HOW MUCH MONEY DOES YOUR KID (insert parent's name) OWE

Scary, isn't it??

Hopefully, our son will graduate debt-free. That's assuming my husband doesn't get laid off.

AcademyDad, I'm curious to know what you saw on Suze Ormann the other night. What did she say that shocked you so much?

.

Simply that undergraduate kids were leaving school with 80-140K in debt, and in some cases, another 35-60 in multiple credit cards.... plus their parents' debt.

Something about.... "I can't be overdrawn, I still have checks left!" It was a whole program on how kids just aren't getting any REAL LIFE education... how to balance a check book, how you shouldn't use a credit card unless you can pay it off every month, what happens when balances go month after month with only the interest being paid off. Suze said some of today's kids will be lucky to get out of this current debt (not including any adult debt they will obviously accumulate) by the time they are 50. I'm 54 and can hardly remember college (that memory disease... what's it called?). I can't imagine still paying on a ski weekend to Whitefish my Junior year.

cadDAD

.

80-140K PLUS 35K-60K in credit cards??? Now, that is scary!

I think it's a crying shame that high schools don't require a consumer math course for graduation. Honestly, in the long run, how useful is calculus or trig going to be compared to a class teaching budgeting, balancing a checkbook, etc.?

And to think that the next generation is going to be expected to foot the bill for our country's massive debt plus ever-escalating Medicare costs and Social Security payouts. How in the world will they be able to manage that, given their personal debt running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars?

quote:

I think it's a crying shame that high schools don't require a consumer math course for graduation. Honestly, in the long run, how useful is calculus or trig going to be compared to a class teaching budgeting, balancing a checkbook, etc.?

I'm pretty sure Illinois does require it. I know I had to take one in high school.

I expect to have around $30k in student loans when I'm done and that's before grad school. I have no credit card and have no intent on getting one anytime soon. I have my debit cards but they only go so far of course.. Once the account is empty, that spending stops

quote:

I ask this question, because I have been reading a tremendous amount about kids graduating with degrees in "Southeast Asian Studies", "University Studies" (that's a favorite at UNLV), et al, and coming out with 10's, even 100's of thousands in debt. Not to mention unbelievable amounts on multiple credit cards.

Our oldest graduated from college in May 2007 with an elementary education degree. With the (obligatory?) major change between 2nd & 3rd years, it took 5 years and ~$95K to complete. She’s now teaching 3rd grade, is married, has her own benefits, and is 98% off the family payroll. We made it with no student loans and no credit card debt. God is Good.

Our second daughter is in her 3rd year (of 5(?) after changing majors). When she graduates, she too will have no student loans or credit card debt. Since her first year was at a jr. college, we’ll likely have “only” ~$70K invested in that diploma.

Our son’s right arm has gotten him a “ride”, and if he works really hard and doesn’t do anything really stupid, he’ll get his degree in 4 years and I too will be “thanking all of you for supporting … my son's education”

I talked with a young lady I worked with last May. She had just graduated with an MBA. She said she had over $100K in school loans. How does that happen? I can't comprehend. . . .

I’ve talked with a young lady who'd studied to be a teacher. She had over $50K in student loans. I don’t see how a teacher could ever earn enough to live AND pay off loans of that magnitude. It’s as if people have been lured into trading 4-6 years of “easy schooling” for a lifetime of digging out of the hole and trying to make ends meet.

My daughter's roommate went in to a bank to get a student loan for this semester. The bank employee convinced her to sign up for a CREDIT CARD instead, and put the entire tuition, books and living expenses on the card! With that kind of advice, is it any wonder WAMU is now bankrupt?

My son will owe $22,500.approx. It is a low interest student loan. Payments are a modest 280/mth.
Well I am not worried for him and I will help him where needed.
Interestinly they gave him $3500 non repayable grant and non of his scholarships are taxable . Here a parent can use non used student tuition which is basically about $25,000 a year to reduce our taxes. You can only use a max $10500. of that unused tuition per year. We apply it against our taxes and get approx $3000 back every year. That almost pays the whole low interest payment. He graduates this year and will probably go to grad school which will delay the start of payments for atleast 1 more year. He must start paying 6 months after leaving college.
In essence the govt is paying for most of the loan. We have done this the last 2 years and have received just short of $6000 so far. Almost a free education. If he comes home to attend grad school that money will again cover most of the cost of college and keep building his unused tuition.

I have 2 daughters who graduated with no debt but they worked to pay for college while at college. It is not the same for a ball player and I consider it money well spent. Undergrad degrees are near useless but the college ball is priceless.
My son has a free meal plan and has 2 part time jobs which he cannot spend a lot of time at. It has really cost us next to nothing and with the tax credit his debt obligation is minimal. My son does have a US credit card for about $2000 but it is Mom and Dad that use it .

I think he has $2,500 outstanding on a Sallie Mae loan. Baseball will have paid five years of tuition and books by May 2009. We paid the rest. He is getting a grad degree at the cost of $5,000, which will be reimbursed by his employer.

Cadad, you are welcome and it is my pleasure.

At my high school, a semester course in consumer education is required. They give us a cursory knowledge of economics, balancing a checkbook, how credit works, investments, and a glimpse at the stock market. It is required unless one can test out of it (usually about 30 kids try to test out of it, usually none or one can pass the test)

I think those financial Gurus in the news had a ton of consumer knowledge and look what they did.

The credit card debt is a result because as soon as you got a HS diploma, cc card offers came by the droves. Orientation on college campus is loaded with cc "recruiters". Not sure if it is like that now with the economy, but it was back in 2004. Banks gave cc to students without parental collaterol. Now you want to know why we are in a financial mess.
Education debt comes from those getting loans that have to be repaid that included living expenses as well as tuition. Most didn
Most didn't realize what they were getting into. I have a friend who is so in debt for her masters degree in education and her position doesn't pay close to what she owes. She told me she will be in debt until she dies.
The lure of the MBA for more money in your job sounds real good, if you can find one that pays that well these days.

My kids are not yet in college, but I'm pretty sure based on the bills I've received for their dental care, my Orthodontist's kids will be able to graduate with no debt.

I have no problem with my son's credit card. Without previous credit history you can't get a mortgage. The wise use of credit is an important tool if used properly. He will have great credit when he leaves college. He pays it in full before the due date and understands how important it is.
My one daughter borrowed interest free student loans and invested the money in secure investments while at college. She bought a condo while still at college. Sold it and made 20 big ones tax free and used the investment funds to pay off her student loans at no cost to her. She bought a condo in Toronto that has increased in value by at least 30 thousand even with the soft market. It hasn't even been built yet. She put a secured deposit on it over 2 years ago. At one point the new ones were selling for 60 thousand more than she paid.

8 years of service to his country.

There is no issue with a college student getting a cc and establishing credit and repaying.
That's not what she was talking about.

quote:

She bought a condo in Toronto that has increased in value by at least 30 thousand even with the soft market. It hasn't even been built yet.

Alot of people tried that in Florida. It didn't work out very well by the time the things got built. I'm just sayin'......

quote:

I will start by thanking all of you for supporting both of my son's education...

No thanks necessary. I know it's money well spent.

We will have less than 30 K debt if he stays on track. All tuition and expenses were budgeted fairly tight. Thank goodness the walk on money was there. and yes he has a cc, but my son is a total chisler.

.

quote:

and yes he has a cc, but my son is a total chisler.

This is where Woody's supposed to find a picture of Charleton Heston as Michelangelo carving the David...

One of my sons is so tight, the only way he ever lets go of a buck, is to get a tighter grip... better than the other way I suppose...

.

Funny the one about the orthodontis doctor. Just an example of how much money they take in. We had a case where the dental bookkeeper embezeled 2 million over a period of 10 years. They finally caught her when it dawned on them they weren't taking in as much as they thought they should. What does that tell you about the medical field.

quote:

We had a case where the dental bookkeeper embezeled 2 million over a period of 10 years.

Well at least she got her 4 kids thru college??

EH

quote:

Originally posted by Pop Up Hitter dad:
Funny the one about the orthodontis doctor. Just an example of how much money they take in. We had a case where the dental bookkeeper embezeled 2 million over a period of 10 years. They finally caught her when it dawned on them they weren't taking in as much as they thought they should. What does that tell you about the medical field.

The bookkeeper should go into politics

quote:

How much does your kid owe upon getting out of college?

$0 .... I invested every month from the week the oldest was born. It was over 100K by college. With scholarships college will only cost 38K. There will be 60-70K left over for a graduation present. The money will be used for law school. My youngest's account just took a bit of a hit. There should still be 100K for college in three years.

My two sons both attended private schools since kindergarten. Because of the tuition we paid, we were not able to save for college in advance, but at least we were used to an education bill each month!

My youngest is a junior this year at a large public university that costs about $18K/year ($45K invested thru 2.5 years). He owes $6,000 in student loans, mom and dad have paid about $20K out of pocket in the past 2.5 yrs, and the remaining almost $20K ... home equity.

Older son spent 3.5 years at a private DIII ($22-$24K/yr including baseball...priceless) and has 1 year of coursework left but is currently working fulltime and planning to work on his degree part-time. He is self-supporting but we do help with his college loans. He owes about $9K for the 3.5 years and we paid the rest out of pocket and home equity ... total for us $50K+ over the 3.5 years.

Between loans, out-of-pocket, and home equity/refinance, I guess our family has spent about $90K in the past 4.5 years for college for 2 boys, and we'll spend another $30-50K before they both have their 4 year degrees. It has been difficult and I will need to continue working more than one job for the next few years, but I think it's worth it.

Julie

We have 2 sons that will graduate debt free from college. Oldest a senior at a CA state school. This has been very affordable but transferring after 1 1/2 years did slow him down. Will graduate with a computer science/IT degree and is just starting a gov. internship that pays well and will hopefully lead to a FT job after graduation.

Youngest, freshman at an out of state private worked really hard in high school and has a large merit scholarship in addition to his baseball scholly. He will graduate debt free also and hopefully in 4 years.

We always told the baseball playing son that we could not afford $50K/yr for him to play that he needed merit and athletic aid. If your son is capable of really good grades and chooses to work hard in high school there is merit money available at many schools.

I think people may start to re-evaluate the worthiness of college degrees if it doesn't lead to employment soon after graduation. It's great to be well educated but if you can't find a job in your field was the money well spent?

I will start by thanking all of you for supporting both of my son's education... No, we need to thank your sons for their service to our country!!

My son doesn't owe anything. Scholarship, Mom and Dad, Then MLB money. All cushioned the blow of reality. He will start his payback by "spreading his wealth" as soon as he becomes employed.

In todays paper.

County Mayor A C Wharton plans to dole out nearly $6 million to financially struggling residents to keep their heat on this winter.

"We're going to be able to help folks before they get that cutoff notice," Wharton said.

The multimillion-dollar federal grant was announced during a news conference Tuesday in the mayor's Downtown office. Phones have already begun ringing with residents short on cash, Jones said.

I have a son who is just starting college at 23 in the spring semester. Needless to say right after he enrolled, he got several calls and has been asked to try out for a few teams. I guess MLB is angry that he actually wants to use his college money. As of now he owes nothing and is completely self supporting.

I have a daughter that is a junior and an engineering major who played 2 years of college s*ccer. After 2 knee surgeries she decided to be an engineer. Between the scholarship and the academic money, she owes less than 5k with 1 1/2 semesters to go. Mom and dad have spent roughly 8k on her education.

Then I have a 12 (OMG) year old cheerleader. What a waste of a perfectly good athlete. I convinced her to try out for her middle school s*ccer team. She was the only 6th grader to make it. She didn't want to try out for fear of the repercussions on her social life. I told her at twelve, she only has a social life when I say she does! That went over well! "OMG, DAD!" She then proceeded to text furiously to all her friends how unfair I was..... She is still looking for the phone. lol

When she goes to school it will be on my dime minus her academics. Thank god her mom is a professor. Grades have never been an issue for my kids. SuperMom is on the case.

Hopefully MnMom will be done paying for hers and can help me with the cheerleader.

Son is a junior now and will graduate (hopefully on time) without any debt thanks to some baseball aid. Daughter is a freshman and gets four years on Dad and Mom with a clean financial slate at graduation. Only have three more sons to go (15, 11, 8). Hope to give them all the same deal.

I plan to retire from work in 2065 at the age of 103.

Older son graduated after 19, well actually 5.25, years of college. Our goal/plan was to get the guys out of college with a degree, no debt, good credit, and a decent vehicle. He loved his college baseball experience, and somehow managed to find time to do just enough academic work to get a diploma. He's working, learning the customer is always right, and still occasionally bums $10 for a haircut.

Graduation does great things for a parent's cash flow.

One down, one to go. And the end of watching sons play ball will come all too soon, but it's a great ride.

.

quote:

He's working, learning the customer is always right, and still occasionally....

Tell your son that the customer is not always right.... but the customer is always the customer...

I've been a supplier to WalMart too long....

quote:

I plan to retire from work in 2065 at the age of 103.

Great line... I know I feel that way....

quote:

One down, one to go. And the end of watching sons play ball will come all too soon, but it's a great ride.

This one scares me.... but it is perhaps the next rite of passage.


cadDAD

.

Let me start by thanking all of you for contributing to my military retirement pension. It's a nice little chunk of change that allows me to teach and coach high school football and baseball and sponge off of county tax payers in Northern Virginia.

My daughter graduated from a very good Virginia state school with very little debt, a high paying job and a new SUV.

quote:

I plan to retire from work in 2065 at the age of 103.

Baseballdad1228,

I'll be one year ahead of you!

Julie