ReplyDelete7:51, costs have been shooting up but the wages for those jobs you worked with a HS degree aren't.
ReplyDeleteThey get government funding and yet the prices are out of control, But alas they are run by liberals
ReplyDeleteSome food for thought. I have an advanced degree....more than 4 yr college degree. I was lucky and got a free ride for college and went to night school while working paying for grad school many years ago. Things have changed with higher education. The costs have gone sky high and I attribute this to several factors including the teachers' unions. Rather than sending a child to college today, I would suggest they get a job doing what ever interests them and start an investment account for them by contributing the average annual cost of college (tuition, room, board) for 4 years. After 4 years give them the following options: 1) go to college paid in full 2) take the money and purchase/open a business 3) continue to work at whatever they want to and invest the money along with an annual contribution by them. Assuming 100K invested in an IRA at age 22 they would have almost 2 million at age 60. Not many college grads will have a nest egg of that much with their 4 yr degree.
ReplyDeleteMy boyfriend and I each graduated with $100,000. Yes, EACH. I laugh at $40,000. Our student loans equal a mortgage payment.
ReplyDeleteThe costs have grown at much faster pace than the economy. The cost is at a higher percentage of a family's income now then ever before. I think colleges get away with it because almost anyone can be approved for student loans so it seems like "easy money" when it used to be students would work all summer to pay tuition. It can't be done like that anymore unless you live at home and go to a local school and even then it would be tough.
ReplyDeleteWe need to stop all this "every kid should go to college" BS.
ReplyDeleteAlot of young adults need to look into smaller community colleges or other programs where they can learn to become skilled laborers.
829-you hit it right on the nose. The business community is starved for skilled labor, who in most cases after technical school or an apprenticeship, make just as much(with usually better benefits) then those who graduate from a 4 year school.
ReplyDelete710-It's all about where you go to school. Look at schools in other states, where you can go to a Div-I school for less then you would pay to attend SU. Live there for a year, then you get in-state. A lot of kids are doing it nowadays.