Join our community, read the PF Wiki, and get on top of your finances! My wife got an engineering degree from the same school and is kicking ass and taking names. It’s all the same. Northeastern also doesn't really have any unified student or campus culture because of the nature of the school/co-op program, etc. I had a meeting with a Northeastern financial officer and I had the bombshell dropped on me that if I wanted to attend the institution, I would have to pay the sticker price of about 70,000 a year. Join. From mid-2014 to mid-2016, 3.9 million undergraduates with federal student loan debt dropped out, according to an analysis of federal data by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit news organization. She got a lot of valuable experience at an internship that is still directly related to her job 10 years later. You'll be happy wherever you go. All colleges are what you put into it. Your work experience and talent will help you move up the ladder from job to job. Read thousands of real student debt stories from people across the country. And I get it, a lot of kids entering college aren't prepared to make that kind of responsible decision, but that's all of our fault for making money and financial literacy such a neglected topic of discussion. Online. But this school year marks a considerable worsening of a tale that ought to have been a national emergency years ago. I love Northeastern but I think you're strongly overhyping it. Focus on grades, internships, networking , not worrying about a relatively small 20k in debt. As that guy from 60 minutes would say: “What would you do?”. Look at your ROI of an engineering degree, depending on which specialty you are going into. I wasn’t excepting any need based financial aid, but I was hoping for a presidential scholarship or at least a few thousand dollars worth of merit based aid. It all comes down to how you interview and how you perform. Whether that salary is worth $280k I dunno. If you are smart enough to get accepted into those schools, you will be able to impress future employers, where you got your degree likely won't matter to them. The "crisis" crowd points to that as a huge drain on the economy, when in reality it's been a stimulus to the economy as that money has been spent on rent, food, furniture, books, and tuition (to pay for college employees and staff). Book free 1:1 sessions with certified student loan experts. I've had student loans and paid them off relatively easily in a few years. Now, if your degree gets you a job that allows you to pay that debt, you do not have a crisis, you have an investment. Credit Card Debt can invoke fear, stress and nightmares. So imagine your parents chipped in a bit, you took on a small amount of debt, and earned a little, and the debt is a serious nonissue. I want to go to Northeastern so badly, but I just think it seems childish to take out 150,000 in loans (and have to add interest in top of that) just to do what I want to do. I live in DC and a BA/BS is basically a 4th grade education here. He planned accordingly, I'm proud. 9 Unbelievable Student Loan Horror Stories. Please share your experiences paying off large student debit loans, I am interested in hearing a little bit about what the future might hold. Don't do it. 70k a year is absolute bonkers. Do you want to graduate from Northwestern with $280,000 of debt? Even northwestern engineering. As in you could go to Northeastern and you and they would each pay ~$150k? I wish it was a hell of a lot less than that, but almost no schools around here offer significant financial aid to the bulk of students pursuing a masters, yet everyone needs one to even be in the running for jobs here. He is one of 44 million … I can’t stress this enough, school choice does not matter for engineering. I went to an affordable but good public university and paid off my student loans when I was 30. The long read : MH Miller left university with a journal full of musings on Virginia Woolf and a vast financial burden. Many borrowers have made terrible decisions. Those people have huge debt:income ratios and are subsequently the loudest voices clamoring about student loans as a "crisis". … IMO, it is not a crisis on a macro level, but it most certainly is on a micro level. In this post on student loan payoff , for example, a user asks about the best way to pay off their loans in order to minimize interest. Or would you be okay with going to a less expensive school so you can start your adult working career and actually make and save some money? Welcome to /r/StudentLoans, the largest and oldest reddit community for discussion, information, and assistance related to the topic of student loan debt. I really didn’t like Stonybrook when I visited, and their engineering programs aren’t nearly as developed as some of the other institutions that I applied to. At my San Diego debt relief law firm, we find debt solutions to your debt problems. Go somewhere decent and affordable and get rad internships. You could easily test out of like 10 classes at stony brook, which would give you more time to focus on engineering. This includes banks, credit unions, or online lenders. Your expenses change, there’s taxes, you get married, have kids... Student loan debt is my #1 regret in life. Credit horror stories crop up every day for Todd Christensen, an accredited financial counselor with nonprofit counseling agency Money Fit in Boise, Idaho. Press J to jump to the feed. I'm a current Northeastern student and the computer engineering program is absolutely not worth $150k of debt. Student Loan Horror Stories. Consider whether you want that much debt anchored to you with a salary like that. Thanks to 0 debt, we are miles ahead to peers of same age financially. Your starting salary as an engineer in the workforce will probably be around $70k or so, depending on the industry you choose. Night of the Living Debt: Five Real Life Student Loan Horror Stories. Or op could work a summer internship and make a few grand. Honestly, my situation keeps me up at night sometimes and its not as bad as many people I see here. I was ecstatic, there is just so much I love about the school. Half of my loans are federal and are on an IBR. The university I went to had a small but accredited computer science program with little fanfare and that worked out just fine. So my advice is to consider the school options, yes, but also think about the rest of your adult life. While student loan refinancing would have helped me manage the interest rate, at the time I was facing $500,000 in student loans, and I was stuck. I feel that the mature decision is to set aside where I want to go, because it seems like a waste to put myself in debt for life just to enjoy my 4 years of college rather than hate them. Are they willing to pay half the cost of any of those schools? RELATED: Tell us your student loan debt horror stories “I’m 26 and I graduated last year from Wright State with $25,000 in private loans and $20,000 in federal loans… Take something that will help you get a job or that you love. That is like 200-250 a month for ten years. Save your credits for things that are upper level eng or things you like , don’t waste money relearning English 101 which at most schools is just review and not that rigorous. But in reality is the situation really that stark, or is it just the extreme situations that make it seem like the millenials are in big trouble? The most important investment you can make is in yourself, and so putting your resources toward learning is an excellent idea. You could even take a mixed standing and attend SB the first two years and transfer somewhere else. Taking out student loans was considered normal, and she figured eventually she’d be able to find a job that would allow her to pay them off. We all hear horror stories of how this person is $100,000 in debt and that person had their lives ruined. Some debt in reasonable proportion to your realistically projected income isn't bad at all. ... Reddit's hub for advice, articles, and general discussion about getting and repaying student loans. My personal story is that I have roughly 115K in student loans. And it's really smart for you to consider the cost before starting a four year program at an expensive school. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. Here’s some context: I’m 17 years old, and I am a senior in high school. The same goes for a lot of my friends. Your headspace will matter more than the school itself for whether you're happy or not. 20-40k in debt for a decent career as an EE is nothing. I'd caution on this advice just a little though, we have to be careful to avoid generalizations about money matters. If you are interested in graduate school it also becomes important not to accumulate too much debt in undergrad so you can afford it. I am an engineer at a major aerospace company, and I promise you for your undergraduate degree no one gives a rat’s butt about what school you went to. People are borrowing in unreasonable ways and then get shocked when making major life decisions involving years of work and tens of thousands of borrowed dollars with no solid research or plan turns out poorly. If I had to start over, I'd do exactly the same. Even if you didn’t apply to the honors college at admissions you can still get admission later. There are some people out there that are in really bad situations. There's nothing inherently evil about student loans. Share your story to ensure student loan borrowers are heard. If your degree does not help you, or if you can't pay that debt, then it's a crisis. I eventually did a short sale. Investing in yourself is important and if that means taking on some debt to accelerate your shifting from one phase of your life to another then so be it so long as it's done in a responsible way. I was lucky enough to not have student loan debt from undergrad , or any other installment debt like auto loans, so this was the only debt I was paying off. It was pretty great. A few weeks ago, he was meeting with a couple that had one partner lose a state job with substantial benefits and take a position with half the income. Back when I started school, the interest rates on my student loans ranged from about 6.5% (a subsidized loan that my school offered up to a limit) to 8.5% (the majority of my federal loans). Then transfer in halfway done. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, More posts from the StudentLoans community. I went to a community college close to home and got a transfer degree. By Brian O'Connell. Analyze and optimize student loans. It has significantly altered my life in bad ways and I regret it daily. In fact, some people have experienced terrifying tales of financial misfortune outside the holiday season, and you could too. I was always concerned because it seems like the economic outlook is always so negative, but the majority of people I meet are well on the way to loan repayment and have decent jobs related to their field of study. The Reddit student loans community can be a helpful place to ask about your specific student loan situation — though again, make sure to thoroughly fact-check any advice before acting on it. Very few people who put together well researched plans and carefully think through college/borrowing end up in trouble. Op, stony brook has a cool honors college, and is much more accepting of AP and Clep credit. It has set back my entire life plans (marriage/children at least 5 yrs, buying a home at least 10). If you're really set on Northeastern, I think you should appeal your financial aid decision. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. None of the companies are actively trying to fuck borrowers over. READ MORE: How Canadians go from student debt to default Burning more than $20,000 in student loans in less than two years wasn’t easy. I'm dealing with it but nothing pisses me off more than when somebody says "yeah well you should have done your research". That should be obvious. America's total student-loan debt is now around $1.5 trillion. I graduated almost 8 years ago now and I can tell you that it is absolutely not worth spending more than you can afford on a degree. She still has a little bit of regret when she talks to me about her missed opportunity but I think this is the best thing to have happened to her. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. There have been a lot of frantic posts from people two or three years into a degree whose parents can't or won't pay for the rest of their degree. I've paid $1000/mo for over a decade on my loans. That’s what’s really eating me up inside - I KNOW that going to a state school and graduating close to debt free is the best decision financially, and from a mature “looking ahead” perspective. Direct Loan borrowers were allowed to base their payments on their incomes, and to have their debts forgiven after 25 years. Working with my parents to establish a hard dollar amount of family contribution is a good idea - thank you :). i'm starting to feel like the millenial generation is general gets a bad rap when things aren't all that bad in reality. These 10 credit horror stories are certainly scary, but they’re also full of invaluable lessons that can help you to find out useful tips on things like how you can get a loan … With that said, an engineering degree and some internships from a good school will allow you to earn a comfortable salary once you graduate. Eventually, Clinton planned, every new student loan would be a Direct Loan. Thank you for the response - sounds like people are overwhelmingly agreeing with your perspective. Potentially $280,000 in debt does seem crazy. Me? I was able to bring my private loan from 10% interest to 5.5%. As you can see, student loan interest is a ticking time bomb that must be dealt with as soon as possible. Mechanics of materials is the same at a private school as it is at your public state school, and it’s way cheaper. Study hard and stay focused. Real Student Loan Horror Stories from Our Community Joseph Orsolini, CFP, College Aid Planners, Inc.: “I am working with a young lady who recently graduated from an elite college with $172,000 of student loan debt. We all hear horror stories of how this person is $100,000 in debt and that person had their lives ruined. The average undergraduate debt is something like $36k. Hopefully you’re able to work part time during that and save up cash to cover some or all of the tuition at that point. You probably think of your potential all income relative to the debt and try to justify that it’s not that bad and you’ll pay it back quickly... you won’t. You are not in the financial position to go to a school that costs over $30k/yr. It makes life really hard. I wish to god some miracle would happen and my loans would be erased from existence but I also take responsibility for my actions. The same goes for a lot of my friends. This system has tons of safeguards put in place to protect borrowers, and it is a testament to how poorly our generation has made decisions that we have made the sweet deal we get on subsidized federal lending into a crisis. I hate the idea of student debt, so I told my son flat out, "I can afford 2k/month for 4 years", plan accordingly. The only exception to this, is Stonybrook, which post aid, is around 19k a year. (Screenshot: Reddit) ‘Playing with stocks is risky’ Other Reddit users were considering actually spending their student loans to buy GME shares.. If so, it seems like they should be willing to cover the full cost of going to Stonybrook instead of splitting the cost with you. Because of this, my partner and I were able to purchase a home in our early 30s. The net impact on the economy of the loans being out there is hard to quantify too. You don’t want to be bogged down with $280k in education debt. It's pretty basic selection bias. Although the median student loan balance is roughly $17,000, the delinquency rate has steadily risen from 8.7 percent in 2013 to 11.2 percent in 2017. You should also create a debt plan to see how much extra you can afford to throw at your loans. In preparation for a speech I gave at one of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s student debt press conferences, I learned about “auto-default”: Under Sallie Mae loan contracts, your loans … /* Customer can control widget dimensions by wrapping it in a div with their own CSS */ Young people are supposed to make stupid mistakes like this, the difference is it didn't use to cost them a fraction of the rest of their lives. The people who are fucked the hardest are the ones with $100k in private debt and an underwaterbasketweaving or intersectional feminist studies degree. I went to our state school for undergrad (not my first choice) but graduated debt free. Sapping borrowers of their ability to save for the future and live comfortably in the present, student loans are an enormous and escalating national issue. I guess what I'm trying to say is the degree is more important than the school, and internships are incredibly important as well. Consider it as an investment and whether the anticipated returns are appropriate for the cost. According to the certification statement on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form, the student filing it has to agree to use the federal and/or state financial aid “only to pay the cost of attending” college. Go to SB, do extremely well, make networking connections, do a lot of interning and you’ll put yourself in a good position come graduation. It's not a guarantee, but my parents also make in the mid 100,000s and have 3 kids and I got $27,000 a year in grants. Paradigm shift is happening as more and more people realize their degrees are not worth what these schools are charging these days. However - I have never missed a payment. I'm 29. I am VERY lucky that I have a pretty decent job outside of my field right now, and no matter what, my debt/income ratio should be 1:1. 93 GPA, 1550 SAT, etc. If I were you, I would ask your parents to commit to a particular dollar amount per year and maximum total dollar amount. Read full article. Based on personal experience, I strongly believe you would be better off being one of the top students at a less competitive school rather than farther down the grading curve at a top school. Also If you are studying EE you should have little to no issue finding a decent job. Learn about budgeting, saving, getting out of debt, credit, investing, and retirement planning. It sucks. My Mountain of Debt. I bet your parents would chip in more or be more welcome to paying the full 19 since it is a cheaper school. I've asked a journalist to write a large story about millennials and student loans. And I still have £40,000 of student loans to pay off. After retaining us, we sent several letters to … Also for the love of all things holy Cleo out of as much as you can. I was a first generation student from shithole nowhere with parents that knew less than I did and we were taken advantage of by a for profit soul sucking vampire before all this was popular. If you didn’t kill it in high school, it’s debt or no undergrad degree. All in all the "crisis" narrative is overblown. Although I didn’t get accepted into MIT, I did make it into Northeastern. 473. Income these days has a lot more to do with your grad and postgraduate degrees, and even those employers don't really care where you went to school. I took a “temporary” job after college. I graduated with $200k in student loan debt from my undergraduate engineering degree. Life could be hard. A student that's armed with knowledge can make an informed decission about what amount of debt is reasonable and what educational decisions will help them to get the most value out of their education. Whether by way of savings dilemmas, excessive debt or institutional red tape, here are six … Model payment scenarios based on payoff goals. It's really all about budgeting. My parents have a cumulative income in the mid 100,000s but they have 3 kids and the majority of their income gets tied up between paying off their extremely large student debt, NYS tax, and investments. I tried to find decent jobs in my field once I got back to the US and while I got 2 interviews (out of ~100 apps) practically no one would look at my application/resume without a masters. I have seen students borrow $200,000 in mostly private loans to get a degree that gets them a job at Starbucks. I also only make 42,000 a year and my wife works part time at a cafe. maybe you'll change majors, or drop out, or not like northeastern. At a 10 year repayment, that's roughly $400/month (numbers VERY rough). Telling my Nightmare Student Loan Story I graduated from the University of California system (not to be confused with the California State University system) in 2009 with a degree in physics. Dream schools can be really alluring (and I did visit a few of mine) but I realized that the debt it would put me in far outweighed the benefits of spending a few years at a fancy school. Many students/parents make poor borrowing decisions which they could understand to be obviously bad with a few hours of serious thought and research. That especially goes for Americans getting aggressively bumped by burdensome student loan debt. There's also the added risk of, you don't know what you'll want to do after 4 years of college. However, you will need to consider the pros and cons. I took a “temporary” job after college, rather than going … So the money is already out there in circulation. Editor’s note: We asked Denver Post readers if huge student loans were a guarantee of a better career or just of crippling debt. it is also true that major choice makes a big difference and sometimes studying unmarketable degrees for high cost is just plain stupid. As the cost of higher education continues to rise, households are finding it increasingly difficult to manage the accompanying loan burden. The "drain" would only be the interest on that debt ... which I can see an argument for reducing in a number of ways. I have roughly 30k in the bank, bought a house, got married and have two children. Half of my debt is in the form of “private” loans not guaranteed by the federal government. I just can envision myself at this university and being happy. Read their horror stories below. Struggling with the costs of post-graduate life, an MBA student, Lara, 27, has been making use of the site for three years and has had around ten sugar daddies—the last one of which has turned into a relationship. Tell them you absolutely need financial aid, and get on top of your life. Early 30s people are overwhelmingly agreeing with your perspective agreeing with your perspective private to... $ 1000/mo for over a decade on my loans 're strongly overhyping it but her parents have. Economy of the cost before starting a four year program at an that. Always been to go to Cornell but her parents didnt have the means to pay half the cost of of. Mean my wife would n't have borrowed that much debt anchored to you with a years! Graduated debt free competitive job offer from a software company that is 200-250... Your realistically projected income is n't bad at all 10 ), yes but. Which post aid, and to have their debts forgiven after 25 years loans to... 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