Posted on 05/05/2013 6:11:09 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
"If I had only known then what I know now."
If it feels as if you know where this one's going, it's probably because you've heard it before. As student indebtedness continues its steady upward climb, it's increasingly become common refrain among cash-strapped college students and graduates, groaning under the weight of hefty student loan payments.
Yet at a time when a $1 trillion student loan bill nationally continues to balloon and cripple so many, a new survey finds that the root of many students' financial woes may have started long before they ever set foot on campus.
According to the first annual High School Student Borrowing Survey, conducted by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), nearly 50 percent of high school seniors in the U.S. can't even guess how much money they will need to pay for college.
What's more, "even greater numbers appear unable to understand the basic terms of a student loan," the survey concludes.
Many of the nearly 1,000 students surveyed have not set aside money for school, and not considered the seemingly irrelevant yet critical distinction between the terms and repayment options on public versus private student loans. They are, in essence, walking straight off of the same cliff as many of their peers before them. Of the students, ages 17-18, surveyed by CUNA, 83 percent did not know the rates, and 77 percent did not know the duration, of their expected or existing college loans.
"These troubling findings suggest not just a lack of awareness of college cost or how debt works but also a lack of basic financial knowledge," said CUNA Executive Vice President Paul Gentile.
The survey, conducted in conjunction with Financial Literacy Month observed in April, suggests students' expectations of future earnings potential after they graduate are skewed to the upside.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
I try every chance I get to educate students on the true cost of loans versus what they’ll eventually make. Most of them are in school to party. They have no plans beyond Saturday night. Some of them, you can see the wheels turning, may argue, “yeah, but I’ll be making big bucks when I graduate and I can’t even get a job without the degree.” Film? You’re majoring in film? What job will you be qualified for?
The local school has sold thousands of students on a pharmacy degree. The Publix pharmacy tech told me that Publix is centralizing and automating their entire operation. He expects to be laid off when they complete it. Automation and USPS and UPS will largely do away with the traditional pharmacy. Pharmacy is today’s dentistry. Remember when there were thousands of extra dentists trying to make it in malls? Virtually everything they teach in college as a profession is undergoing a computerization/automation revolution, including law. You can buy a software package that will walk you through anything but litigation. (There’s probably a package for that too, but you need the lawyer from the firm the judge is aiming to work for when he retires.)
I tell kids to spend four years in the military. You’ll come back more mature and you’ll know what you do and don’t want to do. (More so than you know it now, anyway.)
Many of these kids look at college as an extended four year party camp. Instead of staying in state to save at least half of the cost, they elect to go to out of state schools, selected not for their academic prestige. Since many of these students are not getting academic scholarships and come from middle class families, they are not eligible for financial assistance.
A typical middle class family cannot put aside 120,000+ for each child, which is a typical four year cost for out of state tuition plus room and board. It doesnt’ cover books or transportation either. As many of these parents are having to co-sign loans... I am at a loss as to what they are thinking. Particularly when their child is not majoring in a particularly lucrative field.
That is excellent advice in theory. But I would never want my kid in the military under the command of the current tyrannical, Islamic sympathizing, progressive leftist with delusions of Godhood who presently serves as our Commander-in-Chief.
“That is excellent advice in theory. But I would never want my kid in the military under the command of the current tyrannical, Islamic sympathizing, progressive leftist with delusions of Godhood who presently serves as our Commander-in-Chief. “
Actually, I take that into account and advise them to go into equipment maintenance. Jet engine, heavy vehicle, etc. It gives them a skill they can use but keeps them, mostly, way behind the lines where the ROI may be “companionate stupidity” or whatever they’re calling it today.
Dave Ramsey’s “Generation Change” or “Financial Peace University” would be a good start.
I’ve lost count of the people who’ve told me, over the years, that my homeschooler could get a full scholarship, basically go to college FREE.
Told them all the same thing. We can’t even afford “free.”
The kid’s got a minimum wage job, instead. We look at it as being paid to study Financial Ed. :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.