Step Right Up. Get Your Degree! We Offer 30 Year Loans Too!

Having a degree is supposed to increase your earnings through your lifetime by one million dollars. Not bad right? Well, not if you graduate with a six digit loan. In an article on USAToday.com, a graduate student, Palazzolo, graduates from Rutger's University with $116,000 in loans. Absurd! Another example taken from the article:

Angela Schneider, 26, graduated last year from Simmons College in Boston with a master's degree in social work and $118,000 in student loans. To make her monthly payments of $800, Schneider has taken on a part-time job providing in-school therapy in addition to her full-time position as a medical social worker. She's living on a tight budget that allows her $70 a month for entertainment.

Granted these folks are graduating with a Masters, but still. $70 monthly entertainment budget?! For how long? And finally:

Routsong decided to return to school to get her master's degree as a nurse practitioner. She looked into nursing programs at several community colleges. All had two- to three-year waiting lists. She entered an accelerated program at the University of San Diego, a private school, that will enable her to get a master's in three years. She's borrowed $65,000 and expects her loans to top $165,000 by the time she graduates. Her student debt, she says, occupies a place in the recesses of her mind.

That last line just gets me. It occupies a place in the recesses of her mind? Like an afterthought, when it should be one of the main issues BEFORE deciding what to pursue. If it doesn't make sense, like in this case, to me it doesn't, then I think you have to formulate another game plan. If this is really what she wants to do, then there are others ways to do it. I'm not saying it's easy to find other ways, like getting your company to help pay for some of the expenses, but it's possible. USAToday.com Blogs has some interesting comments...One day, I hope my blog has this much reader interest! Hah. Bottomline: "Go to the best school (with the best program of study you're interested in) that you can AFFORD."