$80k In Debt Worth It for Ivy Undergrad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:80k is definitely enough, particularly if you will make 100k+ after graduation.

I really think you can stick it through and graduate. If you drop out, chances of you going back are slim. I feel like at every college there's a spot for you. You need to research jobs more and figure out what you're good at. Don't go into law school if you don't like the law- it will be very boring. I actually love the law, love my niche area and enjoy it. So it makes the grunt work (the hard part is reading and analyzing tens of thousands of pages) enjoyable.

What did you actually like doing in school? History? Research? English? Math? What about data analytics?

OP here. Again, I have no desire to go into the kind of high-pressure, competitive jobs that pay $100k to a recent college grad.

I'm interested in publishing, arts administration, non-profit work, and environmental education. Not exactly fields that Columbia undergrads are known to go into (seriously, it seems like everyone around me is gunning for FAANG, BB IB, MBB, or law/med school).

Wishing you well Op. just be aware that the fields you mentioned, especially the first two, are very hard to get into and jobs often go to rich, well- connected kids through no merit of their own. You sound like an idealist and I can see why Columbia is a poor fit.

OP sounds like an idiot.

OP, listen to me. Careers like publishing, arts administration, NPO work, and "environmental education" (whatever the hell that is) are for rich kids whose parents can bankroll their living expenses after graduation and pay for a downpayment on their first house. That's obviously not you. Suck it up and stay at Columbia, no matter how bad it is for your "mental health." Then get out and CRUSH IT in finance/consulting/tech so you can build the generational wealth for your kids that you parents so clearly failed to provide.

**that your parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My last parting words are that I think commenters here are having a hard time grasping how $80k in loans (and this would be mainly borrowed from predatory lenders like Sallie Mae or Discovery) would handicap me post-grad. I would basically have to take a high-paying career after graduation to chip away at the principle.

I think DCUM posters generally value things like money, prestige, and status much more than I do (and IMO this is part of the reason why I'm so unhappy at Columbia). I personally value doing something fulfilling even if it's not high-paying, and graduating debt-free is not conducive to that. So maybe I'll go to a Seven Sisters for free and have less opportunities than if I stayed at Columbia. But which employers are more likely to value a Columbia degree way more than a SLAC or state school degree? Probably a high-pressure, competitive, status-driven employer in finance, tech, or consulting that I'll have no desire to work for.

Peace. I realize my mentality is at odds with the social-climbing nature of the DMV. It's taken me months of therapy to get to this conclusion, but I'm glad I got to it before taking out a life-changing amount of student debt.

No,OP. We aren’t having a hard time grasping anything. You come off here as a spoiled brat who can’t find anything you want to do because no one has ever told you that WORK can be unpleasant. You are t happy anywhere … so you blame your parents. You didn’t like Ivy League. You hate your job, etc. I’m kind of baffled why you think you are supposed to be running in the fields throwing up flowers at any if these experiences. And so you blame your parents. They are simply trying to help you finish your degree. No you can’t take out that money on your own they must co-sign but they are willing to. I can’t tell you how many families I know who cant even offer that. Do you realize done grad students, law, med and dental have $400 k+ in loans to pay off? And here you are complaining about $80 co-signed by your parents. I struggled as a first ten through Harvard law school. I clerked for two years for a miserable $24k a year. I worked at soul sucking law firms to pay it off and was still paying off both college and law school at age 37 but I was grateful for every door that Harvard opened for me. And grateful that I didn’t have to saddled my middle class parents with my educational debt. I do think, as others have said, that you need intensive therapy to get over the hatred you have for your parents. They wanted only to give you what they did not have. While in therapy talk to your Ivy about taking community colleges credits to try and finish out your degree. Most will accommodate

[Anonymous]

Try to stay positive and finish the degree, OP. That Ivy name will open doors for you forever. A high school friend of mine who went to an Ivy (likely yours, based on your description) just bought a $14 million dollar McMansion at age 34! Meanwhile my DH and I will not come close to that amount over our lifetime. Then again, we didn’t go to an Ivy. We all went to the same high school and our friend wasn’t even in the top 10% academically, but he had a special interest/talent and decent grades, and I guess that was enough to be admitted to an Ivy in the 90s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please do not take on 80k for your misery just to appease your parents. Do you currently have access to counseling services through your school? Even a few sessions might be able to help you make a plan to move forward. Do you have any friends or other contacts who you might be able to talk to about your situation?

I work in college access. If you were one of my students, I would encourage you to at least take a leave for a semester so you can figure out what you want to do. Don't take out these loans under pressure. Get a place with roommates, get a regular people job, start exploring your options. Check out your state school options. You really don't want to get locked into a situation where you have to work at a job you hate and in which you feel like a failure just to pay loans that you didn't want to take in the first place!

-1

This is phenomenally crappy advice. It's self-indulgent bullshit. OP, take out the $80k and finish up at Columbia. Paying off a lot of student loans in a job you hate while feeling bad about yourself is a part of adult life. You need to do some serious growing up and realize that most people hate their jobs and just go for the highest paying one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try to stay positive and finish the degree, OP. That Ivy name will open doors for you forever. A high school friend of mine who went to an Ivy (likely yours, based on your description) just bought a $14 million dollar McMansion at age 34! Meanwhile my DH and I will not come close to that amount over our lifetime. Then again, we didn’t go to an Ivy. We all went to the same high school and our friend wasn’t even in the top 10% academically, but he had a special interest/talent and decent grades, and I guess that was enough to be admitted to an Ivy in the 90s.

LMAO. Most Ivy grads will never get to such an accomplishment. Your friend is either an extreme outlier or had rich parents help him buy the McMansion. Absurd to use this one random anecdote as proof OP should stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make sure you understand the longterm financial implications of $80 of debt at graduation (or however much debt you will have). I was a high debt student borrower. After making the minimum payments for 12 years, I had paid off $2,000 of principal. If you are borrowing privately, you won't have the protections provided by federal student loan programs. You will not be able to discharge your loans in bankruptcy. So you are really locking yourself into one path.

It depends on what you do after college. I was dirt poor but went into finance after graduation and was able to pay off my loans fully in 6 years. I am generally pretty frugal, so I directed a lot of my income towards that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try to stay positive and finish the degree, OP. That Ivy name will open doors for you forever. A high school friend of mine who went to an Ivy (likely yours, based on your description) just bought a $14 million dollar McMansion at age 34! Meanwhile my DH and I will not come close to that amount over our lifetime. Then again, we didn’t go to an Ivy. We all went to the same high school and our friend wasn’t even in the top 10% academically, but he had a special interest/talent and decent grades, and I guess that was enough to be admitted to an Ivy in the 90s.

LMAO. Most Ivy grads will never get to such an accomplishment. Your friend is either an extreme outlier or had rich parents help him buy the McMansion. Absurd to use this one random anecdote as proof OP should stay.

He works for a top financial firm. I personally know a handful of Wall Street people who retired in their late 30s and 40s with $50-100 mill. My friend’s parents are middle class at best. His boss went to the same Ivy and took a chance on him early on. My friend works a ton, but he loves it.

[Anonymous]

OP, you mention an interest in the Seven Sisters schools. I’m curious to know if you’ve looked into either attending Barnard or taking all, or most of your coursework at Barnard to complete your degree. That would give you a Seven Sister school environment, and, because it’s part of Columbia University, it might be easier to get credit for the coursework you’ve already completed—compared to other schools.

As to your “parting words”, you’re making quite a few over- generalizations. You also seem startlingly certain that you’ll both get accepted by a Seven Sisters school, and get a scholarship that will allow you to attend “for free”. I wish you luck with that. I also hope you have thought through a few backup plans, in case your ideal plan doesn’t work out in ways that meet your expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try to stay positive and finish the degree, OP. That Ivy name will open doors for you forever. A high school friend of mine who went to an Ivy (likely yours, based on your description) just bought a $14 million dollar McMansion at age 34! Meanwhile my DH and I will not come close to that amount over our lifetime. Then again, we didn’t go to an Ivy. We all went to the same high school and our friend wasn’t even in the top 10% academically, but he had a special interest/talent and decent grades, and I guess that was enough to be admitted to an Ivy in the 90s.

LMAO. Most Ivy grads will never get to such an accomplishment. Your friend is either an extreme outlier or had rich parents help him buy the McMansion. Absurd to use this one random anecdote as proof OP should stay.

He works for a top financial firm. I personally know a handful of Wall Street people who retired in their late 30s and 40s with $50-100 mill. My friend’s parents are middle class at best. His boss went to the same Ivy and took a chance on him early on. My friend works a ton, but he loves it.

OP here. I would literally rather go to jail than go work at Wall Street (and I was in prison for a day after getting arrested at a protest, so there's that...)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you mention an interest in the Seven Sisters schools. I’m curious to know if you’ve looked into either attending Barnard or taking all, or most of your coursework at Barnard to complete your degree. That would give you a Seven Sister school environment, and, because it’s part of Columbia University, it might be easier to get credit for the coursework you’ve already completed—compared to other schools.

As to your “parting words”, you’re making quite a few over- generalizations. You also seem startlingly certain that you’ll both get accepted by a Seven Sisters school, and get a scholarship that will allow you to attend “for free”. I wish you luck with that. I also hope you have thought through a few backup plans, in case your ideal plan doesn’t work out in ways that meet your expectations.

OP here. I've checked out the Barnard thing, but unfortunately it's not a possibility for me -- almost all of my classes are at Columbia. And my parents have already told me upfront that they would never pay money for me to go from Columbia to Barnard.

I understand that my chances of getting accepted by a Seven Sisters school is not as high as I previously phrased it to be. In case I get rejected, I'm planning on entering my state school (I'm from California, so they're excellent) at 24 (so I'd be considered a financial independent).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you mention an interest in the Seven Sisters schools. I’m curious to know if you’ve looked into either attending Barnard or taking all, or most of your coursework at Barnard to complete your degree. That would give you a Seven Sister school environment, and, because it’s part of Columbia University, it might be easier to get credit for the coursework you’ve already completed—compared to other schools.

As to your “parting words”, you’re making quite a few over- generalizations. You also seem startlingly certain that you’ll both get accepted by a Seven Sisters school, and get a scholarship that will allow you to attend “for free”. I wish you luck with that. I also hope you have thought through a few backup plans, in case your ideal plan doesn’t work out in ways that meet your expectations.

OP here. I've checked out the Barnard thing, but unfortunately it's not a possibility for me -- almost all of my classes are at Columbia. And my parents have already told me upfront that they would never pay money for me to go from Columbia to Barnard.

I understand that my chances of getting accepted by a Seven Sisters school is not as high as I previously phrased it to be. In case I get rejected, I'm planning on entering my state school (I'm from California, so they're excellent) at 24 (so I'd be considered a financial independent).

God, I wish I could meet you in-person so I could shake some sense into you. Leaving Columbia to go back to a UC or Mount Holyoke or whatever at 24 is an awful decision. If ungrateful, lazy idiots like you are the ones who are populating the Ivies, I'll make sure to note as a hiring manager to avoid hiring from them.

OP, you're a pathetic, lazy POS. One of these days, the consequences of your immaturity will catch up to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My last parting words are that I think commenters here are having a hard time grasping how $80k in loans (and this would be mainly borrowed from predatory lenders like Sallie Mae or Discovery) would handicap me post-grad. I would basically have to take a high-paying career after graduation to chip away at the principle.

I think DCUM posters generally value things like money, prestige, and status much more than I do (and IMO this is part of the reason why I'm so unhappy at Columbia). I personally value doing something fulfilling even if it's not high-paying, and graduating debt-free is not conducive to that. So maybe I'll go to a Seven Sisters for free and have less opportunities than if I stayed at Columbia. But which employers are more likely to value a Columbia degree way more than a SLAC or state school degree? Probably a high-pressure, competitive, status-driven employer in finance, tech, or consulting that I'll have no desire to work for.

Peace. I realize my mentality is at odds with the social-climbing nature of the DMV. It's taken me months of therapy to get to this conclusion, but I'm glad I got to it before taking out a life-changing amount of student debt.

No,OP. We aren’t having a hard time grasping anything. You come off here as a spoiled brat who can’t find anything you want to do because no one has ever told you that WORK can be unpleasant. You are t happy anywhere … so you blame your parents. You didn’t like Ivy League. You hate your job, etc. I’m kind of baffled why you think you are supposed to be running in the fields throwing up flowers at any if these experiences. And so you blame your parents. They are simply trying to help you finish your degree. No you can’t take out that money on your own they must co-sign but they are willing to. I can’t tell you how many families I know who cant even offer that. Do you realize done grad students, law, med and dental have $400 k+ in loans to pay off? And here you are complaining about $80 co-signed by your parents. I struggled as a first ten through Harvard law school. I clerked for two years for a miserable $24k a year. I worked at soul sucking law firms to pay it off and was still paying off both college and law school at age 37 but I was grateful for every door that Harvard opened for me. And grateful that I didn’t have to saddled my middle class parents with my educational debt. I do think, as others have said, that you need intensive therapy to get over the hatred you have for your parents. They wanted only to give you what they did not have. While in therapy talk to your Ivy about taking community colleges credits to try and finish out your degree. Most will accommodate

+1000

OP, you're a spoiled ingrate and I can start to understand why your parents told you that they wished you succeeded in your suicide attempt. Working freaking sucks regardless of your job -- even if it's at a nice little NPO or in a publishing house or whatever artsy self-indulgent shit you want to do post-grad.

You're delusional. Suck it up, take the $80k out to finish at Columbia (an amazing school that most people would kill to get into!), and take whatever soul-sucking job you can to pay off those loans. Who gives a shit if your 20s suck because you're working 80 hour weeks at McKinsey or Goldman Sachs to pay your loans off? You have an opportunity most people would dream of.

BTW, if you were my kid, I wouldn't pay for your college at all. You are WAY too immature, bratty, ungrateful, and lazy to take advantage of college.

I think this comment says more about you than me.

[Anonymous]

Its hard to tell if this is real but I doubt you got a FAANG internship with those kind of grades. If they cannot afford to pay, transfer to a state school as that kind of loan is not worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My last parting words are that I think commenters here are having a hard time grasping how $80k in loans (and this would be mainly borrowed from predatory lenders like Sallie Mae or Discovery) would handicap me post-grad. I would basically have to take a high-paying career after graduation to chip away at the principle.

I think DCUM posters generally value things like money, prestige, and status much more than I do (and IMO this is part of the reason why I'm so unhappy at Columbia). I personally value doing something fulfilling even if it's not high-paying, and graduating debt-free is not conducive to that. So maybe I'll go to a Seven Sisters for free and have less opportunities than if I stayed at Columbia. But which employers are more likely to value a Columbia degree way more than a SLAC or state school degree? Probably a high-pressure, competitive, status-driven employer in finance, tech, or consulting that I'll have no desire to work for.

Peace. I realize my mentality is at odds with the social-climbing nature of the DMV. It's taken me months of therapy to get to this conclusion, but I'm glad I got to it before taking out a life-changing amount of student debt.

No,OP. We aren’t having a hard time grasping anything. You come off here as a spoiled brat who can’t find anything you want to do because no one has ever told you that WORK can be unpleasant. You are t happy anywhere … so you blame your parents. You didn’t like Ivy League. You hate your job, etc. I’m kind of baffled why you think you are supposed to be running in the fields throwing up flowers at any if these experiences. And so you blame your parents. They are simply trying to help you finish your degree. No you can’t take out that money on your own they must co-sign but they are willing to. I can’t tell you how many families I know who cant even offer that. Do you realize done grad students, law, med and dental have $400 k+ in loans to pay off? And here you are complaining about $80 co-signed by your parents. I struggled as a first ten through Harvard law school. I clerked for two years for a miserable $24k a year. I worked at soul sucking law firms to pay it off and was still paying off both college and law school at age 37 but I was grateful for every door that Harvard opened for me. And grateful that I didn’t have to saddled my middle class parents with my educational debt. I do think, as others have said, that you need intensive therapy to get over the hatred you have for your parents. They wanted only to give you what they did not have. While in therapy talk to your Ivy about taking community colleges credits to try and finish out your degree. Most will accommodate

$80K is just for undergraduate school. It makes zero sense. They should transfer to a state school and take out as few loans as possible. Graduate school is far more important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:80k is definitely enough, particularly if you will make 100k+ after graduation.

I really think you can stick it through and graduate. If you drop out, chances of you going back are slim. I feel like at every college there's a spot for you. You need to research jobs more and figure out what you're good at. Don't go into law school if you don't like the law- it will be very boring. I actually love the law, love my niche area and enjoy it. So it makes the grunt work (the hard part is reading and analyzing tens of thousands of pages) enjoyable.

What did you actually like doing in school? History? Research? English? Math? What about data analytics?

OP here. Again, I have no desire to go into the kind of high-pressure, competitive jobs that pay $100k to a recent college grad.

I'm interested in publishing, arts administration, non-profit work, and environmental education. Not exactly fields that Columbia undergrads are known to go into (seriously, it seems like everyone around me is gunning for FAANG, BB IB, MBB, or law/med school).

Wishing you well Op. just be aware that the fields you mentioned, especially the first two, are very hard to get into and jobs often go to rich, well- connected kids through no merit of their own. You sound like an idealist and I can see why Columbia is a poor fit.

OP sounds like an idiot.

OP, listen to me. Careers like publishing, arts administration, NPO work, and "environmental education" (whatever the hell that is) are for rich kids whose parents can bankroll their living expenses after graduation and pay for a downpayment on their first house. That's obviously not you. Suck it up and stay at Columbia, no matter how bad it is for your "mental health." Then get out and CRUSH IT in finance/consulting/tech so you can build the generational wealth for your kids that you parents so clearly failed to provide.

+1