How much debt is reasonable for college grad?

[spima3]

DD18 is attending local state college. Since she has been less than stellar in the past 2 years of HS, attitude change, etc. I don't plan on giving her any $$ for this first year. Harsh, maybe, but w/ very limited finances, and two younger siblings, I don't have any $$ to waste.

Anyway, I had her take out the max of fed loans, for this year. I am hoping that is the most she will ever have to take out per year $5500. So in 4 years, that will be $22,000.

She, at this point, is going for a BS in Business Admin. Yeah, I wish she were taking something in the health field, or maybe a STEM field, but that boat sailed long ago.

What do you all consider reasonable?

lori

 

[Tpiejg]

I have tried to keep my kids loans no higher than 15,000. That amount is close to a car payment when its time to pay it back. My kids have friends that have upwards of 30,000 in loans and it is extremely difficult for them to make those payments and get out on their own. Most of them have decided to defer their loans as long as possible. Which leads to other problems, like the inability to buy a house because you have to much long term debt, or not having enough money to support a family because of hugeloan payments. There is no easy solution, I feel bad for any young person trying to get started today.

 

[SandrA9810]

If all she wants is a state school, why not start off at the Community College and pay half the price for the credits? Pretty much all of them have guaranteed transfer programs to state schools once they reach the minimum requirements.

If she's not a solid student with a definite plan, then it would allow her to explore some other interests without costing a fortune or too much time to do so.

 

[arcticdcat]

I read that you shouldn't take out in student loans more than what you'll make your first year after graduation in your chosen field.

I also agree that maybe she could start at a community college and knock off most of her prereqs at a lower credit hour rate.

 

[wdwjeffc37]

To be realistic I told my son to think about careers in the field and what starting pay is for those types of jobs. Then base his decision on what a realistic amount to pay back with that type of job. It is a shame that good college students have to make these kinds of decisions so soon, but we have to live in the real world. Coming out of college with tens of thousands of dollars of debt into a job market where the starting pay is low just doesn't make sense. That kind of debt limits what a person can do in life (i.e. buy a car, buy a house, even rent an apartment, etc.) Try to do college with as low a debt load as possible.

 

[angierae]

DD18 is attending local state college. Since she has been less than stellar in the past 2 years of HS, attitude change, etc. I don't plan on giving her any $$ for this first year. Harsh, maybe, but w/ very limited finances, and two younger siblings, I don't have any $$ to waste.

Anyway, I had her take out the max of fed loans, for this year. I am hoping that is the most she will ever have to take out per year $5500. So in 4 years, that will be $22,000.

She, at this point, is going for a BS in Business Admin. Yeah, I wish she were taking something in the health field, or maybe a STEM field, but that boat sailed long ago.

What do you all consider reasonable?

lori

My daughter is also starting college this fall with less than stellar high school grades. She is going to community college, which will cost $1k per semester for tuition and maybe half that for books. We're paying for it, with the caveat that we don't pay to repeat classes. If she fails a class, she pays for it the second time.

if she does well with the two year degree she wants (Communication Arts, she wants to do video production, etc) and wants to go on for a four year degree, we will help with that (but she will have to take out loans, as well.)

 

[disney1990]

My daughter is also starting college this fall with less than stellar high school grades. She is going to community college, which will cost $1k per semester for tuition and maybe half that for books. We're paying for it, with the caveat that we don't pay to repeat classes. If she fails a class, she pays for it the second time.

if she does well with the two year degree she wants (Communication Arts, she wants to do video production, etc) and wants to go on for a four year degree, we will help with that (but she will have to take out loans, as well.)

$1,000 - that is awesome. Our local community college is more like $2500 and $3000 a semester. It is over $100 a credit hour.

 

[spima3]

My daughter is also starting college this fall with less than stellar high school grades. She is going to community college, which will cost $1k per semester for tuition and maybe half that for books. We're paying for it, with the caveat that we don't pay to repeat classes. If she fails a class, she pays for it the second time.

if she does well with the two year degree she wants (Communication Arts, she wants to do video production, etc) and wants to go on for a four year degree, we will help with that (but she will have to take out loans, as well.)

We did look into it, but as it is out of county, the tuition doubles, then she would need a much better car as she would be on the road daily 1 1/2 hrs. So with all the added expenses, and the long commute, plus needing to transfer in 2 yrs anyway, it just didn't seem all that great a deal.

The $22K I am hoping is the worst case scenario.

 

[angierae]

$1,000 - that is awesome. Our local community college is more like $2500 and $3000 a semester. It is over $100 a credit hour.

$76 a credit hour here, so I guess we are super lucky.

We did look into it, but as it is out of county, the tuition doubles, then she would need a much better car as she would be on the road daily 1 1/2 hrs. So with all the added expenses, and the long commute, plus needing to transfer in 2 yrs anyway, it just didn't seem all that great a deal.

The $22K I am hoping is the worst case scenario.

Ah, I can see where that would be a problem. In our area, each of the counties has their own community college system with multiple campuses. The one my daughter will start out at is less than two miles from our house.

 

[SandrA9810]

Out of county?? What does that have to do with Community College? I've only heard of out of state tuition fees being different than in-state fees. I know students at my school that transfer to other community colleges for various reasons, but it doesn't change their residency rate. Some go to TAG into the UC schools, some go because they failed a class twice and have to jump through hoops to take it again, sometimes they just want to get out of the area and into a larger city. Check with the school to make sure you would pay the higher fee. Sometimes that's waived if there is no school where you are.

45 minute drive each way isn't that bad. I would assume a 20-25 mile drive. Get her AAA coverage with a 100 miles for towing. She'll have to fly the coop sometime, might as well give her a taste of the real world. Most people don't get to live and work in the same small community with a minimal commute. Usually there's small campus branches in smaller cities. Even the school I go to now has two outside campuses in surrounding smaller towns besides the two main campus sites.

Class schedules can be made to shorten the amount of days she's on campus. There's also online courses for her to stay home. Most 3 credit classes are 1 times a weeks for 3 hours or twice a week for 1.5hrs each day. She can easily fit 2-3 classes in two days and take one or two online. 5 credit courses are harder, most of those are one hour daily or three times a week. The benefit of staying on campus all day for three classes if they're spread out, it will give her ample opportunity to study and do homework. She's more likely to get work done if she's not at home lounging around. Just make sure she brown bags her lunch vs buying junk food on campus (easy to do no matter how close she is to home).

I know for my school, it's about 4 times the cost to attend CSU over the community college, and that amount is way more than $5,500 loan amount.


I know it's your family/daughter, and there's probably a million more factors into selecting a school. However, don't cross off an idea because the expenses are different. You should detail each list realistically, gas, commute, food, books, tuition fees, student fees, and her ability to be flexible with classes and majors.

$76 a credit hour here, so I guess we are super lucky.

Students at my school were mad as can be when they raised the tuition rate $8 to a whopping $46 a unit.


ETA: I've only gone to school in CA and FL, neither have tuition based on counties, just in-state and out-of-state.

 

[HeatherC]

I posted the same question on the Community board a couple weeks ago. The general consensus was about $15-20,000.

As we are only two years away from our oldest starting college, we have been much more aware of student loans and cost of college lately.

Unfortunately, for a lot of kids today college doesn't guarantee them a great job right away. I think it was much easier when I went back in the 80's.

I just don't want to see mine buried with debt before they even start their adult lives.

 

[DSNY4ever]

I read that you shouldn't take out in student loans more than what you'll make your first year after graduation in your chosen field.

I also agree that maybe she could start at a community college and knock off most of her prereqs at a lower credit hour rate.

Yup the Today show just had their expert on and this was her recommendation too. So think about what type of field you may want to go into and what the average pay for a recent grad is in that field and think about it from there.

Student loans are tough to pay off and I am glad we are finally done with that!

 

[SandrA9810]

Ok, I did my bit of googling, just based off of you living in PA.

Out of county tuition is roughly $200 per unit at the CC. Penn State is roughly $550 per unit. That's $6,500 vs $2,400 per semester at full time. I'm sure the commute would not equate to an addition $4,000 per semester. She could go the FULL year (fall - spring) with a $5,500 loan, versus barely affording one semester at the University.

Times all that by 4 semesters (the amount of time at the CC). She could spend just under $10,000 for her AA or AS, or spend nearly $26,000 at the state university. I think $16,000 savings could buy her a new car off the lot.

The other determining factors that you only would know, is the FAFSA estimates. Higher tuition generally leads to more financial aid options than the cheaper CC. But I'm just basing my info off of no financial aid, just the loan amount.

 

[LJSquishy]

I know you said you already looked into community college, but you may want to reconsider it and take another look at it. I haven't heard of a CC charging double for an out-of-county resident. I went to a CC 3 hours away from where I lived (I did move to attend CC) and was charged the same as everyone else. Out of state is a different situation. That just doesn't sound right...but maybe your school is a different weird situation?

I strongly vote for community college to obtain her AA or science degree. It sounds like she's not 100% motivated to excel yet. I have 2 good stories for you...

My sister (one year older) went off to a university right after high school (in-state) and did pretty well up until her last year. She dropped out with only 3 classes left...just decided she was done. She never went back. So close, but no degree. My parents had taken out a couple of student loans for her. One of them they had to pay on while she was in school. The other one was deferred until she graduated. Since she didn't graduate, my parents had to pay on the other student loan when she dropped out. 8 years later, they are still paying on it for her and she does not have a degree. They (for whatever reason) decided not to pass the loan responsibility on to her so even though they are trying to retire in the next few years, they have a college loan to pay on.

I'm a different story. After high school I went to a community college 3hrs away (I moved there) and got my AA degree. I wanted to be in the sociology/psychology field. I didn't do so well at math so I had to take a couple of classes over again. My parents agreed to pay for the majority of my schooling there. One semester I didn't have enough money to pay so I had to take a semester off to save enough to continue. But, I eventually graduated with zero debt. I worked part-time (between 20-30hrs per week) while I went to school to pay for rent, books, food, etc. After I got my AA, I was planning to enroll in online courses at a 4-year university (in-state) but I had an epiphany right before I enrolled: I didn't want to get my 4-year degree. I didn't want to work in psychology or sociology. I wanted to be a housewife and eventually a stay-at-home mom. That's what I really wanted to do. During the time I was in school, I had met my (now) husband and we had been dating almost the entire time I was in community college. We talked it over and he agreed that we would make it work. And we did. I'm still a housewife (we've had trouble with infertility so I'm not a mom yet) and we're happier than ever.

I can't imagine having student loans to pay on for a degree I wasn't going to use. Going to a 4-year school (or any college for that matter) isn't for everyone. Maybe it's best for her to take some time at a community college to decide what she really wants to do before diving into a 4-year. My husband got his 2 year degree before getting his 4-year degree at a university. He majored in business with a concentration in finance...and he is using every bit of that degree.

 

[ilovemk76]

IMHO I would keep it under 1/2 of the starting salary. When I graduated, I had 30% and it took me about 3 years to pay them off.

 

[Lisa71]

I have heard a good rule of thumb is one year's salary at the expected gravitation full-time. So medical school is more and doctors make more. If you pay 90,000 for LPN school (which I know someone who did) it is not cost effective. Just my 2 cents.

 

[mamasuf]

The max on fed student loans is 5500 for the first year, 6500 for the second and 7500 for the third and fourth. My son will take it all (mostly unsubsidized). We pay the rest of his tuition. That was the only way we could afford it. Not happy that he'll end up with 27,000 to pay back but I think he'll be OK. Since they are mostly unsubsidized, we do pay the interest each year (this year it was 625.00) so it doesn't compound and add a lot more to his loan.

 

[tvguy]

DD18 is attending local state college. Since she has been less than stellar in the past 2 years of HS, attitude change, etc. I don't plan on giving her any $$ for this first year. Harsh, maybe, but w/ very limited finances, and two younger siblings, I don't have any $$ to waste.

Anyway, I had her take out the max of fed loans, for this year. I am hoping that is the most she will ever have to take out per year $5500. So in 4 years, that will be $22,000.

She, at this point, is going for a BS in Business Admin. Yeah, I wish she were taking something in the health field, or maybe a STEM field, but that boat sailed long ago.

What do you all consider reasonable?

lori

Well, there is reasonable, and then there is realistic. In this case, I'd say your figure is reasonable and realistic. My son is sitting on $27,000 of student loan debt. There has been a lot of debate about how expensive college is, but given than most folks wouldn't think twice about buying a car for that amount of money, something that may last 10 to 15 years, I don't think doing into debt for something you'll use the rest of your life is unreasonable. Many of my son's friends are sitting on $100-$150,000 in student loan debt, it's just another bill like the cable or electric bill to them.

 

[angierae]

Around here the community colleges are run county-by-county, but the tuition rates for in county is $76/hr and out of county is $136, so still not $200.

Everywhere's different, of course.

 

[Jenny-momof3]

My oldest just graduated as well. She was valedictorian and recived the presidential scholarship from the school of her choice...which covers tuition. She also received some other local scholarships that will basically cover books. So we'll be covering room and board. Thankfully she won't have to take out loans...yet. But her hope is to go onto medical school and she'll have to take out loans. I worry about how much that's going to put her in debt up to her eyeballs...but with 3 kids after her, we just can't pay for med school too.

Regarding community college...our local CC is $97/credit hour. Out of county is almost triple that! So I get what you're saying about that not being an option. But I don't blame you one bit for not wanting to shell out the $$ until you know she's serious!