What do you consider a lot? Student debt?

[LSUmiss]

If my kids are taking out the loans the sky is the limit Anything they are comfortable with.
If I am paying it has to be within my budget and/or comfort level.

Exactly I could just imagine my parents telling how much I can take & when to pay it back. Advice was welcomed & still is, but by that age I was a legal adult & making my own decisions. This is part of why our adults can’t be functional until they’re 30.

 

[LSUmiss]

This is my thinking. I worked full time as an undergraduate and paid my way as I went. No need to take out loans and it wasn't all that long ago even as my peers were lying about there "being no way to pay your way through school". No debt at all and I didn't get a penny of help from anyone. My employer is paying for my graduate degree and I knew from the day I graduated undergrad that is the path I'd take. If you were successful in my career path you'd have no problem getting your MBA paid for.

Where did you live for college?

 

[piccolopat]

I also consider anything above the minimum federal loans too much. I figure car loan, not house loan! I actually disagree with above poster because I think paying on fed student loans for 10 years or even more is a good investment if needed for a degree with good employment. Imo, the real problems begin when people go with higher loans than the federal student loans offered for undergrad. Another issue is trying to immediately upgrade from living like a student before paying them down. My husband had loans and I am forever grateful he was still living like a student when I met him and had them paid off before our wedding! He is grateful I did the same with my post grad costs.

Our first step with our kids was letting them know early on we were saving for college or technical training and expecting them to do the same when they started summer employment in high school.

We told our kids the amount we could afford to give them (thankfully enough to cover tuition, room, and board at a state school) and that we expected them to cover spending money, books, and travel. Once they had that amount they could use it out of state or private, but only if they had scholarships and or work to cover the rest. We also told them no loans beyond minimum federal or our offer would be withdrawn. They had to evaluate their choices accordingly and both ended up with private options they could consider.

Both chose instate and actually spent less than we had offered due to schoarships, employment, cheap living, and internships. We paid from college funds we had set up, money freed up when we paid off our mortgage, and me going from part time to full time teaching. They both got through undergrad debt free. We tried to make it a team effort and I think they felt that. They knew we were happy we could help them, but that they had a role.

We were open and honest abouts costs and they did the fafsa with us so they knew it was a stretch and the money wasnt just falling from an open pot. They also knew we wouldn't continue to pay if they were failing to progress toward a degree. (Though we made sure they knew not to freak over one bad test or class!) We sat down together once a term to discuss classes, grades, and finances before paying (this lined up with vacation breaks between terms and the few times it didn't we skyped.)

We were pretty brutal because we also gave them a four year limit of our financial support. Obviously we could have changed our minds if there had been extenuating circumstances, but I have friends who wish they had set that expectation. We did not offer support for grad school.

I write this all out because I'm a mom of two employeed fairly recent college grads with no school debt and this is how we managed it. Our stem grad had a job offer before graduation, and it took our liberal arts grad a year to be fully employed in his field, which we expected.

I think you were disagreeing with me when you said paying off fed student loans over 10 years (rather than the 5 I indicated) was a good investment. You then went on to say you were grateful that your husband paid off his loans before your wedding. Most people graduate when they are 21 or 22. Most people marry by the time they are 30. Based on this I still think 5 years is better. If it were the 10 years that you recommend, most people would still have student loans when they got married. That's not the best way to start a marriage.

 

[disykat]

I think you were disagreeing with me when you said paying off fed student loans over 10 years (rather than the 5 I indicated) was a good investment. You then went on to say you were grateful that your husband paid off his loans before your wedding. Most people graduate when they are 21 or 22. Most people marry by the time they are 30. Based on this I still think 5 years is better. If it were the 10 years that you recommend, most people would still have student loans when they got married. That's not the best way to start a marriage.

I absolutely agree with you that 5 tears is better. I disagree that anything beyond five years is bad.

 

[HeatherC]

Reasonable = About the price of a lower-end new car; somewhere in the ball park of $20K.

OP here. I do think this is reasonable. It also helps them have some “skin in the game”. Our intent is to let her take 5500 each year and then immediately start making payments. We will also probably pay them off once she graduates, but she doesn’t need to know that now necessarily.

 

[HeatherC]

If my kids are taking out the loans the sky is the limit Anything they are comfortable with.
If I am paying it has to be within my budget and/or comfort level.

Exactly I could just imagine my parents telling how much I can take & when to pay it back. Advice was welcomed & still is, but by that age I was a legal adult & making my own decisions. This is part of why our adults can’t be functional until they’re 30.

I guess I just feel that they are still quite young to make a financial decision like this on their own. It could completely alter their financial future when they haven’t even had to really pay most adult bills yet. Most 18 -20 year olds have never had to pay rent, mortgage, buy their own food, utilities, insurance, etc..

I still think some parental guidance with this could help a lot of these kids not be buried with loans when they graduate on top of then having to pay all the adult bills they have never had any experience with. Not sure why a parent would want to set their kids up for adulthood buried in debt starting out on their own.

 

[disykat]

Exactly I could just imagine my parents telling how much I can take & when to pay it back. Advice was welcomed & still is, but by that age I was a legal adult & making my own decisions. This is part of why our adults can’t be functional until they’re 30.

Totally disagree. I absolutely gave restrictions on money I was giving to my young adult kids. My kids were 100% free to decline my offer and go out on their own. As you said, they were adults and, as such, capable of making their own decisions about their lives and how they fund it. They CHOSE to accept money from me knowing it came with expectations.

Imo, adults who are given everything with no expectations are much more likely to be disfunctional. Adults know that nothing is free.

I gave my lengthy reply above because I've watched many of my friends who wrote checks with no disclaimers really regret it.

 

[shoney]

I guess I just feel that they are still quite young to make a financial decision like this on their own. It could completely alter their financial future when they haven’t even had to really pay most adult bills yet. Most 18 -20 year olds have never had to pay rent, mortgage, buy their own food, utilities, insurance, etc..

I still think some parental guidance with this could help a lot of these kids not be buried with loans when they graduate on top of then having to pay all the adult bills they have never had any experience with. Not sure why a parent would want to set their kids up for adulthood buried in debt starting out on their own.

I bought my first house while commuting to college and my parents paid for undergrad (was cheap then. My graduate degree was $30k)

Any high school
Grad that wants to take on debt should never be told no by anyone but the Creditors. If they quality and want to to do it to go to the school of their choice,
Why not????? They are adults,
Maybe young, but it is their choice

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It could completely alter their financial future when they haven’t even had to really pay most adult bills yet. Most 18 -20 year olds have never had to pay rent, mortgage, buy their own food, utilities, insurance, etc..

Will all due respect, one should have a knowledge of real life things especially as you get to the point where you become a legal adult even if one hasn't had to pay rent at 17/18 or pay for their own food or utilities or insurance, etc.

If an individual has no real concept of money, of how to pay for their own food and on how to budget for things like utilities and insurance frankly that's a much much larger issue. College or no college.

 

[dish rag]

Exactly I could just imagine my parents telling how much I can take & when to pay it back. Advice was welcomed & still is, but by that age I was a legal adult & making my own decisions. This is part of why our adults can’t be functional until they’re 30.

I had 2 requirements with my 2 and that was it had to be a public university in Florida and their major would have to be one that would provide gainful employment right away. Not a generic business degree or history or something similar. But I was the one paying. So I felt that was fair. And I agree about the age of 30 is about how we were at 20. So many of them won't or can't grow up.

 

[Hikergirl]

I think it really depends on many factors, like the degree, career choice and job prospects.
I think racking up 80K in loans for a elementary education degree is too much, but 80K for a medical degree not so bad.

 

[m&m's mom]

For my family- any debt for undergrad is too much. I started saving when they were babies and my mantra to them their whole childhood was "4 years, in-state public school, live on campus if you want, you no debt- me no debt". But, I did tell them they had to get a degree in something they can make a living at.
I have a junior and a freshmen that wisely decided to live at home so far. The junior is at a local university and freshmen getting basics at local community college and will transfer to university. The amount I have saved is incredible, but I am lucky good schools are close by for both my kids.

 

[LSUmiss]

Totally disagree. I absolutely gave restrictions on money I was giving to my young adult kids. My kids were 100% free to decline my offer and go out on their own. As you said, they were adults and, as such, capable of making their own decisions about their lives and how they fund it. They CHOSE to accept money from me knowing it came with expectations.

Imo, adults who are given everything with no expectations are much more likely to be disfunctional. Adults know that nothing is free.

I gave my lengthy reply above because I've watched many of my friends who wrote checks with no disclaimers really regret it.

Oh I agree. But, I thought OP was talking about money the kid is allowed to borrow on his/her own. That’s what I was referring to. I 100% agree that as a parent you have the right & should set rules for money given.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I have a junior and a freshmen

Really? Already? Time flies. Hope all is well with you all. Please say hello to M & M for me, Coral.

 

[Colleen27]

I'm not one to push my kids towards "marketable" fields over pursuing their own interests or require them to choose majors that offer a career path straight out of undergrad, so the long-term path they're interested in has a big impact on the conversations we've had about college funding. We're shooting for zero-debt undergrad for our HS senior, knowing that she might end up borrowing to get through grad school (which is absolutely required for her intended field - undergrad alone won't have much marketable value). When my son was weighing a dedicated trade school vs. the local community college, though, we didn't discourage borrowing the way we have for DD because the loans he'd have been taking were small relative to his expected starting salary and he plans to go straight into the workforce after graduation.

Generally speaking, I think $20K or so is reasonable for most degrees. No one would balk at a newly-graduated professional borrowing that for a modest new car; it is equally reasonable to think of making those payments instead and driving that student-beater a little longer.

 

[GreatLakes]

Where did you live for college?

I lived with family and commuted. I paid rent, about what a 1 bedroom apartment would have cost.

I think it's dumb to go live on campus when I had 5 colleges within driving distance of home and work.

 

[Starwind]

I think there are too many factors involved to give a specific figure.

Are the parents able to contribute to expenses, is there scholarship or grant money available, is the student able to work (between academic terms or during the year) and how much can they earn from that, etc ? Is the student considered "dependent" or "independent" or are there special circumstances for financial aid purposes ?

In state / out of state tuition, public vs private schools, starting in junior college then transferring to university. Undergrad or graduate or professional school.

Federal or private loans. Subsidized or unsubsidized. What kind of interest rates.

What are reasonable, feasible future employment prospects and income likely to be ? How precarious ? How stable are those prospects/income predictions ?

Then there are the repayment options. For federal Direct loans there are a number of options, including Income Dependent Repayment (IDR) plans such as PAYE, REPAYE, IBR, etc. And there are various forgiveness options, such as programs for teachers, PSLF, and the IDR forgiveness programs. Not all of these options are available to all borrowers, but every borrow should make sure they understand what option they DO have -- even if they don't think they will need to take advantage of them, things happen, life happens, circumstance change, and knowing what your options are BEFORE you need to take advantage of them and before you get into repayment difficulties is extremely important. Some states and communities have some innovative programs where they will repay a portion of student debt for people who move there [there are conditions, of course].

For one student $5,000 may be too much, while for another into six figures is a managable amount.

SW

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think it's dumb to go live on campus when I had 5 colleges within driving distance of home and work.

I think for some people that works quite well and others it doesn't.

Without a doubt that was a heck no for me to live at home and it would have been even weirder when my mom got a roommate. Personal growth-wise I would have been stunted living at home plus I wouldn't have met my husband

 

[barkley]

I still think some parental guidance with this could help a lot of these kids not be buried with loans when they graduate on top of then having to pay all the adult bills they have never had any experience with. Not sure why a parent would want to set their kids up for adulthood buried in debt starting out on their own.

i sure hope a college student has the adult experience of having to pay some bills LONG BEFORE they get that diploma. sadly i don't think that's nesc. the case based on how many of dd's co-grads (class of 2018) have been left floundering post graduation with no idea how to set up a budget let alone that what rent/utilities/cell phone/auto insurance/medical insurance & co-pays/groceries....really cost b/c not only have they never experienced paying for it themselves-they literally DID'NT PAY FOR IT THEMSELVES b/c so long as there was money on the debit card (and mom and dad took care to make sure there was) that meant there was money to spend. no concept about expenses what so ever.....and the ones that fell victim to getting credit cards their parents have NO CLUE exist (lots of parents who believe their kids graduated 'debt free' would be floored to know the extent of the consumer debt those kids have run up in 4 or 5 years only to find out when the kid gets turned down for a rental or a car loan that's essential for their first job).


we could have paid for our dd's college but we wanted her to have a financial investment in it. she stuck to a strict budget in college so it's not been a huge transition to her post academic life.

 

[wishesuponastar]

My daughters have to pay their college tuition, we can’t afford to. My older daughter is going for elementary education and is looking at about $50,000 debt.

My younger daughter is graduating high school in 2019 and wants to pursue Art Conservation so only a few colleges offer that program. Not sure of her tuition yet but I’m sure it will be at least $50,000. My husband will be co-signing for both daughters so we will be on the hook after they graduate for 3 years until husbands name can be removed from loans. Praying we don’t have to pay.