Student Loans and Professional Degrees
Right now there is a bit of a debate going on at the My Total Money Makeover forum about whether or not a person should take on student loans to go to law school. This has sparked a lively debate, with the diehard Dave Ramsey fans saying “no student loans for anything!” and others (like me) who want to get that professional degree saying to save up what you can, apply for every bit of scholarships and grants possible … then if there is still a shortfall to take the smallest student loan possible.
Now let me start out by saying I believe no one should take on student loans for any undergraduate degree. With some planning and a budget, undergraduate tuition and even the outrageous prices for college textbooks can be easily saved up, as long as you don’t try to do a private college. I know this because I am doing it.
While my plan is to go to pharmacy school next fall without needing student loans of any type, I am thinking hard on the old army saying: “Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.” Therefore, in preparation for the worst case scenario, hubby is selling his 2005 Chevy Colorado and we will be saving up over $20,000 for the first year. If the absolute worst happens and I don’t get Pell grants, we will need to take on a small student loan, but the vast majority of the tuition will be funded by us.
Some of the most interesting anti-student loan comments in the debate are from people who actually did use them for their professional degrees. Some are still paying for their degree years and years later, with loan debt tallies ranging from $30,000 up to over $100,000. And just yesterday Dave Ramsey took a phone call on his radio show from a guy in Florida who had $275,000 in student loans alone! Then the caller admitted he wasn’t even working in the career he took all those loans to get … and makes only $35,000 a year.
This is a very sticky subject, and I am hoping to get through and be able to ask the man himself about the whole how to pay for a professional degree when you are not yet financially independent to the point you can cash-flow it. The biggest sticky point for me is this pharmacy degree will more than TRIPLE my personal income earning ability, and quadruple our household income. That’s a huge jump which seems to make it worthwhile to actually be worth going into a LITTLE debt again. So inaddition to trying to call Dave today, I am going to throw this debate out here in the public forum. Comment away!
