# Anybody have overwhelming student loan debt?



## GinningPuma4011 (Aug 22, 2013)

Lucky Luciano said:


> Ooh I am lucky to live in Finland, I don´t have to worry about that stuff.


My godmother lives in Norway. My mother used to have a suitor from Norway. Sometimes I think my mother made the wrong choice and should've immigrated and followed my godmother to Scandinavia or somewhere else in Western Europe instead of the US.


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## Spanks (Dec 8, 2013)

I'm going to have an estimated $28k in debt to pay off by the time I graduate. I'm going to be getting paid well though so it doesn't matter much, it'll get paid off. I won't lose sleep over it. Luckily, my parents cover a lot of costs for me at the moment but I'm going to pay them back, too.


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## dragthewaters (Feb 9, 2013)

I was very fortunate to graduate with zero debt. I come from a family that would be considered lower middle class in my city, but my grandpa had a friend who was very good with the stock market, so from his advice he was able to save up a nest egg in addition to his generous city pension. When my grandpa died my mom got a whole bunch of money from that and she saved it for her retirement and so I could go to college. I went to a top college but in a program that was partially funded by my state, so I got a 50% tuition discount for living in-state. It was around 20K a year and housing was around 5K (I lived off campus since it was way cheaper than the dorms).

However, I never would have gone into excessive student loan debt even if my mom couldn't afford to pay. I would either get financial aid or go to a state school which is around 5K/year. If the university model is still in place by the time I have kids and they're college-age, I am not going to pay for anything more expensive than what state schools would cost.

I think college is the biggest scam in America. I graduated with a STEM degree, a good GPA and extensive prestigious internship experience and it didn't help me land a good job at all. There was minimal advising at my school, and the career counselors were stupidly optimistic in any case. I didn't care about any of those stupid clubs or activities or any of that crap -- I can do that on my own for much less than what it would cost me at college. All I was basically paying for was a name on a piece of paper. I never would have gone to my college if my mom didn't force me to go.


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## Fleetfoot (May 9, 2011)

Wow. I'm amazed that some of the debt numbers you have you consider to be overwhelming. 

I'm in 30k of debt once I graduate, which is nothing compared to most of my peers. I've been praised by them now for being financially wise, when before they sort of snickered and wondered why I would be going to a school this cheap when I have the potential to go somewhere "great". Well, that's why I didn't go somewhere great, so I would be in great debt like them. 

I don't necessarily think that's bad though. I'd rather have no debt. But within the next ten years I'm thinking something is going to be done about college debt here since its becoming such a major issue, so I'll just pay the minimum until then.


I've also been trying to see it another way, in terms of job happiness and overall pay. If I never attended college, and decided to work hard and move up ranks from the bottom of a retail job, I could be making a decent amount of money, but it would never be something I enjoy doing. Now, with my degree, I can start out at the same amount as a retail manager and have a lot of opportunities to increase my salary every year doing something that I enjoy doing more. If I have to pay 150 a month in order to do that, then that's perfectly fine with me. Because once the payment is done and I receive the paycheck, I still have more money doing what I enjoy doing rather than working hard for four to five years earning less. 

I also really did enjoy most of my college experience, and have learned a lot from it as well...much more than working could possibly do for me. I don't regret my second choice in college, but if I could redo the first choice (which will forever remain to be the biggest regret of my life) I would in a heartbeat. I've never been so disdainful of wealthy entitled young adult hipsters who look down on everyone that isn't them.

Some of my friends are in six digits just for their undergrad...and I sit here and wonder did they just not ever think about it, or anything? It's never going to get paid off considering the field they're entering.


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## username123 (May 21, 2013)

I know I'm in a lot of debt, but I haven't looked at the numbers. I've just blindly taken out loans, so until I graduate next year, it's like monopoly money to me. I'm scared of it, though! I think repaying loans is income-contingent now, though, right?


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## PowerShell (Feb 3, 2013)

username123 said:


> I know I'm in a lot of debt, but I haven't looked at the numbers. I've just blindly taken out loans, so until I graduate next year, it's like monopoly money to me. I'm scared of it, though! I think repaying loans is income-contingent now, though, right?


I think they might have some sort of programs for repayment but I think you still have to pay everything back unless you go into some special programs like the Peace Corps or something. Personally, I think everyone should pay every penny back. It's kind of interesting and appalling how people, such as yourself, completely ignore money you are borrowing.


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## username123 (May 21, 2013)

PowerShell said:


> I think they might have some sort of programs for repayment but I think you still have to pay everything back unless you go into some special programs like the Peace Corps or something. Personally, I think everyone should pay every penny back. It's kind of interesting and appalling how people, such as yourself, completely ignore money you are borrowing.


Sorry, I meant that the amount you have to pay back at a time is income-contingent, not how much you have to pay back. You definitely have to pay back all of it. And I ignore the money, but I guess not entirely since I choose to let my parents handle it. I figure they wouldn't screw me over.


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## owlet (May 7, 2010)

Well, I just missed the year the UK pulled all the money out of universities and the fees went up to £9,000 per year, so I'm not too badly off for student loans (I'll average about £20,000 by the end of the 4 years, seeing as I got them cut down to almost nothing for my year abroad). I won't have to start paying back the loan until i'm earning over £15k a year either. However, I also want (and kind of need) to do an MA and I worked out that will cost £9,000 of which I have about £2,000 and all of it has to be paid for by me, unless I qualify for a scholarship.


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## Swordsman of Mana (Jan 7, 2011)

I'm getting a degree in accounting to avoid this being a big issue.


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## All in Twilight (Oct 12, 2012)

Swordsman of Mana said:


> I'm getting a degree in accounting to avoid this being a big issue.


So first you create a debt by doing a study that teaches you how to pay that debt.


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## Swordsman of Mana (Jan 7, 2011)

All in Twilight said:


> So first you create a debt by doing a study that teaches you how to pay that debt.


in addition to making $60,000 a year, yeah


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## All in Twilight (Oct 12, 2012)

Swordsman of Mana said:


> in addition to making $60,000 a year, yeah


But isn't that what studying is about? I mean, you invest in yourself so you borrow a big chunk of money because you think it will pay off sooner or later, you don't need to study accountancy for that. Unless you want to stay really really poor so you study anthropology and later you see yourself working in the archives at the bank. That bank that initially lend you the money bwahahaha!!


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## FallingSlowly (Jul 1, 2013)

Thankfully not too bad.

First degree in a country where studying isn't just for the financially privileged (i.e. in comparison, just a rather low administration fee every year).
Second degree funded through savings/working part-time and a part-scholarship (arts-related, had to jump through a few hoops for that ).
Third one a bit of a write-off because I decided not to finish, but the amount I need to pay back (as in how much it costs me monthly) doesn't break the bank.


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## McSwiggins (Apr 2, 2013)

Student loan debt is a concerning issue to me because I see so many young people wreck their lives by taking out too much debt to obtain useless degrees (sorry arts and science majors, but it's true). "Useless" meaning that the degree does not confer economic benefit on the degree holder. I have three college degrees, and I took out student loan debt for all of them. Here's what I've seen in my life, and the lives of my colleagues and friends: 

You should have no problem paying back student loans if your total amount of debt is less than your annual salary. You can take out more debt if your an accounting major with a $60k starting salary, than, say a music ed major who will be lucky to be working in that field rather than at Starbucks. If you're a student, do tons of research on what your *actual* job prospects are and what your starting salary will likely be. Don't take out more total debt than that number. It's not worth it. And don't just listen to the guidance counselor at your school. They are dip-wits that are just tying to sell you on the "value" of your "education." Also, if you're in school, you can select your repayment period if you have U.S. government loans. The longer the period (e.g. 20 or 30 years), the lower your monthly payment will be. With lower monthly payments, you can make double or triple payments when times are good, and dial it back to minimum payments when things are tight. The default repayment period is 10 years, but you can get a longer period if you ask for it. But you must make that election before you exit the university. It can be more difficult to change the repayment plan once the payments begin. 

If your debt is already more than your salary, that's ok, it just takes more effort to pay it back. E.g. your monthly payment will require sacrifices elsewhere -- like where you can live, what type of car you can drive, how often you can go out to eat, etc. If you can, refinance your loans over the long run, like I explained above. Once you're in the repayment period, a re-fi will have to be through a private provider. The U.S. government will not re-fi your loans for you. Private lenders are in the business of making money, so it takes legwork to negotiate a deal that's good for you, but it can make a huge difference in life satisfaction if you can get breathing room from you monthly payments. 

In total, I've taken out more than $100k in student loans, although not all at once, and I've never had total debt that was more than my annual salary. Before the recession, I refinanced all of my debt into a long payment term at a ridiculously low interest rate (like 3% or something stupid-low like that), and now my monthly payment is less than my car payment. I have heard that refinancing options are much more limited after the recession, so you'll have to do some research and legwork to find the right opportunity. But with Google these days, the power is at your fingertips.


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## FallingSlowly (Jul 1, 2013)

@McSwiggins
I agree with everything you've said, apart from one minor adjustment:

I'm an arts major who earns a rather decent amount (more than with my science degree, I agree on that one ). So it definitely has conferred economic benefit on me. The problem is that there's virtually no degree these days that provides you with any guarantees.

You're right though: You need to have realistic expectations and plan ahead.


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## Gato de Chino (Dec 16, 2013)

It's really frustrating cause I have a small 5k loan, but I dont even have a job to pay it off yet


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## Aryn2 (Jul 25, 2013)

This thread has been so helpful! I'm still in the beginning of my college years and at a community college. I've paid my way so far on my own without aid or scholarships, but I'll transfer soon and I'm trying to prepare for when I won't be able to afford everything on my own. 

Thank you everyone who replied! Especially @McSwiggins


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