Cycle of student loan debt

**grneyegrl** · 11-06-2011, 11:09 PM

or do what i did..i only got enought loans to pay my tuition..i didnt live on loan money..i worked pt during school year and full time during the summer..but i was laid off so had to put repayment on hold.

if i made 60k it would be gone in a year..there isnt a lot left

**Telephus44** · 11-07-2011, 09:43 AM

I will also add, that I don't think student loans are inherently bad. I had some myself and I didn't find them unmanageable, and I think my employment situation has always been better for having my degree early.

What I disagree with is the people just going and taking out huge loans because of the mentality that a degree necessarily means a job. There are tons of people out there with business degrees. Heck, there are tons of people with MBA's. If you don't have a plan, then a degree isn't going to make a job suddenly appear.

**BertineC** · 11-12-2011, 09:39 AM

I have a friend who is very smart and ambitious and for some reason did an MBA (part-time at least) at a well-known school more or less on a dare. She's now paying off six figures in loans and, while she is in a good career in a good field with good prospects, she still has that monkey on her back for the forseeable future. To top it off - her job doesn't really require an MBA either for advancement purposes.

I was talking with some workmates late yesterday and everyone in a 4 cube radius had an MBA - talk about diluted value. I almost went back to get one a few years ago, but I was turned down for the full-time program I applied for and then five days later accepted a job offer for a job and salary I would have gotten upon completion of the MBA anyway. (note: I already have an advanced degree in a more rigorous, but related, field and took some MBA courses as part of my degree. This would have been highly specialized with the aim of feeding into a certain career path)

I agree with those saying that education is the next bubble - just like housing where the govt wanted everyone to get a house, this time they want everyone to get an education. But we really need to get an understanding as to what type of education and what level as well as get employers on board. You can say you need highly-skilled manufacturers, but if you aren't willing to pay, then there is no incentive to train.

I think we've got two more years in the economic doldrums. Europe needs to finish blowing up and the US needs to get over its political uncertainties, not to mention China needs to not succumb to their own bubble madness.