Student Loans

[relentlessjoy]

I'm graduating with a B.A. in English from Smith College in thirteen days! Hallelujah!

This thread had made me feel a little bit better about my own situation, but I'm sorry to hear about everyone else's. I'm $70,000 in debt for four years of undergrad studies. I absolutely agree with everyone who says that students are not educated enough before signing these promissory loan agreements. Hell, I had no idea what I was getting into. I'm going into the Education field, and eventually I hope to work on Educational policy... one thing I really want to push is mandatory economics classes in high schools! Beginning micro policy is not that hard to wrap your head around and so, so, so relevant for young adults and healthy citizens... but anyway, I'm off on a tangent!

I'm kind of glad I was so ignorant going into college. I'm a first-gen college student, my whole family's working class, and my school (a somewhat elite institution) promised me when I was busy falling in love with this place my senior year that my bills would be affordable. My "Expected Family Contribution" according to the FAFSA was decent, doable. But my actual package here went WAY beyond the figures FAFSA had given me. I had filled out the FAFSA and CSS PROFILE all by myself since my family really has no idea of what they're doing and delegated me to the task. By the time I got the 1st financial aid letter at age 17 I didn't know what to do. I didn't show my parents the bill for days... but I did call Sallie Mae. Oh man. Sallie Mae!! I thought "they're so nice!" since they let me take out so much without much paperwork at all. It is all too easy!

I am very happy to be graduating from this institution, even though I have excessive loans for someone who is going into teaching. Like someone else said, if you want to go into Education, don't bank on attending an Ivy League or elite (expensive) school. Apply-- if you get scholarships, great! But if you already know that's what you want to do, don't waste your money. Go to a state school. Often they are more connected with real public schools anyway. I didn't know I wanted to go into education beforehand... who the hell knows what they want to do at 17?

I'm uncertified (but have a lot of experience as a classroom assistant) and am going into a program in Baltimore where, as long as I teach there for four years, they'll pay 100% of the costs for my teacher's certification and Master's degree. It is SUCH a good deal for me financially. I ideally want to live somewhere rural, really rural, but for now, the city will work. I LOVE working in urban schools, I just don't want to live in the city forever. I hope my program works out and everything goes as planned! Then I can start chipping away at those damn loans. DAMN that will feel good

[spencer]

I never had any student loans, so I guess I'm lucky. It looks really scary to see that young people right out of university are already heavily indebted.

[fredrickjones]

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[Rebecca]

Here is the link for the loan forgiveness program I mentioned. If your loan was taken out prior to the act, you can still reconsolidate through Direct Loans after July 2008 http://www.equaljusticworks.org/resource/ccraa