Financially hobbled for life- elite masters degree that don’t pay off

[Anonymous]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/financially-hobbled-for-life-the-elite-masters-degrees-that-dont-pay-off-11625752773

This was such an insightful article about students who go to elite grad schools and are worse off then they started. Do you think this should be forgiven??

[Anonymous]

NO! Absolutely not.

[Anonymous]

I think the system is broken and should be fixed. I also think I didn't need this WSJ article to tell me that, and there is NO WAY I or my kids would be signing up for a Columbia MFA program that would put me in 6 figure debt. There are other routes to a career in films, or alternate careers.

[Anonymous]

The rule about only paying for professional graduate degrees exists for this reason. If you are in a field where the average graduate makes 30k, a masters that costs over 100k is always a bad investment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.wsj.com/articles/financially-hobbled-for-life-the-elite-masters-degrees-that-dont-pay-off-11625752773

This was such an insightful article about students who go to elite grad schools and are worse off then they started. Do you think this should be forgiven??

Why should it be forgiven?

[Anonymous]

Not to be cruel, but there's a lot of fake colleges out there that don't pay off too. Basically any of the for profit colleges and a lot of small, expensive private colleges. I don't see why any of those should be forgiven. If you can't get into a great state college, you should rethink going to college. We need to make trade schools a viable, normal path for kids too.

[Anonymous]

Nope, its a choice. Do the math and do it again how much you need to make to pay off that degree before you decide to get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The rule about only paying for professional graduate degrees exists for this reason. If you are in a field where the average graduate makes 30k, a masters that costs over 100k is always a bad investment

Yep. Same principal applies when you're in a field that pays maybe $125K and you took out a $1 million in loans plus three kids and two cars.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/mike-meru-has-1-million-in-student-loans-how-did-that-happen-1527252975

[Anonymous]

Nope. No one held a gun to them and told them they had to pursue theater or film or whatever with a median debt of 170k in an industry where starting salaries are 30-40k. They all took the chance that THEY would be the next Tom Hanks or John Legend or whatever. Well sometimes those things don't work out. Good luck to you.

[Anonymous]

I mean he knew it was a lost cause, so why go for a graduate degree in the profession?

Mr. Morrison, who owes nearly $300,000, said he was invited to a fireside chat for graduate students at Mr. Bollinger’s Manhattan townhouse that year.

Mr. Bollinger asked for a show of hands by those who felt prepared to pay off their student loans and to succeed in the workplace, Mr. Morrison recalled. The grad student didn’t raise his hand, and Mr. Bollinger asked him why.

Mr. Morrison said the job market for aspiring screenwriters and directors looked bleak for someone with a six-figure debt load...

[Anonymous]

If you are smart enough to get into an elite grad program, you should have the intelligence to recognize the financial impact over the long term.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The rule about only paying for professional graduate degrees exists for this reason. If you are in a field where the average graduate makes 30k, a masters that costs over 100k is always a bad investment

Yep. Same principal applies when you're in a field that pays maybe $125K and you took out a $1 million in loans plus three kids and two cars.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/mike-meru-has-1-million-in-student-loans-how-did-that-happen-1527252975

an orthodontist making 125k is choosing to make less than the can. Quick google has the national average at 225k. I'd assume it's higher in high COL areas. That debt isn't the result of loans, it's the result of not realizing that you need to make enough to service your debt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to be cruel, but there's a lot of fake colleges out there that don't pay off too. Basically any of the for profit colleges and a lot of small, expensive private colleges. I don't see why any of those should be forgiven. If you can't get into a great state college, you should rethink going to college. We need to make trade schools a viable, normal path for kids too.

Lots of people are suckered. Stay away from an education you or your parents can't really afford, or expensive graduate programs which don't offer any extra financial support. This is especially true of first generation or middle class students.

The best advice my undergraduate advisor gave me was to *always* know what you are going to do with a Masters or PhD before you start a program.
I would add now: just because you earn that Masters or PhD there still may not be a job for you in that field at the end of the degree, much less one which can pay for loans.
This was not always true, but started in my generation (people born in 1963+) and it's even worse now.

Universities and colleges are now governed on a "business' model overall: students are customers and you are there to give them what they (and their parents) want, and to make money for the university.
~former academic

[Anonymous]

Become a plumber instead. My friend owns a plumbing company, 50+ plumbers working for him and he's rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Become a plumber instead. My friend owns a plumbing company, 50+ plumbers working for him and he's rich.

in your example, one of 51 is rich. Not great odds