I didn’t take out a lot of loans because I didn’t want to be saddled with debt. I worked near full time all through college to pay for living expenses and tuition…often two jobs. Interest rates for student loans were very high in the 80’s (even federally backed loans). You didn’t get one unless you absolutely had to.
I probably had about $10-15k of student loan debt when I graduated in 1990. I was making about $22k/yr with a B.A. in Chemistry and paying about $500/month in rent to rent a room in an apartment/house/condo (I lived in several places and the price was similar for all of them). I hardly ever went out to bars or restaurants, didn’t have a car and bicycled to work. I bought a lot of top ramen and frozen vegetables.
I think that the reason that so many college students have so much debt these days is partly because many of them don’t work and the rely solely on loans to pay for college and their living expenses. You know what they say about other peoples money: you aren’t really frugal when you are getting a student aid check and aren’t working your ass off to earn that money.
Granted, tuitions have risen MUCH faster than salaries..this is partly because of the student loan industry. If the loans weren’t available the schools wouldn’t be able to raise tuition because noone could afford to go there…and I’m talking about state schools like UCSD and SDSU not ivy league colleges.
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M&A,
I also worked my way through college and lived on macaroni and cheese (made with water because I couldn’t afford milk), top ramen, and $.49 chicken sandwiches at AM/PM. My roommates and I had a three bedroom apartment in a working class part of town for $710/month total. I think you and I are about the same age, so we probably had similar tuition & book costs, which were FAR less expensive than what they are today. In contrast, the job I had for many years during college paid around $9.00/hour. Today, that same job might pay around $10-$12/hr. while tuition, books, gas, rent, utilities, etc. are far more expensive.
You’re right about the student loans. Part of the reason behind this student loan/college tuition bubble is because ignorant parents are being convinced that all of their kids have to go away to college and start in a four-year university. Most of my friends and I went the local junior college to local university route, which kept costs down dramatically, and we all had jobs to support ourselves and pay for school or at least pay a significant portion of our school costs. Like you, we were all living **very** cheaply though. I keep counseling other parents not to buy into the trap of out-of-state universities and student loans. It’s a total scam.
BTW, Mr. CAR and I absolutely love Mike Rowe and what he’s trying to do WRT America’s work ethic. He’s so right about what’s ailing this country, IMHO.