so i just calculated my student loan repayments...

and this is what finaid.org gave me:

yayyyyyyyyyyyy.....

Obviously I don't know the specific details about the amount borrowed, or any family endowment that can be expected. But from what I'm guessing you're going to have to land a phenomenal job or marry rich!

I'm paying off my student loan this month! woot!

I'm just a month or two away from being debt free. (until the new car, and eventually the house, that is)


On a side note, College is kind of ridiculous. You pay so much money for an education, and it's no guarantee of a good job, or even high pay. But I guess for some, it's the only way to get to do what you want.

rant

im practically paying for my dream audi on top of my lincoln.

bullshit ass waste of money.
i urge people not to goto college unless you plan on being a doctor, lawyer, or architect/engineer, OR your parents are going to pay it FULL. If youre poor or your parents didnt save for your education, DONT even think about going to college.

too many of my friends are in debt with a college degree trying to join the local police force.. WTF. you can join the police force out of high school or with a GED.
people are going to school to get jobs that really dont need college, its stupid.

in my situation, i do regret going to school and i wish someone had sat me down and really made me realize how much money i would be wasting over something thats not going to guarantee a job. I thought it would be simple as "graduate, begin payment on 36k, $300-$600 a month", but i had to consolidate which ends up costing me around 80k in the end because of interest.. ALL because i cant afford the initial payments. I said fuck it and filed for a hardship to defer a part of my loans to make it even cheaper.

if i could file for bankruptcy to clear my school loan, i wouldve already.. but you cant, at least here in TN

I am glad I did not jump straight into a Uni. I've been doing the community college route with plans to transfer to a uni after and i still am unsure of what i want to do. Ive been at the damn school for 3 years now and still probably only paid like $1200 in tuition.

Yeah, Jackalope and Torx have it right. I've worked in manufacturing and medicine my whole life, and in both cases the college educated folks made little or no more than those with a high school diploma. And most were suffocating in student load debt that I didn't have. In fact in my current job I make probably $15-20k MORE than a lot of folks with 2-4 year degrees.

Anyway, I'm not saying that college isn't a good idea. But it just needs to be well thought and planned out, and isn't for everybody. I've already put my daughter on notice - I'll help a bit with her education, but I'm not throwing $100k down the rabbit hole so she can party for 4 years and end up with a crappy job. I'm an invester, and she needs to sell me on herself and the product.

I'm finishing up my AS in IT by end of Summer or Fall. From there, I'm taking it easy street down university lane. From what I'm hearing, non of my credits will transfer over to university (Florida International Univ.) so I'm gonna have to start from square one. If that's the case, I'm nightschooling and virtual classing my way through. I've been going back and forth a lot on my education progression and with the outcomes I've seen, I'm not very comfortable with throwing all of my time on getting that piece of paper. I have a lot of work experience that is favoring me right now.

<--- no degree, just high school and certs. I'm making just under 100k/yr

Depending on what you want to do college isn't required to make a good living.

Fuck College.

my company pays for school, you guys are suckers

The funny thing is I've got 80+ hours of credits and could probably turn that into a associates degree within a few quarters, I just never felt the need to finish up. If I get laid off I definitely will, but the schooling I would take would be uber-cheap. I checked the local community college branch of the University of Cincinnati and it's $1,500 per quarter. :thumbsup:

My state university is only around $2000 in tuition per semester so I don't have to take out any loans. Its not a uber high on the academic school ratings or whatever but its not bad.

QFT!!!!!!

I've had no college experience at all. Now I am 23 years old making just under $100,000 per year, and I am making progress in leaps and bounds towards my debt. Which I wouldn't have had I not been married.

But, life is good. Can't complain at all.

~Will Courtier~

agreed. i went to tech college and got an associates degree in computer networking (fully paid by parents) and it only took 2 years and a couple thousand dollars. i was in the workforce way sooner (which is what REALLY counts in IT) and no school debt.

But like i've said before, you guys making almost $100k in IT with no college and/or certs suck. Around here, it's not like that at all. I make $48k (after 5 years of shitty jobs and pay) and I'm thrilled to be making this much lol.

damn i thought you were in the military still ?

you guys are a bunch of unambitious fucks. I am making $80kish, am 22 and will have an AA in a year. however, i want to get a BS/BA so I can be 30 and making $400k =)

if you can go to a reasonably priced school (UT San Antonio = $2k / 12 credits), especially that you can pay for in full each semester, go for it. down the road it will pay off. my buddy just got laid off from a high end IT job and it looking for IT director positions (for bigger companies; say managing 20-50 people) and there have been a number that said "we would love to hire you but you don't have a degree" - i don't want that to bite me in the ass

a lot of the guys who are getting degrees and not doing shit are because they are lazy/unambitious/etc. My roommate from last year is going to go to law school, but he is going to be royally fucked because he is going to a shitty school since thats the only one his girlfriend can get into (setting the trend nice and early). that kind of thing

College is good because it shows ambition, which you need. If your ambition ends as soon as you get your degree handed to you, that's the beginning of the end. If you have strong ambition, that will get you far regardless if you have a degree or not.

tex, you must be in a unique area to pay that much in the IT market. Maybe I should move down there. I have an AA, and about 10 years of tech experience.

I'm going to say you are partly wrong there. Connections and contacts are a big part of landing a good job. Its not how much you know but who you know that matters really.

I'm gonna go with "who you know", "having some related skills/experience" and also "they see potential in you".

I'm going to college, you know how much it costs me? $0! Tax payer FTW, they are in the process of making a great officer.

Same, 20k a year. The people who go to school full time and dont work, i do both, and it looks better on a resume showing you have recent work experience and not seeing you haven't held a job in 4+ years.

for the most part, this is true. i mean look at who has jobs and who has high paying jobs. A lot of people are stupid and don't deserve the jobs they get.

Me? I've gotten three jobs because someone I knew referred me and got my last two on my own by applying to craigslist. But in the IT industry (at least around here), they want experience and personality more than college and certs. I've always had the personality but it wasn't until recently that I was considered to have enough experience to finally get some decent gigs.

I think going to college only depends on what you want to do with your life. If all you want is to make a lot of money, then you don't need college at all necessarily. If you want to be in a certain industry no matter what the cost of getting there, then maybe college would be fine. It just depends on your goals.

I'm not talking about landing a job, I was more referring to moving up (either within your company or to another one) and not getting stuck because you don't have a degree. that guy knows a lot of these companies (having done work for them before), but he is looking to get hired to manage a bunch of people, manage multi-million dollar budgets, and make north of $200k. this isn't some mid-level management job or something where he is competing with college grads

chainblade - what do you do specifically? the austin market is slightly inflated for wages, but I also fill senior sys admin, it manager and high-end consultant roles 70% of the time.