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Student Loan Debt Hell: 21 Statistics That Will Make You Think Twice About Going To College

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May 03, 2011 – Comments (8)

Is going to college a worthwhile investment?  Is the education that our young people are receiving at our colleges and universities really worth all of the time, money and effort that is required? 

Decades ago, a college education was quite inexpensive and it was almost an automatic ticket to the middle class.  But today all of that has changed.  At this point, college education is a big business.  There are currently more than 18 million students enrolled at the nearly 5,000 colleges and universities currently in operation throughout the United States. 

There are quite a few “institutions of higher learning” that now charge $40,000 or even $50,000 a year for tuition.  That does not even count room and board and other living expenses.  Meanwhile, as you will see from the statistics posted below, the quality of education at our colleges and universities has deteriorated badly. 

When graduation finally arrives, many of our college students have actually learned very little, they find themselves unable to get good jobs and yet they end up trapped in student loan debt hell for essentially the rest of their lives.

Full article

8 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On May 03, 2011 at 3:17 PM, zymok (45.68) wrote:

No one should borrow money for their college education.  It's a bad idea all around.

 

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#2) On May 03, 2011 at 3:28 PM, chk999 (99.98) wrote:

What zymok said.

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#3) On May 03, 2011 at 3:47 PM, mtf00l (47.94) wrote:

Sad however true...

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#4) On May 03, 2011 at 3:57 PM, hanlerris (52.82) wrote:

It really depends on what degree you get too and how much well you do. If you get a degree in Art Science and shell out 40K a year, let's just say you are in for a rude awakening. On the other hand, if you get an Electrical Engineering degree from MIT, the same 40K a year could be worth every penny in the long run. 

 And yes, I am advocating liberal arts majors are not worth the money.  

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#5) On May 03, 2011 at 4:03 PM, Jbay76 (< 20) wrote:

Well, when I was younger, it was always thought that you could get a good paying job after college that would allow you to pay off your student loans and continue to move up in life.  Ofcourse, that wasn't true for me when I finished my undergrad, or my first master's program either.  By that time, you're already "vested" into the system.

College has merit if the student dees his/her best to get as much out of it as possible, and  ofcourse does so for free...  By the time I need to worry about sending my kids to college, odds are CC's will be just as expensive as 4 yr institutions are now.

This is something I wrestle with a lot and am glad I still have time to truly analyze the pro's and cons. Recently, I was against going to college due to my past experiences, and those of my wife's.  However, I have partially returned to the idea that higher education is good and the success of the graduate depends on how much more knowledge/experience the gradaute aaqcuired outside of the standard knowledge. 

I'm going to read that article now.  I may have a different opinion after that.....

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#6) On May 03, 2011 at 7:11 PM, Munchies101 (99.44) wrote:

Dealing out absolutes about college is never good for a discussion. Going into debt might be a necessary evil to an end. I know I went into debt, not a huge amount but a reasonable amount to get my Accounting degree. And you know what; it was worth it by a gigantic margin.

The only critique that I would give to uni is that they don’t do a good job managing post graduate expectations, especially among certain majors. If you major in Latin, it shouldn’t be surprising if you end up being a ‘sandwich artist’ after you receive your BA. Despite this it seems like very few undergrads grasp the concept of jobs available in the market.

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#7) On May 07, 2011 at 1:08 AM, ETFsRule (99.90) wrote:

My student loan will easily be the best investment decision of my life. I'm paying 0.9% interest on my student loan, and they gave me something like 15 years to pay it off. So I'm paying about $30/month.

People just need to make intelligent decisions about college. $40k/year to study liberal arts is probably be a terrible decision. On the other hand, $10k/year to study engineering could be a great decision.

And yes, I agree that colleges need to do a better job of preparing students to get a job.

Lastly, I disagree with the use of "gotcha" statistics in the linked article. Yes, some people end up flipping burgers even with a college degree. But, why don't they make some fair comparisions instead of just using scare tactics? They have conveniently left out all the employment statistics for high school grads who don't go to college.

Here's an example from the article:

"#14 According to the Economic Policy Institute, the unemployment rate for college graduates younger than 25 years old was 9.3 percent in 2010."

Well, I just checked the EPI and here is the full quote:

"Young high school graduates have been hardest hit: The unemployment rate for high school graduates under age 25 who were not enrolled in school was 22.5%, compared with 9.3% for college graduates of the same age."

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#8) On May 07, 2011 at 2:27 AM, Munchies101 (99.44) wrote:

ETFsRule,

Absolutely agree. Sometimes people (including myself) cherry pick statistics to reach a preconceived conclusion. Even though school is largley overpriced, in the long run as long as you pick a good major, it is absolutely worth it. I know the salary I can now demand would be inconceivable without a college degree.

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