Student loans

[buckweaver]

In <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/us/08default.html?em&ex=1178856000&en=95de6d8930e03b64&ei=5087%0A">this NYT story</a> on culinary school graduates, I read the following stat:

But would-be top chefs face a challenge that most lawyers, engineers or nurses do not: few jobs in their chosen field pay enough for them to retire their student loans. As a result, as many as 11 percent of graduates at some culinary schools are defaulting on federal student loans. The national average for all students last year was roughly half that, at 5.1 percent.

Obviously, this is a problem that many in our profession also face: You pay so much for the degree, but your entry-level job(s) barely pays you enough to make it worth your while.

Does anyone know where I could find a similar statistic about J-school graduates and their student loans?

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

Interest rate is lower on student loan consolidations than it's been in 40 years.

People who are defaulting are not making an effort to pay. These organizations are unusually lenient and understanding of hardship, especially in these times, and a comfy forebearance is not hard to acquire.

 

[KG]

Interest rate is lower on student loan consolidations than it's been in 40 years.

People who are defaulting are not making an effort to pay. These organizations are unusually lenient and understanding of hardship, especially in these times, and a comfy forebearance is not hard to acquire.

I have to disagree with you there. My student loan payments are $441 a month. The only way they'll give a damn about me and cut me a break is if I go back to school and start racking up even more debt with them.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

... suck, once you spend all the money

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

Kathy, consolidate. Are they federal and state? Ask for assistance. You can't give them what you don't have.

I came to develop a beautiful relationship with these people, on a first-name basis. Friends close, enemies closer, that kinda thing. Mine are less than a hundred a month, and at a 3.9 percent interest rate. Granted, I'll be paying the bastards for the rest of my life, but it's affordable and there's no way in hell they'll ever get all of it. Because I ain't going to live that long.

 

[Taylee]

It was a beautiful day and a drunken evening five years ago when I sent in my last payment of $184.

 

[John]

Why do they use the word "retired" for loans?

 

[Ace]

The culinary school story is scary, though. You wrack up $50,000 or so to get a degree from some fancy cooking school and the restaurants laugh at you and offer you $10 an hour.

At least in journalism they don't laugh at you when they offer $10 an hour.

 

[BTExpress]

Why do they use the word "retired" for loans?

Because people who spend their lives racking up debt are usually in retirement homes when the loans are finally paid off?

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

If journalism required professional licensing, like the best cooks have (and who duly display in a prominent place in the restaurant), then educated people might not be forced to live on such chickenfeed salaries.

But that's another argument altogether.

 

[jfs1000]

Jackson, you are right about consolidation, but it isn't that easy anymore. I don't know your age, but if you are over 35 years old most don't have any idea how expensive college has gotten.

From someone who is struggling with student loans 7 years out of college it is either a high payment or 20 years of bills.

My wife and I have a combined $50,000 in student loans (FROM A STATE SCHOOL!!!). We are paying roughly $400 a month for 20 years at a low consolidated rate.

We will be done with them by the time we are 45 years old. This is ridiculous. We can't afford a mortgage on a house in our area because I don't make enough when you add in the student loan debt. If we could put $400 to mortgage, that is about half of our mortgage payment right now at a cndo, and would be a third of our payment on the home we would like to buy.

That is a huge slice of our finances.

I know people who are just entering the profession who get paid $25,000 who can't take the job because of a $300 a month loan payment. Add in housing and a car loan and how it soon doesn't add up.

If you went to a private college and didn't get daddy to pay for it (wish I did), you are looking at $40,000 a year to pay. Some of that will be grants, but I know of one person who has $80,000 in student loans coming out of school.

A 10 year payment of that at 4.5% is still over $800 a month.

Hell, a lot of people have $40,000 in debt, and that is $414 a month over 10 years. If you consolidate to 20 years, it is $253 a month. THAT IS A DECENT USED CAR PAYMENT FOR 20 YEARS?

Who here can afford $400 a month just in education expense whil making $30,000 a year?

Student loans eat up 16 PERCENT of your salary in that scenario.

I would say defaulting may be the best option for some people.

 

[Riddick]

What I did was enrolled in a spanish class at a junior college. It cost the price of two months of student loan paments, but got them off my back for like a year or two. gave me time to get a better job and eliminate some debt.

 

[CapeCodder]

Kathy, consolidate. Are they federal and state? Ask for assistance. You can't give them what you don't have.

I came to develop a beautiful relationship with these people, on a first-name basis. Friends close, enemies closer, that kinda thing. Mine are less than a hundred a month, and at a 3.9 percent interest rate. Granted, I'll be paying the bastards for the rest of my life, but it's affordable and there's no way in hell they'll ever get all of it. Because I ain't going to live that long.

LJB, I think we found something we can agree on. I consolidated my student loans, and it was one of the best moves I ever made. Got my payments way down. Stretched it out, but the payments are now completely manageable.

 

[KG]

Thanks for explaining jfs. A lot of people don't realize how difficult it's become. I've been lectured by so many people about how coming in to a career, especially in this industry, you have to be willing to work for a low salary until you "pay your dues" and work your way up. That's fine with me, but when the pay is so low that I have to push the limits and pay the bills at the last possible minute, just to get by, it sucks.
(Although coming up with creative ways to do it can be fun)

It's a subject that is slowly starting to be acknowledged, but for the most part is still being blamed on a bunch of 'lazy' generation X's as if they irresponsibly racked up the debt. We were preached to over and over (in middle and high school) about how times have changed and we no longer have a "choice" like our parents did on whether or not to go to college. Well wouldn't you know it...the slacker X's listened and now we (the ones who didn't get it paid for by our parents or scholarships) are stuck with a bill we cannot handle. For that we are chastised because we should have been more responsible and not racked up that kind of debt. It's that or we are lazy and are not trying to pay it off.

I'm sorry, I'm just bitter about it. To no ones fault but my own, I waited a few years after high school to go to college. When I did go, I never could get any scholarships even though the lowest grade I received the whole time was an A-. It seems I didn't fall into any categories on the specs list. Grrrrr Ok I'm done with that part.

I know it will eventually all pay off, but right now it is difficult. I would never discourage anyone from going to college, especially based on the trials of paying off student loans. I would however discourage people who will have to pay it back on their own from going to any school that costs more than another one from their options that would pretty much give the same educational results.

On that note, how important do some of you think the actual school you go to really is when it comes to your career? Do many employers really hire based on where people went to school?

 

[Oz]

On that note, how important do some of you think the actual school you go to really is when it comes to your career? Do many employers really hire based on where people went to school?

Bush might have gone to school at Yale, but that didn't help him too much with regard to smarts. Likewise, if you got it, you got it. It might help your clout with Mizzou, Syracuse, Northwestern or KU on the resume, but you don't need it. Good journalists come from everywhere.

 

[Ace]

You can make connections at certain schools. A Northwestern or Columbia or Missouri degree is going to raise eyebrows when looking at resumes and presumably if you went to a really good school, you would have more opportunities to make contacts by getting better internships or just cozying up to alums.

 

[jfs1000]

Kathy, don't worry. You are in the same boat with most of people like me 30-under. It's ridiculous. And I am sick of my older colleagues treating me like student loans is a right of passage. One co-worker finally understands what it is like when his kid went to colelge. He saved for 18 years, and he was able to pay for 1 year of school for the kid.

Student loans are killing young professionals in all industry's. Was at 10 year high school reunion, and every person who went to college was either still living at home, in a rental, or a condo. None of them had children and only a handful married with homes.

Those who went to work right out of high school had homes, children, and nicer cars. Our lives were so different. WTF?

In 20 years it may be better. But it was striking the difference in lifestyle.

 

[Idaho]

I'm a big, big fan of getting a job while you're in high school and college and saving that money to pay for college.

I'd much rather graduate in six years debt free -- which is what I did -- than graduate in four years with $50,000 in debt.

I don't mean to sound uppity. If you can't afford a private school for undergrad, go to a public school -- it will be a lot less expensive and pretty much just as good of an education. Nothing wrong with a undergrad degree from UMass instead of Boston College.

 

[jfs1000]

I'm a big, big fan of getting a job while you're in high school and college and saving that money to pay for college.

I'd much rather graduate in six years debt free -- which is what I did -- than graduate in four years with $50,000 in debt.

I don't mean to sound uppity. If you can't afford a private school for undergrad, go to a public school -- it will be a lot less expensive and pretty much just as good of an education. Nothing wrong with a undergrad degree from UMass instead of Boston College.

Your right about the UMass over Boston College angle, but even for a state school in the Northeast, schools like UMass and UConn are prohibitive. If you don't want to live on campus, and live nearby at home, that's the best option. That way you can make $13,000 a year and do it.

But, if for any reason you are getting room and board, it is nearly impossible to do it on a part-time job. How much is a part-time job working nights worth a year? You can't waitress yourself an entire tuition plus room and board. Juggling a full-time job with class? Good luck.

There are ways to get to done, but it is much more difficult. Especially with a deferred loan option, which many students do without actually thinking it through (I raise my hand).

I am now a firm believer in going to a junior/community college for two years until you figure out your major.

 

[Twoback]

I'm a big, big fan of getting a job while you're in high school and college and saving that money to pay for college.

I'd much rather graduate in six years debt free -- which is what I did -- than graduate in four years with $50,000 in debt.

I don't mean to sound uppity. If you can't afford a private school for undergrad, go to a public school -- it will be a lot less expensive and pretty much just as good of an education. Nothing wrong with a undergrad degree from UMass instead of Boston College.

"Six years of college down the drain ..."