While the bubble hasn't formally burst, we already have an issue. I have heard it preached across church pulpits and spoken to young college students as kind parental advice. It is the statement that "student loan debt is an acceptable debt to take out." Or sometimes phrased as, "There are good forms of debt, student loans are a good debt"
False.
Honestly, I wish I had an air horn that I could take and stand up in the chapel pews to sound off when this falsehood is spoken. I wish I could be there for every parent-child talk and say, "Johnny, no offense, but your father is an idiot." As a Finance graduate, perhaps I should take my laptop to dinner parties and when I meet college students I could take their projected potential earnings and match them to their current debt and produce a special chart for every individual and armed with the purest logic, show them they're screwed if they decide to finance their education with debt. This would probably be the best use of my degree.
Since these are not socially acceptable or even possible solutions, a blog post will have to do...and an infogram.
Student loans are not automatically a good idea just for the sake of being used for a "good" thing called "education". Look at the numbers before you get that loan. If you're an art student, social work major or going in to teaching and many other majors...you are not going to earn a lot of money. Do your homework and find out how much your starting wage in your career will be. Here's a good website to get started.
STEM and business majors, I'm looking at you. Don't get off thinking you're special and studying science and math so you're automatically getting high paying jobs out of college. I swear, you nerds are the worst. You think it's six-figures from day one and that you'll love your career if not for the cool science-y stuff or fun with numbers, you'll love the money.
Get off your high-horse and do the research, the math before you get that loan. It is completely and entirely possible to take out more loans than you can pay off. Just because you qualify does not mean it's a good idea.
Get off your high-horse and do the research, the math before you get that loan. It is completely and entirely possible to take out more loans than you can pay off. Just because you qualify does not mean it's a good idea.
1 comment:
After I wrote this, I couldn't help but feel an need to share this article as well. This very closely reflects my own views towards college currently.
http://themattwalshblog.com/2014/01/19/thank-god-i-wasnt-college-material/
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