Let's compare student debt! How much do you have?

[hejduk]

Just wanting to make myself fee either more comfortable (if you have more debt) or less comfortable (if you have less debt) about my own personal student debt. Always good to put in perspective.

How much did you finish with, or expect to, after getting your PhD?

[sacklunch]

I'll have about 60-70k after my masters. I have about 40k from UG (private) and another 20k from masters (private).

[hejduk]

About 80K after MA (mostly due to medical debt). Hope to put a damper on it, and not take out significantly as much during PhD. I've got dual income now (yay for marriage!), and will definitely be budgeting hardcore.

Edited April 30, 2011 by hejduk

[singlecell]

From undergrad I will have $5000 unsubsidized and $15,000 subsidized for a total of about $20,000.

[m.giugno]

I have no debt from UGrad (state public school in my country, almost free) and I hope to get no debt from Grad since I'm on an Assistantship.

[neuropsych76]

around 30k undergrad debt (private school, bad high school grades so limited scholarship)

but no graduate debt hopefully!

[cogneuroforfun]

hejduk, are you going for unfunded PhDs? Unless the stipend is very low in a high COL place, you really shouldn't need to go in debt for a PhD.

[hejduk]

hejduk, are you going for unfunded PhDs? Unless the stipend is very low in a high COL place, you really shouldn't need to go in debt for a PhD.

Funded for my PhD, but it is a high COL place. I don't expect to go into nearly as much debt, but we'll have to take out loans to help subsidize moving and some new furniture costs. I'm hoping to go no more than 10K more in debt over the next 4 years.

[Golden Monkey]

One of the effects of starting grad school 12ish years later than everyone else is the fact that I had money put away from all those years of working. So coming out of my master's, my debt is zero. My PhD is funded, but the stipend isn't enough to live on, so I imagine I'll be dipping into savings a bit, which I'm prepared for.

I didn't go to grad school for so many years because I looked at the finances every few years and thought, "I can't afford that!"

But finally at some point, I realized I could.

[Zouzax]

80K. will never be able to pay it off.

EDIT: well now I'm depressed. this is such a sad topic

Edited May 5, 2011 by Zouzax

[hejduk]

80K. will never be able to pay it off.

EDIT: well now I'm depressed. this is such a sad topic

You'll be able to pay it off! Just make sure to get on the Income-contigent repayment plan. It's over 30-years, and then full forgiveness, and the monthly payment is only 15% of your income (which is a lot I know, but still much more affordable than other options).

[natsteel]

I'll be finishing my UG with around $13,000. Not bad considering I didn't work for the last two years. Because I have a wife and 2 kids to support I expect to take another 15 over the course of the PhD and will probably finish with around $30,000.

[Gaijin Punch]

It's really interesting to see these types of numbers, and puts me at a bit of ease as a student who will just be entering their masters this fall. My biggest worry has not been the application process, or the stress of moving to a new city, but the tens of thousands of dollars of debt that I am about to incur.

I had 0 debt coming out of undergrad so this will be foreign territory for me. My goal is come out with less than $25,000, that would be ideal and something I could realistically pay off.

For those who have quite a bit of debt after finishing, do you feel in the end it was still worth getting your masters/phd even with the large amount of debt you are left with?

[hejduk]

For those who have quite a bit of debt after finishing, do you feel in the end it was still worth getting your masters/phd even with the large amount of debt you are left with?

While I'm starting my PhD this fall, and in no way done, I do feel it's been worth it. My debt is high as I had to take out a lot of $ due to health issues in undergrad. Academia is the only "industry" that will accommodate someone like myself with health issues. Flexible schedule, high yet bearable workload, and tons of time off: yes please! I tried the corporate world, and absolutely hated it. I've been an adjunct now for three semesters, and have been involved in research a lot lately too, and this choice is so much better than the "real world".

Edited May 7, 2011 by hejduk

[TomEH!]

2 years MA =

53,000 tuition

43,000 living expenses

------------

96,000

I am hoping for an inheritance to pay this off... Thinking of asking my Dad if he wants to go on a holiday to Switzerland with me. (oh, that's sick).

[fibonacci]

I feel sorry for you people that have more than $50 k in debt. You are probably NEVER going to pay it off. Your best bet it to work the next 10 years in a low paying public service job, then the government will forgive your debts. After interest, most of you with $50k loans will probably be paying closer to $75-100k total.

http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/IBRPlan.jsp

[Just me]

Right now, I have over $75K from just my bachelor's degree (from a substandard diploma mill). If I get loans for my master's degree, I will be around the $120K range. In other words, I will never ever be able to pay it off. And Sallie Mae doesn't even care if you're employed or not - I told them I made $1200 in one year and they STILL wanted almost $600 a month. Now how was I supposed to do that? Jerk-offs want as much money as fast as possible and they do not care even a little bit how broke you are.

And you can bet your last nickel I'm trying to find ways to get out of paying for it because that undergrad degree was not worth it whatsoever. I'm waiting to see if the alleged class-action lawsuit against my last college ever happens because I will absolutely be part of it. Otherwise, I may have to move out of the country when I can't afford the collective monthly debts from two colleges. Or injure myself in such a way that I am too disabled to do the work I was taught to do.

A word of advice: If you need a loan co-signer, have it be someone who will die soon after you leave college. I'm totally serious - private loans often require a co-signer and if that co-signer dies in repayment, those loans will get forgiven. So if great aunt Gertrude has terminal cancer when you go to school, be really nice to her and get her to sign. Sadly, there is now a statement in any student loan contract saying that loans cannot be forgiven if you get a piss-poor education.

[Eigen]

Right now, I have over $75K from just my bachelor's degree (from a substandard diploma mill). If I get loans for my master's degree, I will be around the $120K range. In other words, I will never ever be able to pay it off. And Sallie Mae doesn't even care if you're employed or not - I told them I made $1200 in one year and they STILL wanted almost $600 a month. Now how was I supposed to do that? Jerk-offs want as much money as fast as possible and they do not care even a little bit how broke you are.

And you can bet your last nickel I'm trying to find ways to get out of paying for it because that undergrad degree was not worth it whatsoever. I'm waiting to see if the alleged class-action lawsuit against my last college ever happens because I will absolutely be part of it. Otherwise, I may have to move out of the country when I can't afford the collective monthly debts from two colleges. Or injure myself in such a way that I am too disabled to do the work I was taught to do.

A word of advice: If you need a loan co-signer, have it be someone who will die soon after you leave college. I'm totally serious - private loans often require a co-signer and if that co-signer dies in repayment, those loans will get forgiven. So if great aunt Gertrude has terminal cancer when you go to school, be really nice to her and get her to sign. Sadly, there is now a statement in any student loan contract saying that loans cannot be forgiven if you get a piss-poor education.

You getting out of paying it simply ups the interest and difficulty of acquiring loans for all those who come behind you. And in the case of federal loans, all of us who pay taxes have already subsidized your education, and will be on the hook for it if you skip out on paying it as you intend to try to.

It's not the fault of the person who loaned you the money that you borrowed more than you can afford to pay back... It's not like it's a mystery or hard to figure out what the minimum payments will be or when you are required to start paying them. It is also not their fault that you chose to use the loan to pay large sums of money for an undergraduate degree that wasn't worth it.

Instead of advising people to "trick the system", it would be better to advise them to choose wisely when it comes to going very far into debt for an education, and to be wary of the quality of their institution and how well the degree they receive will allow them to pay it back.

I do think that it's amazing that after having this problem with debt for your bachelors that you're intending to pile even more money on top of it for a masters.

Edited May 22, 2011 by Eigen

[socialcomm]

One of the effects of starting grad school 12ish years later than everyone else is the fact that I had money put away from all those years of working. So coming out of my master's, my debt is zero. My PhD is funded, but the stipend isn't enough to live on, so I imagine I'll be dipping into savings a bit, which I'm prepared for.

I didn't go to grad school for so many years because I looked at the finances every few years and thought, "I can't afford that!"

But finally at some point, I realized I could.

This exactly.

[Just me]

Sadly, I know a lot of college grads are in the same boat as I am...craploads of debt they will never ever be able to pay off paired with rising unemployment rates, so the only chance a person might have at living a semi-normal life is to abandon all debt and leave the country. I'm sure this is a decision that will not be taken lightly by the person making it. Maybe schools should reconsider their tuition costs, or how much students are allowed to borrow. Sometimes you dig yourself into an inescapable hole of debt and the only way out is to run rather than pay. Sorry to the folks who have to pick up the slack, but when it's a matter of "I can't pay my debts AND my bills AND my rent," you have to let something suffer. I've also heard that sometimes, lender will be willing to settle...like if you owe $80K and you can come up with a lump sum of $30K, they'll forgive the rest. I have also heard that if loans are not repaid in full by the time 30 years have passed, the remainder gets forgiven. If this is true, I may be debt-free by the time I am in my mid-fifties.

I'm only being a realist. Let's face it - a lot of people get useless degrees or educations from lousy schools because they were dumb teenagers who went to the first school that accepted them. Yes, we made mistakes. No, some mistakes cannot be fixed. So does that mean those of us who made such mistakes are obligated to live forever in poverty, with ruined credit and unable to rent an apartment, get a credit card, buy a vehicle, or do anything that requires stellar credit? Perhaps those diplomas with the five-figure price tags can be used to line one's clothing when they are homeless, living in a box and eating breadsticks out of an Olive Garden dumpster.

Okay, here's some better advice: Use income-based repayment options if you're broke. I think they take 15 percent of your yearly salary, so if you don't make much or are unemployed, you won't have to pay anything. If the income-based monthly payment is higher than the standard one, then go with the standard one. Or better yet, go to college overseas where foreign students can attend for free. The way I personally see it is if you cannot get debt forgiven and you cannot afford to repay what you owe on top of other living expenses, then trick the system as a last resort if it means being able to have a roof over your head and food in your stomach. Sometimes you have to take drastic measures to fix your mistakes.

[ZeeMore21]

I feel sorry for you people that have more than $50 k in debt. You are probably NEVER going to pay it off. Your best bet it to work the next 10 years in a low paying public service job, then the government will forgive your debts. After interest, most of you with $50k loans will probably be paying closer to $75-100k total.

http://studentaid.ed...ish/IBRPlan.jsp

I think people feel bad enough without you having to say this.

[qbtacoma]

I think people feel bad enough without you having to say this.

Debbie Downer there is a doomsday troll. Please ignore.

I do think that I would have made some different choices if I hadn't gone to college right out of high school, but I am overall satisfied with what my education got me. I chose to go to a private school and am about $28,000 in debt, but I got out of my education exactly what I wanted - small classes, lots of attention from professors, opportunities for research and meaningful activism on campus, staff support, and nice recommendations for grad school. However, I was relatively lucky in that I knew that I would want to pursue further degrees beyond undergrad, and my particular school was good. That's what made it worth it for me, but I recognize that my situation is special.

So much about higher education is about reputation and what we are "supposed" to get out of our educations rather than reality, so I don't blame people for getting in over their heads. My sister went to a private college (before dropping out, thankfully!) which cost the same amount as mine but which was a total piece of shit school. And her debt is way too high for it. She was mistreated or ignored in almost every possible way, but how could she have known before she went there?

For the folks that have a lot of debt, I would emphasize that it doesn't mean you are in terrible straights, even though it feels like this thing is hanging over you. I think about my debt sort of like a benign health condition: I need to be able to make enough money to pay for my "medication" (loan payments), which does limit the choices I can make (for example, as long as I have my "health condition" I cannot spend money on travel). However, I don't resent or fear my debt; it is a reality of the way I will have to manage my financial life for the next few years, but I will "heal" from my condition at some point.

[ZeeMore21]

Such a great and helpful post, I think you discussed student debt situations perfectly, thanks.

Debbie Downer there is a doomsday troll. Please ignore.

I do think that I would have made some different choices if I hadn't gone to college right out of high school, but I am overall satisfied with what my education got me. I chose to go to a private school and am about $28,000 in debt, but I got out of my education exactly what I wanted - small classes, lots of attention from professors, opportunities for research and meaningful activism on campus, staff support, and nice recommendations for grad school. However, I was relatively lucky in that I knew that I would want to pursue further degrees beyond undergrad, and my particular school was good. That's what made it worth it for me, but I recognize that my situation is special.

So much about higher education is about reputation and what we are "supposed" to get out of our educations rather than reality, so I don't blame people for getting in over their heads. My sister went to a private college (before dropping out, thankfully!) which cost the same amount as mine but which was a total piece of shit school. And her debt is way too high for it. She was mistreated or ignored in almost every possible way, but how could she have known before she went there?

For the folks that have a lot of debt, I would emphasize that it doesn't mean you are in terrible straights, even though it feels like this thing is hanging over you. I think about my debt sort of like a benign health condition: I need to be able to make enough money to pay for my "medication" (loan payments), which does limit the choices I can make (for example, as long as I have my "health condition" I cannot spend money on travel). However, I don't resent or fear my debt; it is a reality of the way I will have to manage my financial life for the next few years, but I will "heal" from my condition at some point.

[far_to_go]

I have only 15k remaining in subsidized debt from my MA, out of what was originally 17k (had full scholarships for BA). Looking back, I'm not sure that my MA really advanced my career/academic goals all that much, but it was a very happy time in my life and I did learn quite a bit; the most valuable thing I learned was that I did, indeed, want to go on for a PhD and career in academia. Is that worth 17k of debt? We'll see, I guess.

[Zencarrot]

I have no debt from completing my undergrad or Masters. Every summer I worked on a drill rig for 8-12 weeks and earned enough money after taxes to support myself each year while working part time during the school year.

I have a herniated disc and bad knees from the work though, and no relevant work experience in my field (except RAships). Just a tradeoff.