Posted on 01/15/2009 10:10:48 AM PST by rabscuttle385
Higher education can be a financial disaster. Especially with the return on degrees down and student loan sharks on the prowl.
BY KATHY KRISTOF
As steadily as ivy creeps up the walls of its well-groomed campuses, the education industrial complex has cultivated the image of college as a sure-fire path to a life of social and economic privilege.
Joel Kellum says he's living proof that the claim is a lie. A 40-year-old Los Angeles resident, Kellum did everything he was supposed to do to get ahead in life. He worked hard as a high schooler, got into the University of Virginia and graduated with a bachelor's degree in history.
Accepted into the California Western School of Law, a private San Diego institution, Kellum couldn't swing the $36,000 in annual tuition with financial aid and part-time work. So he did what friends and professors said was the smart move and took out $60,000 in student loans.
Kellum's law school sweetheart, Jennifer Coultas, did much the same. By the time they graduated in 1995, the couple was $194,000 in debt. They eventually married and each landed a six-figure job. Yet even with Kellum moonlighting, they had to scrounge to come up with $145,000 in loan payments. With interest accruing at up to 12% a year, that whittled away only $21,000 in principal. Their remaining bill: $173,000 and counting.
Kellum and Coultas divorced last year. Each cites their struggle with law school debt as a major source of stress on their marriage. "Two people with this much debt just shouldn't be together," Kellum says.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
That’s because he worked hard and knew how the real world worked and acted accordingly.
I dropped out because having $3000 in debt made me really nervous!
They must not be very good college degrees. Two 6-figure jobs and they can’t handle the $23,000 a year in interest on a $194,000 loan? These two are wastrels, and should be laughed at in public for attempting to get sympathy.
Student Loans at 12%?? Wow! Mine were 7% and they weren’t the lowest ones out there. Maybe this couple isn’t so smart all in all. College education is no substitute for common sense, not matter what the education complex says.
Plus since they cited debt as a big reason for their divorce,,that doesn’t erase the debt. They each are going to have to pull their share of it. How did the divorce accomplish anything related to debt relief?
And Obama and his liberals will make sure that the yellow buses come by their government subsidized housing to pick them up.
I graduated from school around the same time these two did (1996) and my student loans were 9% when I consolidated them.
“A degree is no guaratee that you will find a decent job.”
That is so true. These days increasingly it’s about marketable skills and experience. Certifications bring more of a return, plus the willingness to put yourself out there.
I have two business partnerships with two gemstone companies in Thailand. Never been there, plan to, but here I am years ahead of my peers and I also now have a handful of experience through volunteer work and was recently taken on as a Citizen Journalist and plan on building a solid portfolio. I plan on building connections and gaining more references. I already have six personal and three professional.
The lesson here is diversify and gain as much experience as possible. Do not waste time on jobs that might pay much, but don’t teach you anything that isn’t marketable.
>>Nonsense. Nothing increases one’s bankability as surely as an education. With few exceptions there is no greater obstacle to earning potential than lacking education. For every billionaire dropout like Bill Gates there are a million earning $35,000 a year.<<
But truly, there is a smart way to do it and a dumb way.
Go to the Big Name school far away, live in the dorm, eat on your loans and after four years, you have a whopper of a debt.
Or do two years at the community college working part time and living with your parents. Then pick a school you can commute to.
You come out with the same degree and less debt.
I've fared pretty well with my philosophy degree.
In my own way I dropped out.
I went in for a martial arts class, but i couldn’t handle it and instead waited a month later and realized there was an opening in Medical Terminology, but after a month of pestering them I was told it wasn’t going to happen. They were quite sure I would flunk.
Needless to say there is a certification course available outside the worm establishment and with certification it speaks for itself. I’m working on certifications now, not college courses.
Oh, and the bastards kept my money.
That’s understandable. I know several people with more than $30,000 in debt - and that’s only for an undergraduate degree!
I was a fine arts major, and am glad I have my degree, but I worked my entire college career and graduated with no college debt. It’s tougher now. My tuition for a full semester including men’s athletics (which got you free tickets to all the Longhorn home football games) was around $280.
If I had it all to do over again I'd make all the same mistakes, but I'd make them a lot faster.
That debt got them two six-figure incomes versus two 50k incomes. That is probably $150,000 income extra per year. Interest on $200,000 would be less than $20,000 per year thus netting them $130,000 year on a $200,000 investment. Not shabby. I take it economics is not your degree.
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