How much debt is too much for a college student to graduate with?
487930
I would say no more than one year's salary of low interest debt (college tuition, room, and board) and $1000 of credit car debt. If I assume you get a job earning $35k per year, you should be able to pay off your credit card debt in 12 months as well as make loan payments.
959074
The best place to go for information regarding financing your education is your school's financial aid office. They should point you in the right direction regarding financing options. Because your parents "make too much money" as is the case with the majority of college students, you will probably need to take out student loans. If you go through the U.S. Department of Education's Direct Loan program, the interest rates are extremely reasonable and payback schedules are flexible. \n\nBesides loans, you can also attain non-need-based grants, and scholarships through private institutions. Then, there are also work study programs. Although, admittedly, many of my friends did not like this option. \n\nPlease heed the deadlines for applications submissions as they are extremely important. Be open with your financial aid officers and let them know your concerns and they should give you some good advice.\n\nGood luck!
948102
I know exactly how you feel! I am a college student in Connecticut, where the cost of living is very high. Although I didn't take out a loan (I work forty hours per week to pay my tuition and bills... ugh!) and I don't currently have any debt, it is pretty difficult to get by.\nMy advice is to just stay in school and successfully finish your degree, or else it will be a big waste of time for you to have gone through so much to accomplish so little! If you can find a job in your field after you graduate, it will be a lot easier to pay off your loan (depending on your major: example: medicine vs. journalism? Medicine definitely pays off!).\n You should pay attention to how you spend your money, however. Try to save as much as you can and even go as far as keeping a spending journal. Taking note of where every penny goes is a very reliable way of figuring out what you need and what you're wasting your money on. When you figure out how much money goes into 'splurging', you'll be surprised; put whatever extra money you have into a bank account or invest it into an IRA or something similar. Good luck! =)
654260
As a recent graduate, you will get some grace from creditors so long as you are employed in you field of study.\n\nPay back every penny that you have outstanding starting with the highest interest rates.\n\nA few late payments and a settled account are not a major hurdle. That being said, buy a good used car. Save your $, create and maintain a large (one full years pay) rainy day fund.\n\nThe 5 "C's" of credit are:\nCharacter - Do you follow through with your promises\nCapacity - Do you have an income sufficient for the debt\nCredit - How do you pay and are you overextended\nCollateral - Does the creditor have a car they can reposes\nCapital - Do you have $ in the bank.\n\nBy paying off all debt, maintaining employment and building a rainy day fund, you will score well.
750555
I'm not a "kid"  I'm 53 years old and yes I remember when I could pay my own college tution.  Howevr such is not the case any longer.  The problem lies in the fact that not as many scholarships are offered any longer and they are no longer in the mega bucks denominations as they were prior to the late 70s because nowadays a $15,000.00 scholarship doesn't pay jack.  I know because I have a daughter in college right now and if it weren't for financial aid SHE would not be able to afford to go because there is no way I could afford to send her on MY salary alone.  As long as the cost of living keeps going up so will the cost of higher education, instructors have to be paid, as does the costs of running a college, electric bills, water bills, etc.  You're just a wee bit off base blaming financial aid.
601733
I believe it's somewhere between $30-40,000.  It depends if you live on campus, if you're undergraduate, graduate, etc.  So you better start looking for some financial aid or better yet, some scholarships.
1008165
No, but after attending most universities, you will have a long course of debt repayment.
157914
Pay your debt -  You got your education and it wasn't the loan companies & credit cards responsibility to put you through college. It wasn't a scholarship - it was LOANS.  Now that you got your education you are making good money.  Pay that debt off.  it will take you years to do so - but do it.  Be a person of good character.  \n\nPay off as much of the credit card balances as you can and focus on the college loans as well.  You will do it.  I am serious in saying it will take you probably over 10 years to do so - but you CAN do it.  \n\nNegotiate with them on an amount you can realistically pay each month.  DON'T go out and furnish your home and start living "high on the hog" just because you are out of college making some money now.  You are an adult and should act like one.  Pay the debt - it's yours - and it's only right.
557944
get as much financial aid as you can. financial aid is a guaranteed loan that you won't have to start paying off until you graduate and parts of it won't start to accrue interest until you're no longer in school.  the interest on them is generally much lower than normal school loans gotten directly from a bank.\n\neven if you get a full scholarship, it might even be worth it to take out as much financial aid as you can and simply invest it.  these loans are too good to turn down for the most part.\n\nthere's nothing wrong with having more than one loan out at a time. just make sure you keep track of them and pay on time when it's time to start paying them back.
1026671
When I went to college, I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life.  During September 1996 I was already over $5000 in debt and not producing, not earning any money.  At the end of college, May 2000, I was 30000 in debt and still didn't know.  The idea of having "an education" as some solution to some social problem, dreamt up by the same academics I'm funding to come up with that theory, is useless unless there is some specific course of study that I will use to make money that will counterbalance the current debt I am in.  \n\nI majored in a subject that would have paid off my loans in the first 2 or 3 years.  Six years later, I owe  $28000.  I am still struggling to find a life's purpose while struggling to keep bill collectors off my back.\n\nDo not go to college because of some sentimental whim or urging from people who think they know better.   Go to work.  Find yourself, what you love to do and find some responsibility.  When you've been working a few years, and say you are sure you love what you do, go to college (maybe at night).  Get the degree to excel at what you've been working at and to climb higher on the ladder in that industry.  Do it to start your own business or to be a vice president.  Most 18 year olds are entering a fantasy world and then just stuck in a corporate rut living for their debts and fuzzy on the fact that any of it means anything to them.
1130666
There is nothing to worry about. Your options are almost limitless. As long as you are prepared to work hard, you have nothing to worry about (except the cost of tuition and books).
720504
My friend is already 180K in debt to be a dentist.  I bet that your debt will be similar.
1025634
Pay for my University Education so I don't go any further in debt with student loans
579321
I doubt it.  You're a senior and you slacked off.  Make sure you meet or have met all deadlines for down payments, etc. to Purdue.  Just don't slack off your first year there.
951718
You can talk with your university about getting a computer loan. I had several friends that got their computers this way and didn't have to pay back the loan until they graduated.
660445
Absolutely.  Plenty of people have 2 loans.. some have 20.  Of course, there are limits to how much Federal aid you can get (annual limits as well as "lifetime" limits), but if you have only one degree now, chances are you haven't come close to these limits.  \n\nUndergraduate ANNUAL loan limits for Federal Stafford loans are as follows:\n\nFreshmen: $2,625 \nSophomores: $3,500\nJunior/Senior/Fifth-Year: $5,500\n\n*Independent* undergraduates are eligible to borrow additional unsubsidized Stafford loan funding: $4,000/year for Freshmen/Sophomores and $5,000/year for Juniors, Seniors, and fifth-year students.\n\n{Note: The annual Federal Perkins Loan limit for undergraduates is $4,000.}\n\nGraduate ANNUAL loan limits:\n\nLoan limits for graduate students are much higher. In general grad students are eligible to receive $18,500 per YEAR in Stafford Loan funding. $8,500 of this amount can be subsidized.\n\n{Note: Perkins Loan limits for Graduate students are $6,000.}\n\nHealth professions students (and, in some cases, students in teacher certification programs) are eligible for additional Stafford loan funding. The amounts for this, however, vary by course of study. For specifics, see the link below. You will notice that, for some students, their annual limits are HUGE.\n\nAGGREGATE (overall/lifetime) Debt Limits:\n\nThere are aggregate ("overall") debt limits that MUST be taken into consideration when calculating a student's eligibility for these annual limits. A student would become ineligible to borrow student loan funding those funds would exceeded his aggregate debt limit. Stafford aggregate limits are as follows:\n\n* $23,000 for a dependent undergraduate student,\n* $46,000 for an independent undergraduate student (or a\ndependent undergraduate student whose parents do not qualify for PLUS loans), no more than $23,000 of which may be subsidized.\n* $138,500 for a graduate or professional student (including\nloans for undergraduate study). No more than $65,500 of this\naggregate amount may be in the form of subsidized loans.\n* $189,125 for graduate health professions students, no more than $65,500 of which can be subsidized.\n\nNote: Federal loan limits are set to be increased beginning with the 2007-2008 academic year.\n\nFinally, even if you have exceeded your Federal borrowing limits, most private lenders will allow you to borrow a private loan up to the cost of your education less any other financial aid that you had received. In some cases, some private lenders will allow you to borrow education loan funding in excess of your direct costs.
791855
I WOULD SAY 15%. IM JUST GUESSING BASED ON THE HIGHSCHOOL I ATTENDED, NOT MANY OF US MADE IT TO COLLEGE. FORTUNATELY I DID. BUT THEN AGAIN REMEMBER IT MAY VARY.  THERE ARE ADVANCED SCHOOLS (FOR SMART PPL) WHERE 100$ OF THEIR STUDENTS MAKE IT TO COLLEGE