I feel like I'm the only person whose parents didn't pay for my education

[Anonymous]

Am I the only one?! I feel like it. I come across sooo many people who were lucky enough for their parents to pay for college. My loans have increased $12,000 in interest since the 8 years I’ve been out of college. It just sucks....

[Anonymous]

Nope, my son finished paying off his undergraduate student loans at age 34 and our daughter hopes to be able to pay off her undergraduate student loans by that age, too. And, their dad and I contributed a lot towards their educational expenses.

Among my friends (mostly teachers and other similar level college graduates) I do not know even one couple who were able to pay for their child's education in full. Every single one of their children had some student loans and some had very substantial student loans.

[Anonymous]

I paid for myself so there was another way

[Anonymous]

I had some scholarship money, but not too much. I worked FT and went to school FT.

[Anonymous]

I had a full scholarship and worked 40 hours/week when I was in college. You're definitely not the only one.

[Anonymous]

Well I had to pay for years on DH's student loans. His parents pat themselves on the back that he got a good job that let him pay them off (DH says that too) but in reality, it was because I didn't have any loans.

[Anonymous]

You're not alone. My parents also did not pay for my college. And I never skipped a class because I knew exactly how much each class was costing me. And I've worked my butt off to make money to pay back loans I had to take on.

[Anonymous]

You're not the only one. Have six figures in debt.

[Anonymous]

Nope. DH and I both paid our own way (undergrad for both and grad for me) and had loans for years as a result.

[Anonymous]

It is not at all unusual for adult students to pay their own way (whether adults at age 16 or at age 36). 100% of our family has done that for generations. Most of our peers do / have done the same, for themselves, for their families. (i.e. student uses many ways to save / pay for their own college.) Mine got very small loans and also high risk / high skilled jobs during college. (Wildfire fighting and Alaska fishing). If your college debt was 10 yrs ago, your loans were very inexpensive and could / should have been consolidated @ ~3% when the deal was presented. So why has your interest 'increased'? How much are you paying towards principle? Most people pay (waste) more than $12k every yr on their home interest. (which they consider an investment (?), as is an EDU.

What is the outstanding balance?
What is your repayment plan? (There are still employers and Service jobs (usually Federal Gov gigs) that forgive college debt in exchange for your services)

(We all have to address those steps for EACH of our obligations). No shortage of obligations in life. Paying their own way through college was not my kid's first obligation. They had been financially on their own long before college. As with my parents... it was MUCH cheaper to go live somewhere else than to stay @ home! (I left home at age 15, living a lot of HS from the back of a pickup truck, in between jobs and school). I accrued NO DEBT for college. I worked 3 jobs (as usual) during college. And before and after college.... for decades after college.

[Anonymous]

We didn't get help for undergrad or grad school, but now are in our mid 30's with no school debt. The choices are difficult and sometimes unpleasant in that situation, but it's certainly done by many all the time. So many of the people I know didn't have help or only had partial help.

[Anonymous]

I am very proud that I have paid for every single penny of my own education. Used G.I. Bill, used student loans, etc.

I never got this attitude by some that feel parents have some sort of responsibility to fund their kid's educations, and end up taking out second mortgages and other nonsense to fund this education. How about working while going to school? How about going to community college for a few years to save costs and then getting scholarships? How about joining the military?

Hey, if the parents have a lot of spare change lying around to pay for their kid's education, more power to them. But I am proud that I did it all on my own.

[Anonymous]

OP is not getting much support here...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well I had to pay for years on DH's student loans. His parents pat themselves on the back that he got a good job that let him pay them off (DH says that too) but in reality, it was because I didn't have any loans.

How did you pay for school?

[Anonymous]

While around here, it is common to have your education paid for by your parents, it was not at all the norm where I grew up. I was raised in the midwest. I went to a public university for college and an out of state public university for law school. I did this with no funds from my parents. I came out with 6 figures of debt. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I paid off all of my loans 15 years out of law school. I realize school is a lot more expensive today than it was when I went but it was worth the investment.