Is college worth the debt?

[alwaysgrowing]

degree-not-worth-debt-cnnmoney: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

After reading the article above, I was wondering everyone's opinion on college. The article itself is negative about college. Although I think part of it is the lack of planning by most people at 17, which is to be expected. I do not believe many 17 year olds understand the crushing debt load of 100,000+ with no asset to sell to pay for it.

Myself, when I returned to school, I had the option of a top private school vs. a state college (with some free cash). As I knew I would be heading to law school, I chose the state college. Graduated debt free. Law school will be a different beast. But even there, I gave up a slightly higher ranked school (which would have crushed me with $240,000 in debt) for still a top school with debt load about half. Thus, college and education is worth the price IMO. But debt factor has to be an element of any decision. If I had not planned on going to law school, I would have chose a larger state research university over the private in order to save money but still have a employable degree from a respected college.

Unless you get into HYP, then you go there, debt be damned.

[decadecadeca]

I haven't read the article but let me take a guess...

Kids get bullshit liberal arts degrees and then bitch when they don't get hired at $50k the day after they graduate?

[alwaysgrowing]

I haven't read the article but let me take a guess...

Kids get bullshit liberal arts degrees and then bitch when they don't get hired at $50k the day after they graduate?

Erik Solecki

Student debt: $185,000
Degree: Bachelor's in industrial engineering from Kettering University

Was my college degree worth it? Hell no.

I graduated from one of the top engineering schools in the nation, thinking my starting salary would be between $70,000 and $80,000 a year.

Such a specialized, technical degree is supposed to lead to a great career, so I was willing to take out the debt.

Instead, I was hit with nine months of unemployment after graduating. And now that I finally have a job, I'm making about $15,000 a year less than I had hoped.

Even if I were able to afford the $1,800 payments each month, it will probably take me 30 years to pay off my student loans.

I engineer high-end autos. Ironically, I'll probably never be able to afford one.

[alwaysgrowing]

Although the above guy is whining despite making 55,000+. $185,000 worth of debt for undergrad engineering degree is a little crazy. Unless MIT, Cal Tech, etc were involved IMO

[decadecadeca]

Ok just read the "article"....one or two true science degrees and the rest are this...

"Student debt: $87,000
Degree: Bachelor's in graphic design from Full Sale University"

The fuck did he expect?

[decadecadeca]

Although the above guy is whining despite making 55,000+. $185,000 worth of debt for undergrad engineering degree is a little crazy. Unless MIT, Cal Tech, etc were involved IMO

No shit, $185k for undergrad just shows the kid was clueless from day one.

[decadecadeca]

The stats still don't lie, unemployment is lowest for those with a degree, any degree.

Combine that with the increase in lifetime earnings for college grads and it's still the safest bet you can make.

Just don't expect that poli-sci degree to get you in the big baller club.

[alwaysgrowing]

No shit, $185k for undergrad just shows the kid was clueless from day one.

Only way I could fathom paying that is if you are going to one of the top Ivies, Stanford, etc. And from my understanding, the only people who pay full price at those institutions are those who parents could afford to pay $50,000 per year many times over.

[decadecadeca]

[decadecadeca]

[blm]

A specialized degree from the best school in the nation vs a decent ranked school will get you no further in most scenarios. I do think its worth the debt for a proper degree, but the programs for degrees are antiquated ; so much time and money spent on bullshit 'filler' courses.

[Scrumhalf]

Dude thinks Kettering University is one of the top engineering schools in the nation? Lmao.....

And he is complaining about a 50+K job with a second tier engineering major like IE? I run a research department and we only hire PhDs from the top 20 schools - MIT, Stanford, Illinois, Cal, USC, Cornell, Caltech, etc. and I don't think their starting salaries are more than 80-90K.

[redback]

Over here we only have primary school and high school and then you go straight to university. When you do uni you acquire a hecs debt which you don't have to pay back until you are working and earning over $45 000 a year. Not sure if it is the same there? You guys have middle school there right?

[Bouncer]

I sold drugs and got rich with swagger.

LOL @ school!

[redback]

I sold drugs and got rich with swagger.

LOL @ school!

yeh but your still a dumb fuck