Paid off the student loan

[disneysteve]

We took a $15,000 Parent PLUS loan for college last year. It was disbursed the first week of September 2016. I just made the final payment!

That is the only money my wife and I borrowed for 4 years of college.

Our daughter borrowed a total of $15,000 herself and has already repaid about $5,000 of it (I don't know the exact figure as she handles it herself). By the time she graduates in May, she will have repaid another $3,200 leaving her a balance of right around $7,000. She should be able to knock that out in 18 months or less depending on how quickly she gets herself a job. So within 2 years of graduation, she should be student debt free.

Not too shabby.

[Singuy]

Those were the days...

How much was your medical school? The total cost of my pharmacy school was 36k for 4 years of tuition. Of course some scholarship offset that number to be around 28k. This was back in 2003-2007. Now pharmacy school cost 28k/year. My wife's optometry degree cost her a cool 110k. Once you factor in living expenses and interest, she ended up with 176k coming out.

School is no joke..I have been telling pre-pharms to stay away..it's idiotic to spend 200k on tuition/living expenses/interest for a 120k/year job.

[disneysteve]

How much was your medical school?

I wish I knew the answer to this. I have to dig through and see if I have that info somewhere. I'm curious too.

I know that I borrowed 14K for undergrad and finished med school with 102K in debt but that wasn't all for tuition. It was for living expenses too. And my parents helped as much as they were able.

I'm surprised pharmacy school is only 28K/year. Most colleges are more than that. My daughter's school is about 52K/year.

[greenskeeper]

_____

[Singuy]

I wish I knew the answer to this. I have to dig through and see if I have that info somewhere. I'm curious too.

I know that I borrowed 14K for undergrad and finished med school with 102K in debt but that wasn't all for tuition. It was for living expenses too. And my parents helped as much as they were able.

I'm surprised pharmacy school is only 28K/year. Most colleges are more than that. My daughter's school is about 52K/year.

I was referring to instate tuition. Out of state is around 50k...which is INSANE!

[bjl584]

What is your daughter majoring in?
Does she have any prospects for jobs or an idea of a starting salary?

[disneysteve]

I was referring to instate tuition. Out of state is around 50k...which is INSANE!

DD's school doesn't differentiate in-state and out-of-state. Tuition is the same for everyone (it's a private school, not a state school).

[disneysteve]

What is your daughter majoring in?
Does she have any prospects for jobs or an idea of a starting salary?

She will have an English major and dual minors in American Studies and Philosophy. She is looking to get involved with a non-profit organization in some capacity. Being a writer, it may be doing publicity, press releases, marketing materials, etc. She has always done a lot of volunteer work and would like to continue along that path but in a paid position. She also does a lot of video editing work and would love to find a job that incorporates that, too.

She is already pretty involved with a couple of non-profits and will apply for positions with them as well as with others in the area.

I don't know what a potential salary would be. Nothing extravagant for sure. As long as she can pay her bills, she'll be fine. We're not throwing her out - yet .

[Singuy]

She will have an English major and dual minors in American Studies and Philosophy. She is looking to get involved with a non-profit organization in some capacity. Being a writer, it may be doing publicity, press releases, marketing materials, etc. She has always done a lot of volunteer work and would like to continue along that path but in a paid position. She also does a lot of video editing work and would love to find a job that incorporates that, too.

She is already pretty involved with a couple of non-profits and will apply for positions with them as well as with others in the area.

I don't know what a potential salary would be. Nothing extravagant for sure. As long as she can pay her bills, she'll be fine. We're not throwing her out - yet .

So you find it acceptable if a student spends over 50-100k in 4 years and end up making 20k/year as long as the parents foot the bill?

[MooseBucks]

So you find it acceptable if a student spends over 50-100k in 4 years and end up making 20k/year as long as the parents foot the bill?

I don't think 20k a year pays the bills?

[Singuy]

I don't think 20k a year pays the bills?

I think Disneysteve is saying "paying her bills" at their house...meaning as long as she holds her weight paying for her personal bills only since they are not throwing her out.

[disneysteve]

So you find it acceptable if a student spends over 50-100k in 4 years and end up making 20k/year as long as the parents foot the bill?

I think Disneysteve is saying "paying her bills" at their house...meaning as long as she holds her weight paying for her personal bills only since they are not throwing her out.

Success is not measured solely by the size of your paycheck.

And no, that isn't exactly what I was saying. My comment about not throwing her out meant that if it takes her some time to find her way and get settled in a job, we're happy to have her stay with us until she is financially ready to get her own place. But I do expect her to pay her own expenses and contribute to household expenses to some extent.

I've probably mentioned this but our daughter has some significant mental health issues that she struggles with. Graduating from college in 4 years, graduating Cum Laude at that with a major and dual minors, and being inducted into two national honor societies is a huge accomplishment for any student, and even more so for her.

And again, with all of the talk about students and parents getting buried with student loan debt, she will graduate with only about 7K of debt herself and DW and I will have zero college-related debt.

As for her income after college, no, I don't expect her to be making 20K. That would be less than $10/hr. I'm sure she can get something for $15-20/hr to start. She receives another $7,500/year from a legal settlement. If she comes out of school with a starting total income of about 40K, I think she'd be doing just fine. Like I said, she'll only have 7K of debt. She can knock that out in a year. Her car is paid for and she doesn't carry a balance on her credit card.

We're very proud of what she has accomplished and how far she has come. A few years ago, I wasn't sure she would make it through 4 years of college. now she's less than 8 months from graduation. Maybe it doesn't meet your definition of success but it sure meets ours.

[Singuy]

Success is not measured solely by the size of your paycheck.

And again, with all of the talk about students and parents getting buried with student loan debt, she will graduate with only about 7K of debt herself and DW and I will have zero college-related debt.

Steve my comment is solely financial related and you have misunderstood me if you thought I've attacked your daughter or her accomplishments.

We currently have a "student loan crisis". I like to dig deep to see what is the cause of certain financial hardship of individuals. You mentioned that she will graduate with only 7k of debt going to a private university for 4 years. This is a very unrealistic number that can only be accomplished by good planners(parents) who foot most of the bill. This is not a good representation of the U.S population or the readers seeking for savings advice.

So the question still stand, do you find it acceptable to spend between 100-150k after living expenses for 4 years to ultimately make 40k/year(and according to you, this sounds hopeful)? Does it become only unacceptable to you if this 100-150k was borrowed money? Is there a line to be drawn?

[disneysteve]

We currently have a "student loan crisis". I like to dig deep to see what is the cause of certain financial hardship of individuals. You mentioned that she will graduate with only 7k of debt going to a private university for 4 years. This is a very unrealistic number that can only be accomplished by good planners(parents) who foot most of the bill. This is not a good representation of the U.S population or the readers seeking for savings advice.

So the question still stand, do you find it acceptable to spend between 100-150k after living expenses for 4 years to ultimately make 40k/year(and according to you, this sounds hopeful)? Does it become only unacceptable to you if this 100-150k was borrowed money? Is there a line to be drawn?

I think a big piece of the student loan "crisis" is people doing things they just can't afford. It's really no different than the housing crisis or the credit card debt crisis.

We were able to send our daughter to a private university without her or us racking up a ton of debt. We could send her there and still pay our bills, save for retirement, and stay on track with other goals. If we couldn't do that, she would not have gone to that school. She would have gone somewhere cheaper that we could afford without a ton of debt.

So do I think it's okay to spend 100-150K to end up with a starting salary of 40K? Yes, obviously I do. Would it be okay to borrow that much in student loans to get that result? No, I don't. There's a rule of thumb (which it seems few actually follow) saying you shouldn't borrow more than your anticipated first year salary, so that would far exceed that.

As with everything else, there's nothing wrong with getting an expensive education IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT. It you have to borrow a boatload of money to do it, you CAN'T afford it.

[moneybags]

So the question still stand, do you find it acceptable to spend between 100-150k after living expenses for 4 years to ultimately make 40k/year(and according to you, this sounds hopeful)? Does it become only unacceptable to you if this 100-150k was borrowed money? Is there a line to be drawn?

I agree with disneysteve. It is acceptable if you can afford it, unacceptable if you have to borrow that much money. I would never borrow $150K for college. There are cheaper options out there.

In terms of the earning potential upon graduation, I encouraged my kids to pick a degree that (in my opinion) will most likely earn them a higher salary.