Quote:
Originally posted by AchtungBaby80
The other thread about student loans got me thinking about this. I graduated with my first bachelor's with no student loan debt. However, since that degree is pretty much useless, I'm starting classes again in the summer for a teaching degree which pretty much requires me to get a second bachelor's. Unfortunately, unclassified students like me aren't eligible for aid or scholarship money, so all that's left is loans *insert horror-stricken look* I'm looking at another 44 hours, probably, and I'm scared that once I'm done with this, I won't get hired anywhere and I won't be able to pay off the debt. All my life I've been told that loans are Bad and to avoid them at all costs. It took my dad 10 years to pay off a measly $4,000 student loan from when he went back to school. So guys, is it really that bad? I mean, I don't want to end up working at Wal-Mart with two college degrees to get out of debt because no one will hire me! I'm kind of upset about it because until today I thought I was going to be able to get some kind of aid, and I'm starting to reconsider going back to school. 
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To be blunt - no. I've been working in banking for a while now and I can tell you that there are many forms of debt that are much worse than student loan debt.
Of course it sort of sucks that you have to pay back student loans but you have up to ten years to pay them back. Some people choose to do this so they don't have to make higher monthy payments. Other people choose to pay them off as soon as possible.
Not to mention that you can refinance your student loans with very low rates and extended payoff periods (15, 20, 23 years).
The kicker isn't the student loan debt, it's the credit card and personal loan debt that new grads have, on top of their student loan debt. In a recent report we received at work (which I can't post here due to privacy reasons), the average college grad has an average of 4,000-5,000 in credit card debt and 2,000 in personal loan debt, on top of student loan debt.