I would not recommend student loans for undergraduate work especially for someone with an 18 ACT—unless its very minimal ie. would have payments of 100-200 per month. Unfortunately, there’s an oversupply of college graduates and there is no longer an expectation that a degree will parlay into a middle-class lifestyle. I would only suggest loans for law school, med school, a good MBA program or undergrad engineering ect.
You’re right. Too many of these kids are coming out of college with huge loans and useless BA degrees. Where were their minds? My daughter is in her third year of a PharmD program and the college savings are spent. When she finishes in a year she will have been in school six expensive years. She’s now on a combination of scholarships, grants, pharmacy tech earnings and loans. The job will have to go when she starts clinical rotations for a year this June. Thank God she is in a field with good income potential and can pay the loans off quickly. It’s brutal for most of these students.
“I would only suggest loans for law school...”
Take law school off the list, unless it’s one of the top 10 in the country, and then only if the kid can finish in the top 20% of his class. It’s horrible out there now for law school graduates, due to the weak economy and the continual growth in the number of law schools and graduates. This may clear up over time, but now it’s a dead end.
I know, I know, lots of FReepers are crying over this development.
NO, nobody do that! I make less as a lawyer than I did teaching public school. I am LUCKY to be employed as a lawyer. I am better off than most of my ex-classmates. Things are much worse now than when I graduated, too. Only go to law school if you get a free ride. (Or, if you can go to Harvard.)