Student Loan Debt...is it worth it?

[TheMountainScene]

I think the key is utlizing your resources. I'm currently going to CSUF (Cal-State Fullerton), and I love it. So far, I've had to borrow about 5,500 dollars. Rather than waiting until after I graduate, and having a Cleveland steamer of a debt to pay, I intend on paying it off a little at a time as I go through college. I work part-time as well, you see. 16 Units of college and a 22-hour workweek can get pretty tight sometimes, but I think because I'm taking advantage of the fact that I have the money from work now, it'll end up costing me a lot less in the long run.

[ecco]

im about to start university, and university in london at that. and i have to study for 4 years instead of 3 because i have to take a foundation year before my degree.

the year 0 (or foundation year) is going to cost me just short of £10,000. and with the conservatives in power, the cost of tuition fees is only going to keep rising for the next few years... and also with inflation accounted for, its not hard to imagine i will leave uni after 4 years with about £50,000 of debt.

so... my plan right now is to get a part time job as soon as i can once i move to london, and open a second bank account to put my income from that in. and attempt not to touch it, and only live off of my student loans. then hopefully i can save up quite a bit from working in the 4 years and pay off a lot when i leave.

this plan will probably fall through, but i can hope, cant i? XD

[Martyr]

Wow, ecco, I'm so naive. I'm planning on going to Kent University (once I've done this second year of college). But as I've previously said, my parents have saved up some money for me and my grandparents are will to help out by paying the accommodation fees and a £30 weekly allowance. I should look for a part-time job whilst I'm at college as well, seeing that it's not too much work and I have almost 5 days off (15hrs a week).

Still good luck to everyone that is going to University!

[ecco]

ahhh someone who understands what im on about cos theyre in britain too! XD

but jeez. with that kind of financial support from your family, you'll sail through. i've just worked out that this year, if we get the house we're looking at (me and another student at the uni) i'll have about £50-60 to live on once the rents paid for (which includes all bills)

it could be interesting... XD i hope i can survive haha!

[Martyr]

I'm sure you will! My sister is starting her second year in a few weeks time and she's having to rent a place as well (I'm not sure, I don't really pay attention...) but she has said that £30 a week for shopping is quite tough and she wished she had more. My parent's told her to get a loan out because it's quite tough (I have no idea how much they saved, but if I can get them to pay for even one or two years then that'll save me a lot of hassle).

Neither of us are studying in London so I know it's not as expensive for us, so I can see why you're worried more. Luckily when I start my first year my sister will be on her gap year, so it won't be too tough and it'll be only one year where we are both at Uni. Still I am privileged as I think only one other person is going to Uni in my class, everyone else is either taking a gap year or can't really afford it.

Also, how good is your grant? Ours is pretty much non-existent (but my parents don't earn loads of money either, especially since a few years ago my dad suffered quite severe pay cuts) but we earn just a bit too much for me to even get EMA.

[ecco]

yea, even with financial support from parents getting the maintenance loan is probably a good idea, just as a cushion i guess you could say. plus, if you dont use any of it you can just pay it back as soon as you leave uni anyway.

wow, thats strange. most of the people i know applied for uni and the majority got in. pretty much all of those that didnt are either in work or apprenticeships. :S
no one can really afford uni these days anyway, but we do it anyway XD i'm doing it because i think it'll be a great experience, and besides theres not much work in my town and i dont want to sit around sponging off the dole.

i never got EMA, i hate ema anyway. its a completely unfair system. but thats a whole nother story.
i dont get a grant for uni, either, or any bursaries. just the tuition fee loan and the maintenance loan - mine being just short of £6,500. and 4k of that is going on rent, if not more if we dont get the house we're looking at now x.x *cry*

[Martyr]

Wow, that's super tough for you! I have no idea what my sister's rent is but she's gonna try and move in with a friend to cut the bills. Still I'm gonna take the loan when I go as you're not guaranteed work or even pay when you do a year in the industry, so the last thing I'd want to do is depend upon my parents for financial support.

I'm studying a National BTEC Diploma in IT at College so it's quite practical, once we've finished you could probably get employed quite easily anyway with the qualifications (We did Cisco Network Engineering as part of the course, so we're actually Qualified Cisco workers!).

To be honest I'm only going to university for the opportunities it brings. I'd like to get into the games design business and maybe be an artist or programmer (although according to everyone you only learn industry programming skills once you're employed - which makes absolutely no sense seeing as you need them to get employed in the first place!). Also some of the best Internet business success stories involve post graduates, such as Google, not to mention that I want to start a games company with some fellow students.

I like what EMA stands for but not how it's executed. Often you find that the people who really need it can't get it. Most are on benefits and spend it on nights out and stuff (sure I'd buy a few DVD's occasionally, but mainly use it for my Oyster Card and save the rest for uni). Really the should cut it to £15 and give it to everyone.

[ecco]

she's probably paying less than that, if she's outside london. london is the 3rd most expensive city to live in in the entire world XD fun fun fun!

hehe i have no idea what cisco is ^^; but i wouldnt bank on it, anyway. my brother did a degree in computer science and it still took him almost a year to get a job after he finished university. (probably because he had NO work experience. qualifications are good and all, but its still a good idea to get a crappy part-time job and stick to it for a while to show that you are a good employee)

hmmm well theres a number of games development degrees out there im pretty sure one uni does a degree thats specifically for level design - like the environments and stuff.

i agree with your idea for EMA. i hate to sound bitter, but i had a job throughout my 3 years at college, and i earned less money than my friends did just by getting EMA. so i got sick of hearing them brag about their bonuses and whining when their money didnt come through - i had to actually WORK for my money, and i was still poorer than they were.

[Martyr]

Well our county's university (University of Hertfordshire) isn't the best, they often support secondary schools and colleges to direct all of their pupils there. My secondary school was considered to have the worst reputation (well at college all of the staff and pupils were like, "No way, you went there!") so I'm hoping to break free of the system (bad secondary school --> good college --> great uni) and go to the University of Kent for AI Programming and Computer Science.

I was told by my tutor at college (who has been programming for 20 years +) that it is better to take a general programming course than to specialise in games design, as you are more versatile and learn the basics of programming better (the only difference is with games programming you need to have a firm grasp of physics, general programming doesn't).

For post graduate employment we've been told (and only by the University of Kent, I must add) that unless you take a sandwich course, with you're third year of studying being a year working in your chosen industry, then it's pretty much impossible to get employed as you won't have the experience. I really don't want to take the gap year (as I want to finish uni by the time I'm 21) but if it means that I won't get employed and I would've wasted three years then I'll definitely do it (Afterall, one year is better than three!). Also they said the top student gets to work for a year in Hong Kong (I doubt if I'll get given the chance, but it'll be interesting if I do!).

Cisco is the most well known (although I never heard of it before either) corporation that often invents and sets standards for new Internet and Network technologies. Often large companies use primarily Cisco products, whereas for private / home use they're relatively unknown (as Netgear and the like are more common). That's probably a pretty inaccurate description but that's what I know it as.

With the EMA thing, everyone I know that gets it also has a job where they earn more than double, if not more than triple the amount they get from EMA. Although saying that, I haven't even made a CV and tried to apply for any jobs, I'll try to this year but I said the same thing last year too. And yes they do constantly bitch with each other for not receiving it and harassing the tutors to know if they'll get a bonus. Just makes me sick!

[TGPretender]

To me, it's all about weighing the pros and the cons.

First, look at what you're wanting to get a degree in. Going into college without a plan is a waste of money. You need to be sure (that's why I recommend taking a year between highschool and college to figure that out.) Once you know what you're looking into, see how much schooling you're going to need for it, the round cost of it, and then look at how much you're expected to make once you're on the job. If this can't quickly (and by quickly, I mean within 5-10 years) pay off your student loans, I just can't see the point in it.

Student loan debt is getting so outrageous that it's almost irresponsible to go to college now.

[Madam Kira]

Me and my friends were just talking about it the other day.
It's like this, we go to school, go get ready for college, we go to college to get a good job, more than half our money that we make from that good job, go toward paying off loans. Seriously, we go to school to be in debt for, if not the rest, the majority of our life. >.<
Ironic, is it not?

[neomattlac]

My loans don't even cover all of my costs. My parents have to get loans to help cover it, and I feel bad about it.
It doesn't help that I'm not sure what I want to do any more. I've always liked business and I've thought about getting a MBA, but money money money and time time time. I've thought about taking off for a semester so I can look at what I want to do, but there's a low-ish rate of people who return to school after taking a break, and then there's the fact that I don't have a job and that I already have a useless AAS degree. Easiest degree to get ever. Should have put in the extra time and effort to get straight A's.
And I kind of like the idea of debt, because it gives people something to work towards. You can either work towards positive(receiving something) or negative(paying something off).