[quote=enron_by_the_sea]I am sure critical thinking is a good thing to have. I am questioning if critical thinking is worth 200K of student loans for most people.
[/quote]
OK – I don’t get these figures for student loan debt. Tuition, fees, room and board, insurance and transportation at University of California schools comes up to slightly less than $30,000 a year, according to U of C:
So, even if you paid for all of that with student loans, without defraying any of it with a job, you would be about $120,000 in the hole. And I never knew anyone in college who didn’t have a job – I worked in a china store, others worked for food service, etc.. My brother in law went to school full time, worked three jobs, and paid for his education and expenses at a Big 10 school without going into debt at all. Let’s say you could reasonably earn about $5000 a year, you could keep the low balance down to $100,000. Getting a job and living low for a few years after college would allow that amount to be whittled down significantly. I think the high student loan balances result from choosing to go to a private college (absolutely no reason to do that in California, which is one reason we’re moving back) or living extravagantly on loans.
