I remember back when I was at the U (that's right, it's still the U, lackadaisical performance in collegiate football nonwithstanding - sidebar though, have you SEEN this year's schedule? Looks rough.) one of the many conversational topics was student loans, finances - paying for college and whatnot. The University of Miami was by no means a cheap university - running in at a bit less than $40,000 a year. Which isn't a laughing matter, considering the USA's GDP per capita is around $46,000. What, personally, I'll never understand though, is why some students (nothing personal to the ones I know, if there are any) choose to get so deep into loan debt to afford such expensive universities. I mean, in my case, the school itself and the state paid for my entire tuition so I'm nary a cent in debt, but I came upon this article today which presented some frightening numbers:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204731804574388682129316614.html
I won't summarize it for you too much, but you should give it a read. What it boils down to is a large percentage of students are borrowing ridiculous amounts of paper to pay for school. And then at the end, after graduation and grad/law/med school, you are double if not triple-digits in debt. Which forces you to put your life on hold. It mentions one 30-year old lawyer here in South Florida who is $175,000 in debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Around 67% of students borrow, and they all end up on average about $23,000 in debt. Why would you do that to yourself? Put your life on hold after graduation, which is supposedly when life begins? Perhaps someone can shed an altering viewpoint, but why not simply stay to a good school you can afford, locally? Instead of a change in scenery that will mess up your future? Further, what I can't understand are those who take the thousands of dollars in loans, go to schools of their choice for whatever reason, and then - don't even maximize their time @ said school, treat it like a joke. Get that ish in order. But continuing, I can't imagine having to live with the overbearing presence of being so enormously in debt before you're even 25. I never once considered or even fathomed taking out a loan from that callous whore Sallie Mae. Or, why leave the state to go somewhere else (i.e., MIT) - when I realized the Atlas-like weight I'd be carrying and putting on the shoulders of my parents and myself? If UM hadn't given me all the $ it did, I would've gone to FIU without a qualm. Although by all means, if you can afford somewhere you want to go, then go for it. But one thing about me - I will NEVER - NEVER - get myself into debt over something I won't be able to afford just because I want it. Everything I own was paid off from Day 1 (car doesn't count, lol). Bottom line is: Why spend money you don't have?
I bring all this up now, of course, because the great Herc, he who has for so long been recession-proof and able to go out, spend outrageously, live vicariously (I loved it) - now finds himself, having only paid off (with parental help) a meager $4.5k in a semester's worth of grad school tuition, a wee bit on the broke side. At least there's food in the fridge and all the bills are paid. I've had to cut down on the tequila and movie-purchasing budgets! GASP! And my favorite snack, banana ice cream pops, are now @ $1.79! They've gone up 30 cents in 3 years!
But in any case, things will be back to a lighter note tomorrow, and also thrown in with my NFL notes and observations now that the season is upon us. And perhaps for the last time, I bid adieu along with Charles:
Well, I for one was promised by my father that he and his new wife would cover what my scholarships and grants didn't. I showed them that I was accepted to UF and UM and what each would cost, and they said I should go where I want, they would help.
ReplyDelete30k later, I'm graduating from FIU instead because needless to say, my father didn't help me, but it was too late to really do anything about it, I was already there. After 2 years, I'd had enough empty promises and switched.