what's better

age 30 with a BS in CS making 145k NO student loan debt?

age 30 with a BA in Lib arts and a law degree with 150k of student loan debt making 150?

Anonymous wrote:No law school unless it's top 14. Forget first tier.

Ugh! I always wonder about the attorneys giving this advice. Did you go to a lower ranked school? Are you struggling to find work? The better advice is to not go to law school unless you really want to be a lawyer. Find out what lawyers actually do before taking on the debt. I went to a fourth tier law school, and I've been consistently employed as an attorney for the past ten years. I don't work in BIGLAW, but my job is interesting, stable, and pays the bills.

DH and I originally owed over $300K. With a mix of public service and military time, we're down to $150k. We've purchased a house, had two kids, and traveled extensively. We could've paid off all the loans, but we're in public service and making our income based payments. We'd rather stay in public service and have the government pick up whatever is remaining in 4 years.

We have 529 plans for the kids, and we plan on paying for their undergrad. As a parent, I think we're going to try harder to educate our children on the many different types of jobs out there. I probably would have picked a different major had I know about some of the interesting work I've learned about over the years. I wouldn't dissuade them from taking out loans for grad school. I'd try to help them figure out what they are going to do with the degree.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 40 yrs old and 36 months away from paying off my $107k of student debt. I will strongly discourage my child to incur this type of debt. I have significantly diminished my lifestyle to get rid of it. My children are too young to worry about it now, but I intend to talk about financing college/grad school/major selection all as one discussion. If I had to do it over again I would've just stuck with my engineering degree from my state university undergrad.

When did you acquire the debt?

Small amount in undergrad ($5k), law school 24-27, LLM 28 (partially paid our by employer). I have purchased a condo and a house on my own during this payback period so could've paid back earlier, but needed/wanted to stop renting.

Are you a patent attorney?

I came out of law school with $160k in loans, too (went to top 5 law school in big expensive city with no help as well).

The debt sucks - I'll be 50 before the loans are paid off - but the degree's opened up a million interesting doors for me. It's really been a mixed bag.

So, should other people take on that kind of debt? Depends on what they're after in their lives, and what they're giving up to get it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 40 yrs old and 36 months away from paying off my $107k of student debt. I will strongly discourage my child to incur this type of debt. I have significantly diminished my lifestyle to get rid of it. My children are too young to worry about it now, but I intend to talk about financing college/grad school/major selection all as one discussion. If I had to do it over again I would've just stuck with my engineering degree from my state university undergrad.

I'm 36 and YEARS away from paying off husband's and my combined $270,000 in student loan debt. We started at $400,000 but jesus christ there is NO WAY I will encourage our children to take on this kind of debt. It is INSANE. We plan on paying for college for them and hope it will be public. We'll discourage grad school for them if we cannot afford to pay. This debt is crippling.

PP here, meant we started at $420 combined, not $400.

How on earth did you accumulate so much student debt?

To respond to the OP, we plan to put our kids through college debt-free. We will impress on them the importance of minimal or no debt for grad school.

Two lawyers both went to law school in large, expensive cities and had no scholarships or help from families.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 40 yrs old and 36 months away from paying off my $107k of student debt. I will strongly discourage my child to incur this type of debt. I have significantly diminished my lifestyle to get rid of it. My children are too young to worry about it now, but I intend to talk about financing college/grad school/major selection all as one discussion. If I had to do it over again I would've just stuck with my engineering degree from my state university undergrad.

I'm 36 and YEARS away from paying off husband's and my combined $270,000 in student loan debt. We started at $400,000 but jesus christ there is NO WAY I will encourage our children to take on this kind of debt. It is INSANE. We plan on paying for college for them and hope it will be public. We'll discourage grad school for them if we cannot afford to pay. This debt is crippling.

PP here, meant we started at $420 combined, not $400.

How on earth did you accumulate so much student debt?

To respond to the OP, we plan to put our kids through college debt-free. We will impress on them the importance of minimal or no debt for grad school.

No law school unless it's top 14. Forget first tier.

The value of the degree depends on the school and the career. No, I would not suggest they take on debt to get an MBA that is not a top 10 school. I would not want them to take on debt from a second tier law school. And I do not think a liberal arts degree is useless. As a PP noted, learning how to think critically is a skill that will allow you to be a success in any field.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 40 yrs old and 36 months away from paying off my $107k of student debt. I will strongly discourage my child to incur this type of debt. I have significantly diminished my lifestyle to get rid of it. My children are too young to worry about it now, but I intend to talk about financing college/grad school/major selection all as one discussion. If I had to do it over again I would've just stuck with my engineering degree from my state university undergrad.

I'm 36 and YEARS away from paying off husband's and my combined $270,000 in student loan debt. We started at $400,000 but jesus christ there is NO WAY I will encourage our children to take on this kind of debt. It is INSANE. We plan on paying for college for them and hope it will be public. We'll discourage grad school for them if we cannot afford to pay. This debt is crippling.

PP here, meant we started at $420 combined, not $400.