LArgest student debt you have ever seen?

[James]

Other than mine, the largest one I have heard about for non-grad studies was someone who financed a degree at columbia at over 100k for a degree in . . drum roll please . . . theatre therapy (or some such), one of the lowest paid occupations lnown to mankind.

[TriDeltaGal]

I have a friend who went to USC and had grants and scholarships for two years but slowly she got less and less; eventually she took out loans and I mean lots of loans. I think for about two years of school, sorority fees, and apartment she owes in the range of $70,000. She was in their Annenburg School of Journalism so, for her, it was definitely worth it.

[KillarneyRose]

I know my sister accumulated around 50K or so in debt while she was at Cornell, and she had scholarships for the rest of it. She took out around 35K per year for medical school, too, but at least she'll be making good money once she completes her training so she'll be able to pay it all back.

[DeltAlum]

Had our son chosen to go to one of the "highly selective" schools to which he was accepted, his loans would have been well over $100K. (At the time I was coming off of a year of unemployment)

Fortuantely, he chose to take what amounts to basically a full academic ride at a state supported school as a National Merit Scholar.

None of the four "highly selective" schools participate in the National Merit program. Nor do they offer merit based scholarships, and since I did have a reasonably well paying job (even though we had spent much of our savings), he was not elegible for for need based scholarships.

Catch 22.

[OrigamiTulip]

I've got 39k for an undergrad degree in sociology. I was offered virtually free rides at schools like FAU and FIU, who had excellent scholarships for National Merit Semifinalists, but as a 17 year old snob, I turned my nose up at going to a school I had never heard of, and went to Florida, where I financed most of my education on loans.

While I would never give up being a Gator, I sometimes wonder if I made the right decision (usually while I'm writing the monthy check to the Department of Education, or riding the bus since I can't afford to buy a car becasue of my loan payments....)

[CarolinaDG]

I will be paying $400/month for the next 10 years!!! Woo hoo! I don't know how much it is (since that's including interest), but I about had a heart attack when my dad told me that. All of my tuition was paid (since I'm on LIFE scholarship) but room and board was financed except for $500/semester my junior and senior years. Room came out to be about $1300/semester and board was $850/semester.

[OtterXO]

Okay, by the time I get out of law school I will have about 120k of loans to pay off-not including interest!!! ARG!

[Rudey]

I paid most of my college on my own. I am so so smart. Then I took out loans that I didn't need to invest in securities that will pay me much more. See how smart I am? I am so so so smart.

-Rudey
--And I slept with your mom!

[KillarneyRose]

Originally posted by DeltAlum
None of the four "highly selective" schools participate in the National Merit program. Nor do they offer merit based scholarships, and since I did have a reasonably well paying job (even though we had spent much of our savings), he was not elegible for for need based scholarships.

Catch 22.

Isn't that the strangest thing? Luckily the college funds we've set up for our daughters are doing really well but I've found out that, if they were in college right this minute (instead of in 10 and 12 years) they would be eligible for zero need-based financial aid. I mean, Mr. KR makes reasonably good money, but we can't just write out two 25K+ checks a year without blinking an eye. That's almost half of what we have to live on, and we're both fond of eating every day and paying our mortgage.

It's almost like the government is saying if you've never tried to make anything out of yourself and you have no assets to speak of....congratulations! We'll reward you for that by helping finance your kid's college education!

[GPhiLlama]

Originally posted by James
Other than mine, the largest one I have heard about for non-grad studies was someone who financed a degree at columbia at over 100k for a degree in . . drum roll please . . . theatre therapy (or some such), one of the lowest paid occupations lnown to mankind.

Drama Therapy's starting salary is $40,000. I'm looking into getting a master's in it.

[Honeykiss1974]

Originally posted by CarolinaDG
I will be paying $400/month for the next 10 years!!! Woo hoo!

Shaking my pom poms

Me too! YAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But I do have both a BA (Accounting) and an MBA so that's how I rationalize it.

[smiley21]

i feel so much better about my loans. i will only have to pay off around $5,000.

[AchtungBaby80]

I am trying like the devil to avoid loans even though the government seems to be trying to convince me that since I already have a bachelor's and want to get certified as a teacher now, I should foot the bill myself.

The highest student loan debt I have ever heard of belongs to my most recent ex. Last I heard, he was around the $100K mark. That'll go up slightly as I think he's still due for another check or two, because he pretty much lives off these loans to support his expensive tastes. Now I know why he was so hot to get married--he remarked once that "when" we were married, we could put both our loan debts together and just split it. Oh, what a great idea--especially since I had NO loan debts and he had a small fortune! Riiiiiiiight...like I was gonna pay $50K for loans that I didn't get. I sure hope he gets a good job.

[GeekyPenguin]

Most of my friends will have about $30k coming out of undergrad, and we all have graduate plans. I'll probably be in for around $100, but I'll make good money so whatever.

[James]

That doesn't factor in credit card debt either. A lot of kids I knew would finish with 10k plus in loans and another 5-10k in credit card debt.

Most of your debt will have to do with how much parental support you get relative to your tuition and expenses.