nkereina
Last chance to lose your keys.
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2009
OP, I don't have an opinion on what is a lot because I'm fortunate to not have had any loans through graduate school. But, I think its good you are considering this because I have two close friends who are struggling as a result of their student loan debt. One went to private school for bachelor and masters, living on campus the whole time. She is a mental health counselor at a college now, and makes less than $50K a year. Her parents are deceased and she is not married, so no help financially. Even 7 years out of college, she's still in six figures of loan debt. She's also hesitant to marry her current boyfriend because she doesn't want to pile the debt onto him either.
My other friend has about $40K in student loan debt, but works at a dead end job making $30K a year. She has two kids and is engaged. Because of how little she brings home, her loans have been in deferment for over a year. So she's not even chipping away at them. She's also hesitant to marry her boyfriend because with the combined income, she will no longer qualify for deferment and he will incur the debt too.
College age kids often don't think about the downstream impacts of these loans. They think its fine since so many people have them and its better to get the degree now and worry about the cost later. My friends are just two examples of many others out there, so its grea you're thinking about this and preparing them for it.
My other friend has about $40K in student loan debt, but works at a dead end job making $30K a year. She has two kids and is engaged. Because of how little she brings home, her loans have been in deferment for over a year. So she's not even chipping away at them. She's also hesitant to marry her boyfriend because with the combined income, she will no longer qualify for deferment and he will incur the debt too.
College age kids often don't think about the downstream impacts of these loans. They think its fine since so many people have them and its better to get the degree now and worry about the cost later. My friends are just two examples of many others out there, so its grea you're thinking about this and preparing them for it.