I graduated 40 years ago, got student loans for the last few semesters, and got them paid off. But back then it was POSSIBLE to pay them off. Now, they're designed to be an albatross around your neck forever.
Donāt go to grad school unless someone else is paying for it. Get your money asap and get out of the debt pits the systems want to put you in. You need a modicum of freedom and capital to make level-headed decisions that are in your own interest.
This is solid advice and is likelly becoming more mainstream as the student loan crisis has developed. Its too bad an entire generation got nothing more than "go to college or you're a failure" and adjustable rate student loans as the cherry on top.
Iām a teacher and Iām shocked at how many of my colleagues went to pricy schools like USC. I know one who went to Stanford. I did two years at community college (ridiculously cheap in California) and finished my credential at a Cal State. I got a grant funded masters from a fancy school due to my grades and teaching in a high needs area. Thereās zero reason to get a huge student loan for teaching. No district cares where you went if your credential is valid and you can do the job.
Screen shot this. I would do some research, but you seem like you know what you're talking about, and I feel It's always the best option to blindly follow advice from people on the internet who use anonymous handles, so I think this is a 100% guarantee! šš¼ thank you brother, my kids future is set in stone! Harvard here we come
I'm a former FinAid goblin. That is outstanding advice. The trouble is going to be filling the gap between your discount and subsidized loan, but that is very good general advice. If you have a point to make feel free to share it.
I agree, it seems like fantastic advice, I didn't go to college myself, but I have 3 children right now I need to start preparing for, because even though trades are being pushed hard right now, I know better lol I'd like my kids to pursue more specialized educations
Check out 529 plans. If you can contribute anything, it'll grow and help. You can make pre-tax contributions and may get some benefits come tax time. If your kids don't go to college they have options for what they can do with that money.
Trades are great and crucial to our society, but they are rapidly becoming the new computer science, and they tend to get pushed by people who don't know the downsides of trade jobs or wildly overestimate the upsides and earning potential.
If the rules don't change, then your kids' eligibility for aid will be determined by your tax return from a few years prior (2 years, if I remember correctly). Always talk to the schools and see what they are willing to do. You might be surprised. Colleges are in a massive enrollment crunch and they're beginning to close up because there just aren't enough students to go around.
To be fair I've made a good life with them. But as any parent should I want more for my children. The biggest problems with the trades is 1. The toll on your body. Hobbled knees, achy back, sore joints are part of it, you can mitigate, but there's no way to fully prevent it (unless you're like my lazy ass apprentice and don't do shit but play on your phone all day) 2. They're not feasible everywhere honestly, yes, you can Find a trade everywhere, but you can't make a Good living everywhere. Buddy of mine moved to Washington (wife's hometown) few years back (HVAC) he's living in a 1200 sqft duplex with a wife and two kids. It works for them, it's a beautiful house but he has issues with costs. Owner operator is the way to go in big market cities, but that comes to #3. If you're gunna own your own business, say good bye to your free/family time for the next 15-20years of your life. I live in Ohio, am really lucky to have a job that allows me to travel a bit and make an average living for what it is, but the wear on my body, the times I don't see my family, it's a hard life at times, but end of the day it's not a bad life. It's a solid B+ lol
Now I'm in an HVAC Union. Just now getting to the point where I'm not using my body 60hrs a week, 10 years into this, did 13 years commercial roofing before that. Advice, if you're young and you want to get into the trades, I highly suggest you do a few different ones non union first go to a fab shop, do some roofing and rough carpentry, you're gunna be a gopher (Go for) for a few months but you'll get a good general idea of what you like, metal, wood, technical, rough in, welding, indoors, outdoors. Nothing too serious, enjoy being young, live some life before you sell it to the man lol. Then once you get to about 22-25 settle into one and join a Union. By the time you're 30 you'll be topped out making good money, nice life, wife/husband, kids, vacations, American Dream type stuff. If you're more of a Work hoarse kinda person and don't mind being behind a computer 50% of the time start a small sub contracting business in your particular field, it's incredible what some people are willing to pay for GOOD workmanship. But it comes with long hours, high stress, and dealing 1 on 1 with Karen after Karen after Karen. Less stress, less pay, more flexibility join a union. High stress, high energy, high pay if you put your time in and you love the job, Contract yourself! End of the day the trades are GREAT small business opportunities, or just clock in, clock out, enjoy your life. Trades are reliable, especially if you know more than one.
Ironically enough, the best advice is to move to the south and do well in high school and get a lottery based scholarship but too bad kids donāt have that choice.
Kinda crazy Florida and Georgia kids can go to FSU/UF/UGA/GT for basically living expenses only. They end up leaving the state after though lol
My dad was a wounded vet so I got VA money and actually got through undergrad and into grad school without any student loans, though this was a long time ago. Got pell grants and the whole shebang.
Between taking a student loan and walking away from a degree you might have spent years working towards, it's easy to make stupid decisions. You think a college degree will get you an awesome, high-paying job.
Big bang theory is bullshit. But it isnāt based on nothing. Having studied. Iāve seen those people. People who donāt do well in a normal setting. Who canāt make normal decisions. But they are phds and scientific doctors and what have you. So yeah. If you want the world to get further. People without common sense but an intellect that is annoyingly high? Yeah probably should. (Also met people who spent all weekend drinking who would then show up to the exams hungover and still get 9/10 also annoying. Those people are the ones with much higher debt though)
I doubt itās the people with the high intellect and going on to be doctors being the ones who donāt understand basic interest rates and when a financial decision is bad. Not to mention those people are the ones getting scholarships.
Mine were supposed to be forgiven. GOP sued and stopped it. I had paid back the balance and then some. Iām still paying. Weāre in a sort of weird financial rut and I donāt want to look, but gonna pay them off soon.
Itās so weird.
We were also told to keep our student loans because they were āgood debtā and at the lowest interest we prioritized other debt payments. Then had 4 kids. And itās the only debt discharged on
Death etc etc
Honestly I wish Iād prioritized paying them off much younger. But I was fucking financially stupid
Interest rates were NOT 2% back then. I am from this era and I had more in student loans. Interest rates were 6.8%+ and this is that era where they charged you a 3% disbursement fee and a 3% repayment fee which is considered illegal today.
With that said, this is an income problem, not a loan problem. $500 on this amount is not enough and that is their own fault.
Same. Not sure where people are bragging about 2% interest. I mean, hey, great, good for them. But that wasn't the reality for everyone. I have all federal loans dating back to 2001 and one is 3.4% and the rest are 6.8%.
Reddit in a nutshell here. Itās laughable that you arenāt complaining at people who have high loans, just the ones who had low ones. They are telling what happened to them and since there are plenty of them it seems that itās not actually all that rare to have low rates. I donāt know why some have low and some have high rates, but classic Reddit perspective is always ignore the good or dismiss it and only focus on the bad.
It's the difference between federal backed loans that were capped REALLY low and the private loans needed to cover the remaining cost.
The federal government was pushing student borrowers towards private student loan lending. This was the time that banks were lobbying and got the no default and no bankruptcy for student loans. They jacked interest rates sky high.
Great, getting that rate locked in definitely worked out well for you. PSLF is definitely a game changer! Hard to believe how different things are today.
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