Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only difference between loans and savings is time. This is also an article about whether it makes sense to pay for a private degree, even without loans, if you can get a degree of similar value from a state school. The answer depends on the kid and on what you’re really buying, but in a lot of cases the answer is no.

State schools use loans (after pell grants) as a starting point for financial aid. Some private schools use grants to meet need. Her first example is Iowa instate vs Yale and she says Iowa is the better deal. Yale meets all need with grants, Iowa would require loans. She (or the author) is clearly out of touch.

But if you have the money, and your choice is full pay at Iowa or full pay at Yale, you come out of Iowa with a lot more money still in your bank account. If you want to be an accountant in Des Moines, it’s hard to see why you should pay for Yale.

My child is a senior and did not take out any loans. As a single parent, I was only able to save $75K by the time she reached college age. She attended a 2nd tier college, that offered generous aid. She won an additional scholarship in college. She worked two summers which allowed her to contribute to her expenses and I was able to continue saving when she was in school, because my salary had increase quite a bit since she was young (but not that high, by DCUM standards).

Now she wants grad school, and knows that I cannot pay for that. I am retirement age, and have to prioritize my own support. She plans, however, so only attend schools that offer funding.

(In my own youth, I got scholarships at undergrad and grad but needed modest loans to cover part of my living expenses.)

Anonymous wrote:The only difference between loans and savings is time. This is also an article about whether it makes sense to pay for a private degree, even without loans, if you can get a degree of similar value from a state school. The answer depends on the kid and on what you’re really buying, but in a lot of cases the answer is no.

State schools use loans (after pell grants) as a starting point for financial aid. Some private schools use grants to meet need. Her first example is Iowa instate vs Yale and she says Iowa is the better deal. Yale meets all need with grants, Iowa would require loans. She (or the author) is clearly out of touch.

The only difference between loans and savings is time. This is also an article about whether it makes sense to pay for a private degree, even without loans, if you can get a degree of similar value from a state school. The answer depends on the kid and on what you’re really buying, but in a lot of cases the answer is no.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The article says …

That may mean attending a community college for three years and transferring to a better school as a senior.



Who thinks CC is 3 years. Also not all credits transfer. Jeez

um yeah, that's not how it works, at least here. UMD takes 60 credits max from 2y schools. And that doesn't mean that all 60 are applicable to the degree.

My DD just graduated from Montgomery CC and she is able to transfer all 60 credits to UMD. It is absolutely doable. You just have to know what you're doing.

Yes, same if you attend NoVA for UVA (and a ton of other schools). See here: https://www.nvcc.edu/apps/1/transfersearch/gaasearch.aspx

You have to go into the CC with a plan to transfer and satisfy UVa requirements, but you are guaranteed transfer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The article says …

That may mean attending a community college for three years and transferring to a better school as a senior.



Who thinks CC is 3 years. Also not all credits transfer. Jeez

um yeah, that's not how it works, at least here. UMD takes 60 credits max from 2y schools. And that doesn't mean that all 60 are applicable to the degree.

My DD just graduated from Montgomery CC and she is able to transfer all 60 credits to UMD. It is absolutely doable. You just have to know what you're doing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The article says …

That may mean attending a community college for three years and transferring to a better school as a senior.



Who thinks CC is 3 years. Also not all credits transfer. Jeez

um yeah, that's not how it works, at least here. UMD takes 60 credits max from 2y schools. And that doesn't mean that all 60 are applicable to the degree.

Yeah, that makes me think the economist cited is out of touch. Or that the article writer is extrapolating a lot of their own thoughts off of what they said.
Anyway, our DC is taking the max of student subsidized loans to go to UVA. They will graduate with $23,000 in debt. I think it's manageable. We will help out if it isn't manageable (if we can of course!) but we have the next kid's college to pay for and our own retirement. (We have been saving since the kids were born but we're not high earners for DCUM). The heuristic we have heard is that it's reasonable to take out loans up to the expected 1st year's gross salary. Given that a full-time minimum wage job pays more than $23000/yr I feel confident it's a manageable loan. We also are happy to have our kids live with us for as long as they need post-college to pay off loans.

They will likely have to take out smaller loans - hard to tell. We have money saved, and they have money saved, and they will likely work 10-20 hours a week during school, but there's always that last mile.

Anonymous wrote:The article says …

That may mean attending a community college for three years and transferring to a better school as a senior.



Who thinks CC is 3 years. Also not all credits transfer. Jeez

um yeah, that's not how it works, at least here. UMD takes 60 credits max from 2y schools. And that doesn't mean that all 60 are applicable to the degree.

Anonymous wrote:The article says …

That may mean attending a community college for three years and transferring to a better school as a senior.



Who thinks CC is 3 years. Also not all credits transfer. Jeez

The same people who are so out of touch that they think it's remotely possible for most kids to get a bachelors degree without loans

The article says …

That may mean attending a community college for three years and transferring to a better school as a senior.



Who thinks CC is 3 years. Also not all credits transfer. Jeez

TL;DR: college is only for the wealthy

I mean, I don't know if Mr. Harvard has a grasp on reality for many, but I don't completely disagree about student loans killing a lot of families.

To answer your question, no. Neither my children nor I will be taking out student loans for their education. But I'm in DCUM-land where we knew to start saving at birth and could now easily cashflow it, if needed.

I'm in a FB group that is all about paying for college. It's an eye-opener. People just have their kids apply willy-nilly to whatever schools they want and then do a complete freak out when the government doesn't give them "FAFSA money". It's really sad to watch the cycle every year and in the coming months people will start posting about how their kid just has to go to their dream school and mommy can't say no, but has an EFC of $100 and wants to know where they can get a loan for $50k. And then they refuse to listen to the advice that perhaps that child should pick another school that they can remotely afford.

In the immortal words of Judge Elihu Smails "Well, the world needs ditch diggers too".

This article offers some perspective..

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/25/dont-borrow-for-college-warns-harvard-trained-economist-why-he-says-its-a-waste-of-money.html

Thoughts?