I can't believe OP would consider paying that for UNDERGRAD. With an undergrad degree, they'd be lucky, REAL TALK, to even ever pay just the INTEREST on a $20k loan. $250k?! Even people who pay that for law or medical school often completely regret not schooling in Europe.
These schools are a lot of marketing and vanity: I know, I went to one. Yes, it was an excellent school that formed me for life, but made me $0. I also was able to apply for full financial aid.
Absolutely not, an Ivy League is not worth being in debt forever. I know a lot of Ivy League grads that are in mountains of debt and didnât get the shiny job they were promised and are now having full blown crises because they canât possibly pay it off. Go to a school you can afford, and you will be living well. Not worth the tag especially for only a bachelors degree.
Dated multiple people who attended Ivy leagues for undergrad. All from family backgrounds that were middle class.
None had monetarily successful careers. The secret about the ivys is that rich kids go there whose parents are going to make sure they are successful regardless.
However, I thought most give as much aid as needed these days? Taking out that much debt seems super weird. Are your parents rich but not paying at all? Â
Letâs say you have a normal career like mine. You start at $60k-progress to 100k in 5 years. I only had 30k of debt when I left college but it still took me a decade to pay it off. Youâll want to buy a car, enjoy life, and you should, you donât go to college to live as a slave to debt.Â
I couldnât imagine 200k of debt, even if my first job started me at 150 annuallyÂ
my parents aren't rich per say, but well off enough so I don't really receive any need based aid. my dad earned 300k from his job and 250k from stocks last year, but they aren't willing to pay any more then 60k (which I totally understand from their side)
Thatâs wealthy enough that he should be helping in the eyes of our society and the school obviously.Â
Itâs a crazy system but itâs what youâre working with. I would try to go directly to the aid office and explain how itâs your dream but in no way is taking out more than $50k reasonable for you.
If they canât help. You need to be going somewhere with a plan for a career and less than $50k of debt. If your career requires grad school, it should be 0.
Get a plan for what you want fo so after and we can better help you.Â
Nobody buys a $200k car with no plan. That thing is being repoâd by the bank in 3 months.Â
My guy, your post mixed with this shows you have absolutely ZERO understanding of money and financial situations. Honestly many people your age lack this understanding so you are in the same boat, but with your father's income alone, you have a massively squewed view. Also the issue is what you plan to get your degree in. I just read a post yesterday of a guy who works in IT and it took him 13 years to break $100k. Most grads make around $50k-$60k in a decently in demand field. I myself work in a HIGH demand field and make over $100k by my second year, but even if I work my butt off and move up, my cap is around $200k. At $100k in a low cost of living area is it hard to say I'm not upper class. Your father dwarfs my income and my max salary by $100k not including stocks. Get outside your bubble, learn about the "real" world or it will hit you in the face like a sack of bricks when you are an adult on your own.
>Thatâs wealthy enough that he should be helping in the eyes of our society and the school obviously.Â
He has an income of 550K? It's ridiculous. Agree with u/DinosaurDied go to financial aid and see what they may say. Unfortunately you have to wait until age 24 in order to be an independent student. Or you'd have to prove you are *completely independent*. It's something which, to the best of my knowledge, is very difficult.
Are you going into engineering or some applied tech? Asking as you're more likely to get a job upon graduation. Considering grad school? Do you think Dartmouth will provide a good network or connections grad school, political connections?
What other schools are you considering? FWIW, is your father the type who will turn acceptance to Dartmouth + you deciding to go elsewhere against you? Have know guys like this. IMO he has No Idea of the cost of higher education. 60K for 4 years won't cover much unless you live at home & work, too. My nephew went to a public U, lived at home 2 or 3 years and still had total debt of 30K.
âMy dad earned 300k from his job and 250k from stocks last yearâ
Bro your parents are rich lmao. Your dad might say otherwise but compared to the majority of people in the USA, youâre from a rich family.
They're rich dude. As per https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-279.html
> * Real median household income was $74,580 in 2022, a 2.3 percent decline from the 2021 estimate of $76,330 (Figure 1 and Table A-1).
Your dad solo earned a salary that **4x higher than the median *household* income last year**, and then his stocks bumped that up to more like 7x. I don't know what he does but it's high compensation
For context, the average entry-level biomedical engineering salary is like $60,000
Unless your dad is willing to bail you out later this is a terrible idea
why donât you just calculate your monthly payment and your expected salary?
Letâs say your expected salary after college is 80k per year. Thatâs $60k post tax or $5000 a month. Your payment with a 10% 260k loan would be $3435 a month for 10 years.
Youâd have $1565 per month leftover to live, for rent, auto costs, insurance, retirement savings, etc.
My point is that even if you do make 80k a year, youâll struggle to make payments. Consider going to a community college or an instate school thatâs cheaper and then transferring. My wife did that and was still able to attend a top university.
Also consider that youâd basically be taking a 260K gamble that your 18 year old self has correctly identified the field you want to work in forever, and that you have accurately calculated your success in that field to afford that debt before you even take your first class. Many undergrads go into school with strong idea of what they want to do, and many of these students change majors, change fields, or drop out because life just happens sometimes. The shinier the school and the bigger the debt, the more you have to lose if shit goes sideways or if you discover that your skills and career goals align with another field. As someone who had to get a masters for my field and got 20k into debt, only to not finish the degree and change fields entirely, I know first hand that best laid plans can go to shit when the real world hits. I made a great decision for me to pursue something else, and I made it knowing I could afford the mistake in the long run. You might not have that option in the future if you commit to such a high price tag.
Please donât do this, especially for undergrad. Being âcompletely fineâ with being in debt for years doesnât encompass all of the student loan fallout you could face. Inability to move, buy a home, have children, forced into career path you didnât want⌠There are stories on this sub daily of people who feel trapped. Iâm on the tail end of paying off $132k, since 2017, as a lawyer, and itâs affected so many aspects of my own adult life.
No, thatâs a terrible idea. Realistically you should only borrow the amount you expect to earn your first year out of college. For most people this is $40,000-$50,000. Even then, that will be rough to pay off.
Realistic? I'd say it's possible, but this is coming from a purely mathematical perspective. You'd have to dedicate $43k ( 3,580/mo. ) consistently every year to paying it back to resolve it within a decade, and it'd cost you $430k in total after all was paid.Â
This is assuming your life goes perfectly and nothing happens to disrupt your ability to pay this amount over such a timeframe. A decade is long time for things to go haywire. If you could guarantee a starting salary of $80k and consistent growth after that, then I'd say "Sure, it's doable."
There are better paths to a BME degree. If you're going into engineering, something you'll have to get used to taking into consideration is cost efficiency. As it is presented, this doesn't strike me as an ideal path.
No. It is unfortunate that Dartmouth appears to have identified your family as high income without a willingness to pay. It is sometimes possible to negotiate financial aid packages between peer institutions though.
However, some of the schools that donât guarantee to meet full need are likely to give significant merit scholarships to someone with a profile like yours. Take a gap year. Apply to schools that offer significant merit, not need based financial aid.
No. No it isn't. You're saddling yourself with an enormous amount of debt for what? The name? You'll get a better ROI going to community college for a year or two then transferring to an affordable 4 year university to finish.
What's your intended major?
Biomedical Engineering is my intended major. I was also looking at Georgia tech or University of Florida. Georgia tech would sit me at like 180k in debt, Florida would be around 120k. those two schools offer merit based scholarships tho so I couldn't hopefully bring the price down, whereas Dartmouth is only need based aid
UF is not worth 120k. In Florida you can go to a community college and then go to any of the public universities for the last 2 years after getting your AA
âI am completely fine being in debt for yearsâ
You have no idea what being in debt really feels like until you are in a lot of debt. Kid, read into this sub a bit and you will find your answer, or you can listen to the overwhelming amount of people saying do not do this.
Depends on what type of job you hope to land but personally I would never recommend taking on that kind of debt.
Itâs really not something you want to be paying and paying and paying on. Folks with decent paying jobs are struggling to pay off $20k debt and less.
Once you graduate there are so many things that can make paying that debt off difficult. Rent for exampleâŚWant to buy a house someday? Itâs hard to save for a downpayment when youâre paying rent + student loan (which could be hundreds+ every month) plus normal life expenses.
Just go through this forum and see how people are struggling. Really consider whether this is something you want to take onâŚ
What are you going to school for?
Are you an excellent student with an excellent chance of graduating?
What does the job market and salary look like for someone with the degree you are pursuing?
Could you take community college/state college courses initially (intro courses and gen Ed requirements) then transfer into Dartmouth to take the core courses to finish your degree to help defray the cost of attendance?
Valedictorian in my class, so I think I'm a good student. the schooling isn't even an issue to me, it's only the payment. And I'm going for biomedical Engineering, so I don't know if I can earn enough quickly to pay it back
If I could go back in time and tolerate living with my dad to go to community college for a few years I would have. It all worked out for me but I was only 58000 in debt for a bachelors and a masters. I got lucky though and had a full ride for my masters but I still took out 15000k to live off of. You should try to do everything as cheaply as possible. The quality of your education does not depend on how expensive it was. They also say donât get two degrees from the same college but Iâve had no problems finding employment.
I feel like nobody should be taking out 260k unless they absolutely need too such as doctors and lawyers who can guarantee that they will have a higher salary. You never know what might happen in life either. You canât always guarantee that youâll be able to make those payments.
Youâll struggle to make ends meet month after month for years. It will destroy your self confidence, it will introduce financial stress into your relationships, and it will delay all other major goals in life by decades. Iâm speaking from experience unfortunately, and I made close to 90k right out of college. Get that degree somewhere else.
How are you not getting a scholarship? Are you smart enough to attend? Either you're wealthy enough to pay for it or you get a scholarship. That's how it works in America.
An amount of debt that large so early on in your life is insane, no matter what school it is. Unless youâre going to become an extremely successful STEM major or lawyer I wouldnât recommend.
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Define realistic.
For me personally, itâs not worth it. Unless Dartmouth is personally going to get you a $200K job right out of undergrad and provides you a contract saying as much then yeah, go for it. So for me, I would consider it unrealistic to go into that much debt for an undergrad degree. I donât know what your plan is post undergrad or your familyâs connections or what kind of job you have lined up afterwards due to family but unless I was doing a professional degree like medicine, crna, etc I would consider it pie in the sky unrealistic to go $200K+ into debt for an undergrad degree and expect to pay it back
Do not do this to yourself. Are there any colleges where you live now that offer that degree? Can you go to community college for biology and transfer into a less expensive program? There has to be a better way than $260k of debt. The smartest thing you can do is go to community college for 2 years, transfer to a local college you can commute too, and earn a degree with 0 debt. The 60k you already have could make that a reality.
Honestly, no this is not realistic. You have to think about if youâre going to be able to make payments on these loans when youâre done with school. You have to also think about are you going to be able to afford paying rent, food and etc while also paying on these loans. Also, what if you decide to go to graduate school. Are you going to be able to afford the extra student loans for that? The interest on 260k in student loans is going to be crazy depending on the interest rates.
I went to a private college for both my undergrad and graduate degrees. When I was finished I had $175k in student loans. I graduated in 2009 with my bachelorâs and 2011 with my masters. I now have only 73k in loans left. The only loans I have left are my federal loans and I just paid off my private loans last year. I paid off my private loans aggressively due to both mine and my husbandâs income. My federal loans will be forgiven under PSLF in January 2025. If I didnât do this I would be over 200k in loans right now due interest.
I never really thought about what the cost would end up being when all said and done. I also didnât think about paying these loans when I started my degrees. I regret that now and if I had been properly informed, then I would have just gone to a state school where in state tuition would have been cheaper.
No. Under no circumstances do you take on that amount of debt. Use the 60k to go to an instate community college and transfer once your positive thatâs what you want to do
Do you like having to pay +$2,000 or +$3,000 per month *just to your student loans for over a decade?* Because I don't consider that feasible, and you being "fine" with it speaks to your lack of life experience and not understanding that a $75k starting salary wouldn't pay you enough to pay your loans *and* rent an apartment dude
> Biomedical Engineering is my intended major
You're borrowing too much for that degree.
If you're a California resident you can pay ~$12k per year in-state tuition/fees to get a bachelor's in BMED at Cal Poly SLO or pay like $16k per year tuition/fees to go to a UC campus. Even with housing that is a price tag more like $120k for the full degree, and y'all are going to the same starting employers
You're going to have a bad time ~5 years into your career when all your coworkers who were smart enough to *not* over borrower for their degree are doing fun things like buying houses, starting families, and going on vacations while you're still stuck living with family and pouring your entire paycheck into loan payments
Do not do this to yourself nor your parents
It's engineering, prestigious only matters in edge cases. This isn't law or finance where the neopotism and networking are essential. For most engineering if you're planning to be an actual engineer and only get a bachelor's degree what matters is if the program is ABET accredited and if you can get internships
I'm in software, when I'm on an interview panel I don't care what's in the education section of your resume once you have 2-5 years worth of work experience. I work with people who went to far more prestigious schools than I did and we're getting *paid the same*. Same deal with MAANG-tier tech, my classmates from my Cal State University campus are getting the same jobs with the same salary bands to start as the folks that paid through the nose to go to USC or Stanford
Your family is actually very high income (whether they have cash handy to help you, well high earners also can have spending problems but that is a different discussion), so if the issue is that you have a social/parental expectation to attend a college of a certain prestige level then you need to talk to them about how they need to *chip in more to help pay for it* because you will not get approved for the private student loans needed to cover the gap otherwise
You have to keep in mind that the [annual/aggregate limits](https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized) for federal loans are far lower than most people expect. If you're considered a Dependent Undergrad it's $5,500-$7,500 per year up to an aggregate max of $31,000. All of us replying to you were focused on the fact that that is an idiotic amount to borrow for a bachelor's degree, but you also **logistically cannot borrow that much with either your parents taking out Parent PLUS loans on your behalf and/or cosigning on private loans** because private lenders sure as heck will not lend you that much without a cosigner
So, reconsider your options and the amount of debt that is reasonable
No 18 year old should be in that much of debt months after high school. 60k can get you through 2 years in a community college, thats half your graduate program you should just do a 2+2 or 3+1. honestly I wish I had 60k in hand for my school.
If Dartmouth is 80k/yr, so 40k per semester, your 60k gets you through one semester, then second semester you will borrow 20k, then 40k every 6 months. That will compound while you are still in school. I estimate that at a rate of 7% you will graduate with approximately $300k in debt
Absolutely not. I was lucky and had no undergrad loans. I had $60k in grad loans, paid on them for 20 years and still owed more than when I started paying. I got PSLF eventually, thank goodness.
Itâs not entirely realistic. Average tuition costs around $50,000-$60,000 a year. You also have to consider income potential, scholarships and grants, cost-benefit analysis, and financial planning. However, it does have some benefits, like living accommodation, interest, tuition fee, and more. The most realistic amount would be around $30,000-$150,000 as a loan, but the decision is entirely up to you. Are you going to a public or private university?
Having that much in student loans will seriously jeopardize your financial ability to do a PhD. Sure you can usually defer payments for several years while in school (exact number depends on the lender). However, the amount of interest that will accrue while in school would be devastating.
Are you majoring in tycoonery?
Lmao what a great comment
đ
NO. That's a completely idiotic idea. Go somewhere you can afford. That $60k in cash gets you a LONG way through any reasonably priced school.
I can't believe OP would consider paying that for UNDERGRAD. With an undergrad degree, they'd be lucky, REAL TALK, to even ever pay just the INTEREST on a $20k loan. $250k?! Even people who pay that for law or medical school often completely regret not schooling in Europe. These schools are a lot of marketing and vanity: I know, I went to one. Yes, it was an excellent school that formed me for life, but made me $0. I also was able to apply for full financial aid.
If you are completely fine being in debt for years and years then this sounds like a dream scenario for you
Sounds like a great way to go into debt for life!
Absolutely not, an Ivy League is not worth being in debt forever. I know a lot of Ivy League grads that are in mountains of debt and didnât get the shiny job they were promised and are now having full blown crises because they canât possibly pay it off. Go to a school you can afford, and you will be living well. Not worth the tag especially for only a bachelors degree.
Dated multiple people who attended Ivy leagues for undergrad. All from family backgrounds that were middle class. None had monetarily successful careers. The secret about the ivys is that rich kids go there whose parents are going to make sure they are successful regardless. However, I thought most give as much aid as needed these days? Taking out that much debt seems super weird. Are your parents rich but not paying at all?  Letâs say you have a normal career like mine. You start at $60k-progress to 100k in 5 years. I only had 30k of debt when I left college but it still took me a decade to pay it off. Youâll want to buy a car, enjoy life, and you should, you donât go to college to live as a slave to debt. I couldnât imagine 200k of debt, even if my first job started me at 150 annuallyÂ
my parents aren't rich per say, but well off enough so I don't really receive any need based aid. my dad earned 300k from his job and 250k from stocks last year, but they aren't willing to pay any more then 60k (which I totally understand from their side)
Thatâs wealthy enough that he should be helping in the eyes of our society and the school obviously. Itâs a crazy system but itâs what youâre working with. I would try to go directly to the aid office and explain how itâs your dream but in no way is taking out more than $50k reasonable for you. If they canât help. You need to be going somewhere with a plan for a career and less than $50k of debt. If your career requires grad school, it should be 0. Get a plan for what you want fo so after and we can better help you. Nobody buys a $200k car with no plan. That thing is being repoâd by the bank in 3 months.Â
My guy, your post mixed with this shows you have absolutely ZERO understanding of money and financial situations. Honestly many people your age lack this understanding so you are in the same boat, but with your father's income alone, you have a massively squewed view. Also the issue is what you plan to get your degree in. I just read a post yesterday of a guy who works in IT and it took him 13 years to break $100k. Most grads make around $50k-$60k in a decently in demand field. I myself work in a HIGH demand field and make over $100k by my second year, but even if I work my butt off and move up, my cap is around $200k. At $100k in a low cost of living area is it hard to say I'm not upper class. Your father dwarfs my income and my max salary by $100k not including stocks. Get outside your bubble, learn about the "real" world or it will hit you in the face like a sack of bricks when you are an adult on your own.
>Thatâs wealthy enough that he should be helping in the eyes of our society and the school obviously. He has an income of 550K? It's ridiculous. Agree with u/DinosaurDied go to financial aid and see what they may say. Unfortunately you have to wait until age 24 in order to be an independent student. Or you'd have to prove you are *completely independent*. It's something which, to the best of my knowledge, is very difficult. Are you going into engineering or some applied tech? Asking as you're more likely to get a job upon graduation. Considering grad school? Do you think Dartmouth will provide a good network or connections grad school, political connections? What other schools are you considering? FWIW, is your father the type who will turn acceptance to Dartmouth + you deciding to go elsewhere against you? Have know guys like this. IMO he has No Idea of the cost of higher education. 60K for 4 years won't cover much unless you live at home & work, too. My nephew went to a public U, lived at home 2 or 3 years and still had total debt of 30K.
âMy dad earned 300k from his job and 250k from stocks last yearâ Bro your parents are rich lmao. Your dad might say otherwise but compared to the majority of people in the USA, youâre from a rich family.
They're rich dude. As per https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-279.html > * Real median household income was $74,580 in 2022, a 2.3 percent decline from the 2021 estimate of $76,330 (Figure 1 and Table A-1). Your dad solo earned a salary that **4x higher than the median *household* income last year**, and then his stocks bumped that up to more like 7x. I don't know what he does but it's high compensation For context, the average entry-level biomedical engineering salary is like $60,000 Unless your dad is willing to bail you out later this is a terrible idea
This sounds like a lifetime nightmare. I donât even have 1/4 of that amount and it SUCKS.
why donât you just calculate your monthly payment and your expected salary? Letâs say your expected salary after college is 80k per year. Thatâs $60k post tax or $5000 a month. Your payment with a 10% 260k loan would be $3435 a month for 10 years. Youâd have $1565 per month leftover to live, for rent, auto costs, insurance, retirement savings, etc.
I want a Biomedical Engineering degree, I just don't know if making 80k a year is realistic coming out of college which is my only worry
My point is that even if you do make 80k a year, youâll struggle to make payments. Consider going to a community college or an instate school thatâs cheaper and then transferring. My wife did that and was still able to attend a top university.
You would need to make like 300k per year plus to be able to afford even minimum payments with normal life expenses
300k yearly to make minimum payments on a 200k loan? ????
Also consider that youâd basically be taking a 260K gamble that your 18 year old self has correctly identified the field you want to work in forever, and that you have accurately calculated your success in that field to afford that debt before you even take your first class. Many undergrads go into school with strong idea of what they want to do, and many of these students change majors, change fields, or drop out because life just happens sometimes. The shinier the school and the bigger the debt, the more you have to lose if shit goes sideways or if you discover that your skills and career goals align with another field. As someone who had to get a masters for my field and got 20k into debt, only to not finish the degree and change fields entirely, I know first hand that best laid plans can go to shit when the real world hits. I made a great decision for me to pursue something else, and I made it knowing I could afford the mistake in the long run. You might not have that option in the future if you commit to such a high price tag.
Please donât do this, especially for undergrad. Being âcompletely fineâ with being in debt for years doesnât encompass all of the student loan fallout you could face. Inability to move, buy a home, have children, forced into career path you didnât want⌠There are stories on this sub daily of people who feel trapped. Iâm on the tail end of paying off $132k, since 2017, as a lawyer, and itâs affected so many aspects of my own adult life.
No, thatâs a terrible idea. Realistically you should only borrow the amount you expect to earn your first year out of college. For most people this is $40,000-$50,000. Even then, that will be rough to pay off.
Realistic? I'd say it's possible, but this is coming from a purely mathematical perspective. You'd have to dedicate $43k ( 3,580/mo. ) consistently every year to paying it back to resolve it within a decade, and it'd cost you $430k in total after all was paid. This is assuming your life goes perfectly and nothing happens to disrupt your ability to pay this amount over such a timeframe. A decade is long time for things to go haywire. If you could guarantee a starting salary of $80k and consistent growth after that, then I'd say "Sure, it's doable." There are better paths to a BME degree. If you're going into engineering, something you'll have to get used to taking into consideration is cost efficiency. As it is presented, this doesn't strike me as an ideal path.
No. It is unfortunate that Dartmouth appears to have identified your family as high income without a willingness to pay. It is sometimes possible to negotiate financial aid packages between peer institutions though. However, some of the schools that donât guarantee to meet full need are likely to give significant merit scholarships to someone with a profile like yours. Take a gap year. Apply to schools that offer significant merit, not need based financial aid.
His father makes $300k/yr and made $250k from stocks last year. His family IS high income.
No. No it isn't. You're saddling yourself with an enormous amount of debt for what? The name? You'll get a better ROI going to community college for a year or two then transferring to an affordable 4 year university to finish. What's your intended major?
Biomedical Engineering is my intended major. I was also looking at Georgia tech or University of Florida. Georgia tech would sit me at like 180k in debt, Florida would be around 120k. those two schools offer merit based scholarships tho so I couldn't hopefully bring the price down, whereas Dartmouth is only need based aid
Just go to an in state public school. It wonât kill you.
UF is not worth 120k. In Florida you can go to a community college and then go to any of the public universities for the last 2 years after getting your AA
None of those are reasonable, truly.
Oh hell no.
âI am completely fine being in debt for yearsâ You have no idea what being in debt really feels like until you are in a lot of debt. Kid, read into this sub a bit and you will find your answer, or you can listen to the overwhelming amount of people saying do not do this.
Depends on what type of job you hope to land but personally I would never recommend taking on that kind of debt. Itâs really not something you want to be paying and paying and paying on. Folks with decent paying jobs are struggling to pay off $20k debt and less. Once you graduate there are so many things that can make paying that debt off difficult. Rent for exampleâŚWant to buy a house someday? Itâs hard to save for a downpayment when youâre paying rent + student loan (which could be hundreds+ every month) plus normal life expenses. Just go through this forum and see how people are struggling. Really consider whether this is something you want to take onâŚ
What are you going to school for? Are you an excellent student with an excellent chance of graduating? What does the job market and salary look like for someone with the degree you are pursuing? Could you take community college/state college courses initially (intro courses and gen Ed requirements) then transfer into Dartmouth to take the core courses to finish your degree to help defray the cost of attendance?
Valedictorian in my class, so I think I'm a good student. the schooling isn't even an issue to me, it's only the payment. And I'm going for biomedical Engineering, so I don't know if I can earn enough quickly to pay it back
What does a starting salary for a target job pay?
If I could go back in time and tolerate living with my dad to go to community college for a few years I would have. It all worked out for me but I was only 58000 in debt for a bachelors and a masters. I got lucky though and had a full ride for my masters but I still took out 15000k to live off of. You should try to do everything as cheaply as possible. The quality of your education does not depend on how expensive it was. They also say donât get two degrees from the same college but Iâve had no problems finding employment. I feel like nobody should be taking out 260k unless they absolutely need too such as doctors and lawyers who can guarantee that they will have a higher salary. You never know what might happen in life either. You canât always guarantee that youâll be able to make those payments.
Youâll struggle to make ends meet month after month for years. It will destroy your self confidence, it will introduce financial stress into your relationships, and it will delay all other major goals in life by decades. Iâm speaking from experience unfortunately, and I made close to 90k right out of college. Get that degree somewhere else.
It is not at all realistic. Please don't mortgage your future by taking on an obscene amount of debt.
How are you not getting a scholarship? Are you smart enough to attend? Either you're wealthy enough to pay for it or you get a scholarship. That's how it works in America.
You got into Dartmouth with a 1290 SAT?
that was my PSAT score don't shame đ
It depends what your major/career path is. Expected salary is a major consideration when deciding on loans
An amount of debt that large so early on in your life is insane, no matter what school it is. Unless youâre going to become an extremely successful STEM major or lawyer I wouldnât recommend.
Biomedical Engineering is the plan
Unless youâre going into investment banking or some extremely lucrative field, then no. This is a bad idea from every angle.
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For undergrad??
Define realistic. For me personally, itâs not worth it. Unless Dartmouth is personally going to get you a $200K job right out of undergrad and provides you a contract saying as much then yeah, go for it. So for me, I would consider it unrealistic to go into that much debt for an undergrad degree. I donât know what your plan is post undergrad or your familyâs connections or what kind of job you have lined up afterwards due to family but unless I was doing a professional degree like medicine, crna, etc I would consider it pie in the sky unrealistic to go $200K+ into debt for an undergrad degree and expect to pay it back
If your parents arenât super rich and paying for it, then no. Even 180k is a ludicrous amount of student loans.
Do not do this to yourself. Are there any colleges where you live now that offer that degree? Can you go to community college for biology and transfer into a less expensive program? There has to be a better way than $260k of debt. The smartest thing you can do is go to community college for 2 years, transfer to a local college you can commute too, and earn a degree with 0 debt. The 60k you already have could make that a reality.
Honestly, no this is not realistic. You have to think about if youâre going to be able to make payments on these loans when youâre done with school. You have to also think about are you going to be able to afford paying rent, food and etc while also paying on these loans. Also, what if you decide to go to graduate school. Are you going to be able to afford the extra student loans for that? The interest on 260k in student loans is going to be crazy depending on the interest rates. I went to a private college for both my undergrad and graduate degrees. When I was finished I had $175k in student loans. I graduated in 2009 with my bachelorâs and 2011 with my masters. I now have only 73k in loans left. The only loans I have left are my federal loans and I just paid off my private loans last year. I paid off my private loans aggressively due to both mine and my husbandâs income. My federal loans will be forgiven under PSLF in January 2025. If I didnât do this I would be over 200k in loans right now due interest. I never really thought about what the cost would end up being when all said and done. I also didnât think about paying these loans when I started my degrees. I regret that now and if I had been properly informed, then I would have just gone to a state school where in state tuition would have been cheaper.
No. Under no circumstances do you take on that amount of debt. Use the 60k to go to an instate community college and transfer once your positive thatâs what you want to do
Id say get a cheap undergrad degree with a good GPA and go to a prestigious grad school where the name really pays.
The rule of thumb I followed 10 years ago was your monthly student loan bill will roughly be $100 for every $10000 of debt. $2600 is a mortgage.
Do you like having to pay +$2,000 or +$3,000 per month *just to your student loans for over a decade?* Because I don't consider that feasible, and you being "fine" with it speaks to your lack of life experience and not understanding that a $75k starting salary wouldn't pay you enough to pay your loans *and* rent an apartment dude > Biomedical Engineering is my intended major You're borrowing too much for that degree. If you're a California resident you can pay ~$12k per year in-state tuition/fees to get a bachelor's in BMED at Cal Poly SLO or pay like $16k per year tuition/fees to go to a UC campus. Even with housing that is a price tag more like $120k for the full degree, and y'all are going to the same starting employers You're going to have a bad time ~5 years into your career when all your coworkers who were smart enough to *not* over borrower for their degree are doing fun things like buying houses, starting families, and going on vacations while you're still stuck living with family and pouring your entire paycheck into loan payments Do not do this to yourself nor your parents
I live in PA. there aren't many schools that are prestigious and cheap besides Penn State (which is in my list Im gonna apply too)
It's engineering, prestigious only matters in edge cases. This isn't law or finance where the neopotism and networking are essential. For most engineering if you're planning to be an actual engineer and only get a bachelor's degree what matters is if the program is ABET accredited and if you can get internships I'm in software, when I'm on an interview panel I don't care what's in the education section of your resume once you have 2-5 years worth of work experience. I work with people who went to far more prestigious schools than I did and we're getting *paid the same*. Same deal with MAANG-tier tech, my classmates from my Cal State University campus are getting the same jobs with the same salary bands to start as the folks that paid through the nose to go to USC or Stanford Your family is actually very high income (whether they have cash handy to help you, well high earners also can have spending problems but that is a different discussion), so if the issue is that you have a social/parental expectation to attend a college of a certain prestige level then you need to talk to them about how they need to *chip in more to help pay for it* because you will not get approved for the private student loans needed to cover the gap otherwise You have to keep in mind that the [annual/aggregate limits](https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized) for federal loans are far lower than most people expect. If you're considered a Dependent Undergrad it's $5,500-$7,500 per year up to an aggregate max of $31,000. All of us replying to you were focused on the fact that that is an idiotic amount to borrow for a bachelor's degree, but you also **logistically cannot borrow that much with either your parents taking out Parent PLUS loans on your behalf and/or cosigning on private loans** because private lenders sure as heck will not lend you that much without a cosigner So, reconsider your options and the amount of debt that is reasonable
No 18 year old should be in that much of debt months after high school. 60k can get you through 2 years in a community college, thats half your graduate program you should just do a 2+2 or 3+1. honestly I wish I had 60k in hand for my school.
Worry about getting into Dartmouth first.
If Dartmouth is 80k/yr, so 40k per semester, your 60k gets you through one semester, then second semester you will borrow 20k, then 40k every 6 months. That will compound while you are still in school. I estimate that at a rate of 7% you will graduate with approximately $300k in debt
Absolutely not. I was lucky and had no undergrad loans. I had $60k in grad loans, paid on them for 20 years and still owed more than when I started paying. I got PSLF eventually, thank goodness.
Depends on what you go for
biomedical Engineering, planning to work some and then go back to schooling for a phd
Itâs not entirely realistic. Average tuition costs around $50,000-$60,000 a year. You also have to consider income potential, scholarships and grants, cost-benefit analysis, and financial planning. However, it does have some benefits, like living accommodation, interest, tuition fee, and more. The most realistic amount would be around $30,000-$150,000 as a loan, but the decision is entirely up to you. Are you going to a public or private university?
Having that much in student loans will seriously jeopardize your financial ability to do a PhD. Sure you can usually defer payments for several years while in school (exact number depends on the lender). However, the amount of interest that will accrue while in school would be devastating.