Graduate Student Loans Can Be Overwhelming
By John Etherington on September 3, 2010, 6:34 pm
You may have heard the old story about how many graduate students face a mountain of debt and bleak earning prospects anywhere- let alone in the fields they are trained for.
An unhappy graduating law student describes this predicament after amassing over $100,000 in debt and not having any prospective employment. He describes the system as a “scam.”
Education costs money and here in the US where college education is one of best in the world, it is not uncommon for students to amass tens of thousands of dollars in student loans by the time they graduate. For the first time, a recent report illustrates that Americans now owe more in student loans than on their credit cards.
Tuition at private colleges now runs just under $40,000 a year, with room and board and fees pushing the bill past the $50,000 a year mark and student loans are the obvious first choice for many graduates.
The cost of state universities are more reasonable. As an example, Rutgers University charges about $10,000 a year in tuition for New Jersey residents. But room and board costs can easily double that cost, and parents, let alone students, can be left with a bill of close to $100,000 bill for the complete education and there are not many families that can pay those sort of bills right away.
So many families are shopping for discounts by way of academic scholarships or grants, and are left resorting to taking out loans to cover this cost. This practice of getting into debt to pay for college is so common that we hardly give it a second thought.
Unfortunately, the practice of taking out student loans has many harmful effects, some obvious and some more subtle. The psychological cost of starting a career with so much debt can lead to depression and other performance reducing problems leading to years of unhappiness and frustration.
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Do you think that the cost of a good education is worth it in the US?
