Boston Gal's Open Wallet

A few years ago, when I was faced with the idea of having to start repaying some massive student loans, I thought I'd never have a house. The weight of the debt made me feel as though I wasn't a good or responsible enough person to deserve a home, because I had already managed to get myself into such debt already. It took me a long time to get past that. I guess I was actually kind of surprised that people with student loans like mine even managed to get mortgages—is that really karmically cool, or just scary? haha.

And delaying to have kids: Sheesh, no one would ever have kids if they had "enough" money, or "low enough" debt, right?

 

I am not surprised with colleges as expensive as they are today and rising 6-7% a year. I think waiting to pay off your student loan debt before buying a house will definitely have you waiting quite a long time. I know living in Southern California will have a lot of people putting off buying a home if they have large student loans. But the prevailing wisdom says a college degree will increase your income so you can save more and buy that house.

 

I think this trend has huge long term implications. A similar pattern is emerging in Australia, though we don't have quite the level of fees (yet). The problem is compounded with graduates of 'soft' degrees finding it hard to get good work. It is hard to justify a big debt without a guarenteed job at the end, so sadly universities are commercialising, and becoming solely centres for industry training.

 

Well I wonder how well they would have managed to raise children and buy a house on the income they would have had WITHOUT their expensive college degree...

Funny how many of these kids apparently never considered going to a cheap state school or *gasp* a community college, so they wouldn't have these loans. If you want the good education, it comes at a price if you weren't studious enough to get a scholarship.

 

Anon: Scholarships aren't only about being "studious". There are so many factors that go into getting a scholarship.

So many people try for scholarships, and don't get them, or don't get enough. There's a whole class of people who can barely afford university but don't qualify for need-based aid because they're "too rich".

I don't qualify for any scholarship in my country (Malaysia) because I'm not a citizen! And there's none for my subject!

Sometimes CCs and state schools don't have what that person wants to learn. And even so, they're not cheap. It's not fair to judge people on student loans without knowing their situation.

On another note: income without the college degree? Might be lower, might be HIGHER, might be the same. It all depends on how you go about getting it. Getting a degree is not a guarantee of everything - look at all the fresh grads that whine about not getting a high-paying job straight off the bat. An article in Forbes even theorizes that

(a) successful people would be successful even without college
(b) You could be even richer WITHOUT it, if you invest that money instead

Basically: there are so many factors and considerations, so don't just write them off.