Is the Debt Worth It?

cptofthehouse
Wed, 18 Apr 2012 07:01:15 +0000

A very wise parent who frequents these boards made the statement, that it is more difficult to come up with the money in the future than it was to save in the past. Many of the factors that made it impossible to save up a nest egg for college are still there and going strong for the future. Cars still break down, people lose their jobs, the economy tanks, the roof needs to be fixed, and, yes, we are getting older and our health is more precarious. Paying for college should be a 3 legged stool (no pun intended here, I mean the chair kind, LOL) with each leg about equal. You borrowing should be about in proportion to what you are paying as you go and what you have saved. NOt perfect, analogies often aren’t’, but if you are shoving the maximum of your costs into the future, thinking that you are suddenly going to turn a new leaf and be able to make these payments that you have not been able to do in the past, that is not magical thinking but delusional. To start a college grad out with that mountain of debt is doing him/her no favor. They tend to make their own mistakes with money anyways, but to have that impossible sum as a monkey on their backs from the get go, makes things even more unrealistic in terms of ever getting out from under that debt.