Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Life with Student Loans Means some Regrets


Life with Student Loans Means Some Regrets

As American students now cumulatively owe about $1 trillion in student loan debt, Yahoo is publishing first-person accounts from those who are still paying and those who have lessons to share. Here's one story.
Yahoo! Contributor Network

Life with Student Loans Means Some Regrets

Are Student Loans Really Worth It? Perhaps, if You Can Find Work in Your Field

As American students now cumulatively owe about $1 trillion in student loan debt, Yahoo is publishing first-person accounts from those who are still paying and those who have lessons to share. Here's one story.
FIRST PERSON | I am a 24-year-old Southern Connecticut State University graduate, and I finished my schooling in December 2011. I obtained a bachelor's degree in history, with a minor in German. I do not work in the history field at the moment, but have been accepted to begin my master's degree in Berlin, beginning in the fall of 2014. As a student who studied abroad, I cannot understand why schooling in America costs so much, when it can cost very little in parts of Europe.
Right now, I have a little more than $31,000 worth of student loans. My parents owe the other half, around $28,000. Each month, I pay a combined amount of approximately $254, based on my current income.
Students should be responsible for their loans; I pay on time every single month, and try to pay a bit more than the minimum. I chose to go to Southern because it is a state school, and I figured it would be a lot less money than going to a private university. While it was a bit less, it still amounts to almost $60,000 for four and a half years of school.
If I could go back and do it again, I would definitely have started with a community college and transferred after two years in order to save money. I took out student loans because that was the only way I could obtain a college degree. While I am proud of that degree, I do wish that I did not have such a high amount of debt, which will most likely take 20 years or so to pay off, depending on the job I can get afterward. Obtaining that degree will require even more loans, but it seems like the only way to get a job in the field that I have studied.
Student loan debt is a huge problem for America, and it has a negative impact on my life. I think that people who pay on time every month should accrue a lot less interest, as I will pay about $20,000 in interest by the time I am debt-free. I have not found a job that uses my degree, so it is hard not to be bothered by my unpaid loans -- if I am not using what I paid for.

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Life with Student Loans Means Some Regrets

As parents, my wife and I promised my son that if he actually got his degree then we would pay off his student loans for him. But, he had to finish his degree for us to do this. He succeeded and now we are following through with our agreement with him. If you are a parent with the means to do this then this is one way to certify that your child actually gets a degree.

Any child with a degree (in anything) in the U.S. can then usually get a job teaching English in a Foreign country. So, even with today's employment problems for college graduates that is always a possibility for kids with both degrees and loans. However, it is important to research the cost of living versus your income as a teacher there so you actually make enough to actually live easily while paying off your student loans from your degree obtained here in the U.S.

 



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