SOSconcern,
Sorry for your health challenges. Glad things have improved. Your last paragraph speaks to another issue related to excessive college debt. There have been several threads over the years asking parents how they’d feel if their child married someone with large debt (usually education debt, but not necessarily limited to that). There are many challenges a couple will face if they are carrying large debt. And one of the biggest causes of marital discord is finances. The other biggie is family 
This will not surprise people on this thread, but a recent caller into Dave Ramsey’s radio program was a new civil eng grad from a prestigious college (she didn’t say where) and her H has a Master’s in bio-medical engineering, all from prestigious colleges as well (I suspect they both were educated in Boston). They both are employed in Boston, making a combined income of $125,000. Their combined school debt is $240,000. If they live on one salary carefully, they can pay the debt off in 4 years ‘rice and beans’ frugal living as much as is possible in Boston. Their salaries will go up (good news). After they pay off the debt, I wonder if they believe the cost of their total education was worth that level of debt. I can bet they will be focused on having a small family (if they have children) and having college accounts for their kids.
A few years ago a school teacher friend of mine had a daughter go to a prestigious and expensive art school, and even with the FA package, she realized after a year that three more years of the debt would be very painful. She transferred to a state school program which she was very fine with as far as what she was learning. Also painful that she would have been eligible for 4 year scholarship at this state school if she went directly there. She probably did pick up some scholarship money, but not at that level.
And living in Boston is not cheap! Hope these engineers can really pay off that huge debt in 4 years.
Seems really ambitious to pay off that debt in 4 years. After you factor taxes and health care and the minimum match to their 401k. And you would have to hope nothing goes wrong in those years. I’m also assuming no car payments or major car repairs.
They live in Boston. Maybe they don’t need or own a car.
Accepting this amount of debt for an undergraduate degree is beyond crazy. It’s financial slavery for both the family and the student.
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Still, Weathers reassured his family, who didn’t know much about applying for loans, that it would all work out. April turned into summer, which dragged into fall, and on the first day of school, Weathers still hadn’t gotten the loans he needed. He said he applied to scholarships, but they were all need-based. So now, weeks after school has started, he’s scrambling to get a loan, while his father has applied to refinance his home. The first time Weathers went to the financial aid office to see if he could improve his package, he said a school official suggested he look into transfer options.
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The parents may not have gone to college, but the above really bothers me. The dad is not an idiot; he makes a very high income ($175k per year), so it’s not like he’s not at least a bit worldly.
When an 18 year old “reassures” the family that he can somehow pull tens of thousands of dollars out of his fanny, the adults are to blame. Who believes an 18 year old when it comes to knowing the ins and outs of serious money matters?
@cbreeze
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@MiamiDAP, did you daughter choose to attend an Ivy for med school? I vaguely remember you said that as did Curmudgeon's daughter. She chose a full ride UG and went to an Ivy med school.
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I doubt Miami said that. Miami has made it clear that her D only applied to med schools that were within a 3 hour radius of their home. I don’t think any ivy fits in that radius. I don’t believe that she applied to any ivy med schools (BTW…being an ivy med school does not mean “the best”)
Miami’s D is attending a top med school (all US MD schools are EXCELLENT!), so no worries there. She recently matched into her top choice for her residency. congrats on that.
Yes, Curmy’s D turned down Yale undergrad (too pricey) for a full or near full ride to Rhodes College…then went to Yale med school.
My younger child also took the full tuition merit plus for undergrad. No one going to med school should rack up much/any undergrad debt. Med schools don’t care where you went to undergrad unless it’s some totally podunk school. Any good school is going to have sufficient bio, chem, ochem, physics, etc classes.
@mom2collegekids - I agree a family should not leverage financial decisions on a child’s assurance. In addition this family has two grown children they are supporting. This tells me they know from life experience things don’t always go as planned. These articles are disappointing in that they fire folks up about the “completely taking advantage of unsuspecting folks” concept towards college costs. In this cases I really don’t think its true. This bright young man seemed to have some nice offers with merit. He turned those down. Many turn down the higher ranked school for a slightly lesser school that offered money and allowed the student to leave with a diploma and little or no loans.
Md2019…when one graduates from medical school, and completes ones residency, one is a doctor…regardless of where he or she attended college…or med school.
Are there some places that only hire from certain med schools or residency sites…sure. But at the same time, there are plenty of graduates who don’t even want to work at those places.
@cbreeze I wasn’t really saying that for your benefit. There are people who read these forums that naturally think: “ivy med schools must be the best of the best.”
@md2019
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My post: all US MD schools are EXCELLENT!)"
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You response:
Johns Hopkins and Liberty or Wayne State are peers and provide their graduates similar trajectories?
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US MD schools provide a flat education. They teach the same things for a reason. All must be able to pass the USMLE exams. Being a top grad from any US MD schools can take you anywhere.
Are you trying to claim that Wayne State doesn’t have an excellent med school? Just try making that claim. Just try.
I don’t think Liberty has an allopathic med school.
Liberty has a College of Osteopathy. DO not MD.
These parents are homeowners.
Considering how many hoops one needs to jump through to get vetted for a 170k mortgage (a SECURED loan), dunno why these parents thought they could easily borrow 170k unsecured.
There’s a whole world of difference between “Is an Elite Education worth $170,000 in debt ?” and “Will you pay $170,000 for an Elite Education.”
To the first one, it is “It all depends”.
The truth to the second one is there are lots of posters here who have done or who are doing just that.
I see NO scenario where $170 DEBT for an elite undergrad education is worth it, especially for a student w graduate/professional school aspirations, like the student in the article has.
We’re talking 170k in debt ON TOP OF what the family is already paying out of pocket.
Sure, an elite education is worth PAYING 170k, when State U is costing 120k.
^^Chill! Who said anything about undergrad?? We’ve wandered away from the original article that was posted five months ago.
Ok then. I’d be willing to borrow 170k for med school or an ELITE law school.
No
I’d be willing to borrow 170K for med school. Not for any law school. I’d have to think hard about b-school. Maybe H & S. I’m not even sure about the rest of the M7, thought that would depend on what your alternatives are as well.