Marjorie Sener was still in her 20s when she took out a loan for about $5,000 to get some college credits she hoped would eventually add up to a bachelor’s degree. That goal was thwarted when her partner became ill. “The burden of our living expenses fell on me,” said Sener, who lives in the Dallas suburbs. “I devoted all of my resources to keeping our heads above water.” But while Sener never got her degree, that student loan kept growing, fattened by compounding interest.
If you can’t pay off the college loan with job you found after finishing college, does not it mean it is a bad investment and you shouldn’t go to college? There are well paying jobs which does not require college degree, but also the minimum wage job seems to be better option than going to college if you can’t pay it off until the end of your days
Yeah but you won’t know if it will pay off until many years after studying, so it’s a gamble.
For the majority of cases having a university degree will give you a higher salary, not to mention the value of the experience of going to university as well as the connections you make there (both personally and professionally).
University in the US is just stupidly expensive and the loans have a crazy interest rate.
I’m from the Netherlands where you’ll receive money from the government while studying. You can take a loan on top of it with minimal interest and so it’s basically always worth it if you can afford it and are academically able to.
Yeah I am from Poland and we have free university so usually it is worth going to university as well. It might be easy for me to say these things as I am not from USA, but most likely I would look for some jobs with good sallary to loan cost ratio or not go to university.
Not having to consider price is a luxury a rich person can consider. A nice luxury but a luxury just the same. It is also just another form of consumption in the absence of clear utility on the other side.
I’m far from rich, and have ~$40k left in student loans that I’ve been paying off for nearly a decade now, so trust me it’s not about not considering price. That completely misses the point I was making.
Finances are one consideration, not the only consideration.
Yes agree. It is complicated. It is also a decision that has to be made at an age that people are may not be equipped to make it and the people around them may not be that helpful either. Add to that even the best decision is just a guess made with what is known at the time.
Families have different approaches too. My family was pretty nuts and bolts. We were expected to get training to earn money and get out on our own. My wife’s family was much more go to college and explore. None of them found a paying job based on their education until later going back to school for a masters or some other training. The financial outcomes were different too.
If you can’t pay off the college loan with job you found after finishing college, does not it mean it is a bad investment and you shouldn’t go to college? There are well paying jobs which does not require college degree, but also the minimum wage job seems to be better option than going to college if you can’t pay it off until the end of your days
Yeah but you won’t know if it will pay off until many years after studying, so it’s a gamble.
For the majority of cases having a university degree will give you a higher salary, not to mention the value of the experience of going to university as well as the connections you make there (both personally and professionally).
University in the US is just stupidly expensive and the loans have a crazy interest rate.
I’m from the Netherlands where you’ll receive money from the government while studying. You can take a loan on top of it with minimal interest and so it’s basically always worth it if you can afford it and are academically able to.
Yeah I am from Poland and we have free university so usually it is worth going to university as well. It might be easy for me to say these things as I am not from USA, but most likely I would look for some jobs with good sallary to loan cost ratio or not go to university.
Same in France, universities are about free, and I had a small scholarship because my parents were not rich, so in a way, I got paid to go to uni
Maybe if you view everything in your life as a transaction or a zero-sum game, and put no value in education or knowledge.
Not having to consider price is a luxury a rich person can consider. A nice luxury but a luxury just the same. It is also just another form of consumption in the absence of clear utility on the other side.
I’m far from rich, and have ~$40k left in student loans that I’ve been paying off for nearly a decade now, so trust me it’s not about not considering price. That completely misses the point I was making.
Finances are one consideration, not the only consideration.
Yes agree. It is complicated. It is also a decision that has to be made at an age that people are may not be equipped to make it and the people around them may not be that helpful either. Add to that even the best decision is just a guess made with what is known at the time.
Families have different approaches too. My family was pretty nuts and bolts. We were expected to get training to earn money and get out on our own. My wife’s family was much more go to college and explore. None of them found a paying job based on their education until later going back to school for a masters or some other training. The financial outcomes were different too.
There are better ways of learning than university