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money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=a358eca2-c045-407b-af5a-3b65ea356f10
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5/5/13
How much should I save for college? Am I saving enough for retirement? How much car can I afford? More
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Of course, the best way is to avoid over-borrowing in the first place. For instance: Limit your tenure in school. Rare is the student who can afford to dally, dragging out a four-year program into a fifth year or more. With careful planning and some high school advanced-placement classes under your belt, you can complete a four-year program in three years. (It wasn't fun, but I did it.) Attend a school that provides good financial aid. Rare is the student who pays the sticker price for tuition, but some schools are more willing to help out than others. (One reason I continue to donate to my alma mater each year is the percentage of the gift that goes to student aid.) Tap every resource. Lots of scholarships exist. Apply for the ones whose criteria you meet. And if Grandma or a well-off childless aunt wants to help out with expenses, let her. Use the student loan money for what it's intended. I know someone who borrowed to the max to fund an adventure living abroad after the overseas study program had ended. Last I heard, bill collectors were still hounding him. Why should you repay the loans, you might ask. Answer: You have to. Student loan debt can't be discharged in bankruptcy. One way or another, your creditors will get their due -- garnishing your paycheck, taking your tax refund or taking you to court. More on MSN Money: Student loans: A crisis in waiting? US News' top colleges for 2012 Will I be able to pay back my student loans? 6 reasons not to save for your kids' college How much should I be saving for college? Movies: 'Iron Man 3' film review Bing: NBA playoffs msnNOW: Pilots nap during flight Top cars of the Shanghai Motor Show
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Tags: college
college costs
college tuition
debt
Karen Datko
student loans
80 Comments
money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=a358eca2-c045-407b-af5a-3b65ea356f10 2/6
5/5/13
NEWEST OLDEST BEST WORST CONTROVERSIAL
YourVoteDoesNotCount
Umm, I would like to know what school these students are going to, to only be 25k in debt. I had to pay my way on my own and I am 115k in debt from school. My monthly payment is around 930 a month. If I consolidate, I pay more in interest rates and I pay longer. Instead of making payments for 10 years I would be making payments for 30. What's really sad is that Institutions in this country as well as the government allow foreigners to come here and go to school for free. Everyone from every country abroad is finding away to milk the money away from the American Taxpayer. Its time we stand up and stop paying taxes that allow everyone else to live a free life. 118 10 Replies (0)
Big McIrish
I don't know who Ms. Datko surveyed or got her research from but she is WAY off her mark. Loans are more like in the 100K mark when they graduate. Maybe she means $22,900 per year!!! 76 10 Replies (0)
Graduated Student
Some of these tips this article points out may be helpful but I disagree with most of it, if it works for you good, great, grand, wonderful. Most of us out there had to actually WORK while going to College, it wasn't all beer, pizza, and b!tches on the weekends for US. SOME of us actually had to WORK FULL TIME while going to school, so yeah maybe you can graduate in 3 years because you are taking 26+ credit hours when you don't have to work because you have Grandma to live off of or an Arby's-eat-our-sh!t-and-get-an-educatio n-grant. So SOME of us actually had to accrue other debt to SURVIVE. For SOME of us out there, College did NOT come easily and we had to retake a few classes, possibly because we were working 50+ HOURS a week at our JOB to pay for RENT, TUITION, BOOKS, etc. MANY of us graduated in one of the worst recessions in recent U.S. history. My point? I have student loans. I have other debt. I have a house payment. I have a car payment. I More 71 12 Replies (0)
sn10110
average debt $22,000 try $40,000.....4 year degree working 2-3 jobs to get by. My loans are the same as a house payment and utilities. Oh and they wont do anything to help I can consolidate because of the type of loan I cant reduce my payments.... I cant do anything so now im trying to raise a child on my own with 3 jobs and I am still just getting by. Maybe I should just go on welfare :) I can get everything paid.... money handed to me..... food...and then I can have some time to spend with my child instead of him sitting in a daycare all day while i try to get by. 4 year degree and I make 1 dollar more than minimum wage for every year in college and now i am 40,000 in debt. Somethings wrong with this picture! 58 7 Replies (0)
VDW117
These solutions do not work for me. I have deferred my student loans so many times because I cannot pay the full amount every month. Right now, that is that largest monthly bill I have after my rent. Unless I change careers or come into some kind of money, I will be paying my student loans off for the rest of my life. I do feel like it's beneficial to have an education, but it shouldn't cost so much! 54 6 Replies (0)
olechevyguy
You mentioned getting through school as quickly as possilbe. Here's another tactic. WORK your way through. My financing was with a credit union. I borrowed enough for a semester and then repayed that while I was going to school. It took me six years to get my BA, but at the end of it all, I only owed for my final semester which I paid off the following summer. Yes, it took longer to hit the job market, but I did it free and clear! 50 3 Replies (0)
Student loan debt is a huge debate... and I feel for those who have large amounts, but I feel there are things people can do to put themselves in a better position to pay them off. I'd like to add a few
money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=a358eca2-c045-407b-af5a-3b65ea356f10
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Someone (rb3868)
The laws regarding student loans are a violation of the "equal protection" clause. Any other debt can be dealt with through bankruptcy. Even tax debts can be paid off for cents on the dollar. So you get all this debt, trying to better yourself and contribute more to society and then can't get a decent job because they've all been outsourced to China or India -- even "professional" careers. Someone else gets an equivalent amount of credit card debt - borrowing for vacations, concerts, extravagent meals. Someone else builds up $60k in unpaid taxes. The fool spending on the luxuries he/she can't afford can wipe it out. The IRS will settle the $60k for $6k. The student loans? too bad. You have a mortgage for the next 20 years, with nothing to show for it but a piece of paper 43 3 Replies (0)
j (dds2011) loans. She now gets a resident salary for the next 3 years of 45K/year.
My wife graduated medical school with 250 K in loans. I graduated dental school with 250K in
Before people start crying about the current price of healthcare, realize my wife and I have half a million in debt before we even started working. That's a lot of money we need to pay off...now you might have an idea why healthcare costs are skyrocketing. And by the way, these 8 ways/suggestions for paying down debt are completely worthless/common sense. 42 2 Replies (0)
Sweet Suzi How to PAY DOWN your STUDENT LOAN? Have you Mommy or Daddy be in Congress!! Then you do NOT have to PAY!!
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BCoronet
So what if you can't find employment? What if you can't live after the student loan sharks take 100% of your unemployment and this is after consolidation where they continue to compound high interest rates! The real story are the despicable private student loan companies who rape students. As a family of co-signers we all have offered to share the burden with the company if they would drop their eye-popping $1400 a month repayment schedule to a do-able amount. I was told to sell my house, to borrow money, to work as many jobs as I could get (in this recession, right. I'm lucky I have a first job) or to even cash out retirement funds to meet the $1400 monthly payment. After explaining that in order to keep my professional job I had taken a pay cut and had not had a raise in 4 years, they still would not relent. More 38 6 Replies (0)
Necessary Student
I graduated a year and a half ago with top honors as a paralegal. When I started attending college, there were many jobs in the field. Now, I have attorney friends that are taking paralegal jobs because they can't find anything else. I planned on continuing on in school but wanted to take a break and work for a year, pay down my loans, and get my life in order. I am a divorced, over 40 mother and it was difficult enough for me to go back to school in the first place. In order to postpone paying on student loans when I can't even feed my kids at this point in time, I was forced to continue on with my education, making a larger bill in the long run but avoiding starvation at the same time. I have moved in with my sister, drive an '89 van that is paid for, go to church clothing drives for my kids, and never spend anything without weighing all options as to whether we REALLY have to have
money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=a358eca2-c045-407b-af5a-3b65ea356f10
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More 29 1 Replies (0)
ajd92980
okay, while all you guys are talking about interest and stuff, I'd like to ask what pizza joint this person worked at and made $1800 a month working 22 hours a week. That's $450 a week, and averaged out, over $20/hr. I worked at a pizza joint before I went back to school and never made close to that, working nearly 30 hours a week. People don't tip anyone much anymore. They feel the cost of the product includes a decent salary for the delivery person, when in most cases, that person is getting paid less than minimum wage, which is legal since it's a position in which tips can be accepted. Think about that next time you order out for delivery. 29 2 Replies (0)
Someone
I know a chiropractor who graduated and has been practicing since 1997. Her husband set her up in a state-of-art office which she refuses to make payments on to him. To my knowledge she has not paid a cent to her over $100,000 student loans. She says it is simple to ask and receive a deferment of payment. She drives and Escalade, purchasing home, buys all her children's clothes from the most expensive department store in town, children have every toy and bit of technology available, she wears the best including Farragamo (Italian) shoes, eats in the best restaurants often. Now just what is fair about people losing their homes, lives when she is allowed these privileges? I read a statistic once that doctors are the least likely to pay student loans and they make more money than God. Pay up! A deadbeat is a deadbeat regardless of title and arrogance! 37 11 Replies (0)
llolamay
I'm in student loan repayment hell right now. I paid for college myself. I spoke with many different financial advisors at schools to learn the best way to get myself through college. Everyone's advise was just take out loans. Didn't get enough from FSA, here's a private bank education loan. Don't worry about it you'll be fine paying it back after college. Now I'm $60,000 in debt and struggling to get by each month. I am unable to consolidate my private loans and only half of the money qualifies for income base repayment. I am almost 30 years old and don't see being able to buy a house, have a family, or pay for a wedding for a very long time. The only blessing I see is I found a job close to my field and I don't have any other debt. 25 0 Replies (0)
spoo58
I paid on my student loans like a mad man when others were telling me I was stupid for doing so because the interest is a "tax deduction". Long story short, I'm debt free while those others are in allot of financial pain. If being stupid leeds to financial stability; I'll be stupid any day. Oh yeah I got a degree that was marketable as well. 26 2 Replies (0)
Doc2011
The student loan balloon is full fledged! The more the government loans to students, the more colleges raise their tuition rates. Meanwhile, every other commercial is for some mail in college where you can get a worthless degree. When I see 3 new colleges pop up in a year in my city alone, it makes me think that they must be make some mega bucks (kind of like the mortgage companies and others involved made a ton of money). 25 1 Replies (0)
BluDragon78
I know the author of this article is not talking about students with a 4 year degree have an average debt of $22,900!!!! Where did she get THAT number???? More like $60,000, $80,000 and in some cases even over $100,000 in debt. That flub alone makes me realize she doesn't have a clue what she's talking about. I stopped reading after I read that amount. That is laughable! Oh and that loan forgiveness for working for the government or service job does not mean you won't have to pay. I am in school now and working full time in a government job. The loan forgiveness means that you have to be employed full time in a qualified governement or public service job. You have to pay on your loan for 10 years. No defaults, you can't be late, any of that. If you pay your loans for ten years straight without defaulting, without being late, without skipping payments, THEN you
money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=a358eca2-c045-407b-af5a-3b65ea356f10
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pdxjew
You have got to be kidding me.. Get a second job and live like a student. We are having to do that already to survive.. How will one actually have any extra cash to pay student loans down when all of their income is needed to just survie? Another article by someone who is completely out of touch with the student loan crisis. 25 4 Replies (0)
MoneysavingMom
How about 100k in law school loans, at a time when lawyers are unemployed at a rate of 10:1? Private loans only offer around a 6 -month grace period of hardship- which you use up between the time period of graduating and sitting for Bar Exam. And your law school gets a huge cut of your private school loan, which you had to take out because the federal loan was only enough to cover your books and you didn't come from a rich family that could pay your bills for you. THAT is a CRISIS already in effect and new attorneys are hurting the worst. It is time to change bankruptcy laws to include student loan debt! There is something wrong when you can't afford to feed yourself because you have to pay $1500k/monthly for your loans and you are unemployed... 28 10 Replies (0)
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