I graduated with about $30K in student loan debt. About half my tuition was covered by scholarships and grants. I did work study programs, including Americorps (which gives you a tuition credit in addition to a paycheck), and used money from working during high school and over the summer to pay part of my tuition. My parents helped where they could, but they just don’t have the means to help as much as Crystal’s parents did.

I actually wish I had worked less during college for two reasons. First, I would have been able to do more internships, which are really important for getting a job when you graduate. Second, I probably would have had better grades. My grades are high enough to get a job in my chosen field, but I am going to law school next year. I am going to a great school, but if my GPS had been even .2 higher I would be in a position to either attend one of the Top 10 schools in the country or get substantial scholarships at the school I am attending. In the long run it probably would have been worth it to accrue another $8K or so in loans from my undergrad education.

We had always saved. We started saving $ for college for both my kids when they were infants. They started college with about $35K or so in the 1990s. My daughter spent all her college fund in 2 years at Northeastern University (a private school). She used student loans to finish. My son finished undergrad and 2 years grad work at VA Tech (a public school) and still had money left over when he graduated.

There is a message here about public colleges.

I strongly encourage kids to work while in school and to think really hard about what they want to do when they graduate. Studying subjects that are interesting and intellectually challenging may be fun and personally rewarding but unless you have some way to use the skills you’ve learned in school to make a living, you’ve pretty much wasted your time.

My experience, which I`m going through right now, is not as rose coloured. I started 4 years ago, appliying for University in Social Economics, while I had a full time job. This was (and still is in the Oil sector) a job where I had to work 2 weeks and 3 weeks of, so basicly I was working two full months each semester. 5 months on, 7 months off..

While I was making very good money, starting at $40.000 increasing to $100.000 over the course of 4 years, my grades where going downhill, because study habits were poor, I did not feel i got enough time to study and my love for the field died 2 years into the 4 year degree.

Now, I`m burnt out, I have not finnished my degree ( I lack several points to finnish it), I dont want to work in that field, and I don`t pressume anybody would hire me with the poor results. And Im stuck in a job I don`t really have a future in, or particularly want to be doing..

I have $4000 in debt, and still live like a student, so my savings rate is 75%.. while my grades are hovering above 2. Right now Im thinking about having year of from School, maybe try again next year.

@Alily, I’m surprised even $8000 in student loans wasn’t suprisingly low to you. If it makes anyone feel any better, I would have and could have paid off that $8000 by the end of my graduation year since my husband and I continued living CHEAP in a $399 efficiency apartment and I wasn’t willing to pay 5% interest for very long…

As JD explained in one of the first comments, he put a lot of thought into that title since I was so upfront that luck had a lot to do with my experience.

But I also agree with those who claim the title is misleading. It is. Borrowing $8k is borrowing $8k, no matter what the source, and having it forgiven is even better. The OP did not avoid student loans, no matter how much JD wants to spin it. Sorry.

That is a really great and thoughtful comment. I agree 100%.

Though, as another commenter mentioned, EVERYONE is eligible to fill out a FAFSA form. Many people are eligible for financial aid even if they think they aren’t. Getting people to fill out the FAFSA is something the government has made great strides on over the past couple of years and has had a positive effect on college attendance as people on the margin who thought they weren’t eligible for aid end up having enough money to go. (There’s a study with a bunch of famous education researchers partnering with H&R block that finds positive effects.)

To start with, I do have to say, as some have said, that the title of this post was a bit misleading. It makes it sound like avoiding student loans by getting money from family is better than taking student loans. Obviously every situation is different, and maybe for Crystal this was the better choice, but that’s certainly not going to be true (or even possible) for most students.

Crystal did what she had to do, and luckily for her she didn’t end up with debt. But student loans aren’t all bad. Student loans are bad when they are used to pay for a lifestyle a student (or their family) could never have afforded. Student loans to help with tuition so that the student has time to be at college and reap the benefits are exactly what student loans are for.

I know that in this case, she wasn’t eligible for the FAFSA benefits that I had the good fortune to receive. My college experience didn’t put any burden on my family. I worked through college (about 30 hours a week, not 60, thank god), went abroad, did everything I wanted to do while I was there, came out with loans and got a job that makes me happy, and then paid them off. The loans were only about $17k, which I know is low for this country, and maybe that would be too large a burden for some. But I sort of wonder what good a college degree is if you can’t get a good enough job to pay off a small student loan? I had loans but I never felt forced to take any old job just to pay them off. The loan was completely manageable, while working more hours as a student would have made me very little and taken away so much of the point of being at college in the first place.

I’m not criticizing Crystal’s situation and choices, working your way through college is hard with or without help from the school or parents. But I sort of feel like student loans were created to help avoid situations like her’s, so students have time to get the most out of school and get a job they like after graduation, and then pay the loan back. It’s really sad to hear that she feels stuck in a job she doesn’t like, and yet she didn’t even have loans forcing her to find any old job after graduation…

It’s hard to see what to learn from this article, other than the fact that paying for college is a huge burden on everyone, whether they take loans or not.

By the time I was getting ready for school, it was impossible to find legal, safe work that would cover those expenses. Now, I have three small kids, and the tuition situation only seems to be getting worse. I’m saving now for their educations, and I hope it will be enough to let them get through school without massive debt.

I wonder if anyone has undertaken a breakdown of university budgets over the last fifty years to find out where the money is going. If anyone has that information, I would love to see it.

I worked both a full time and part time job while going through undergrad and grad school, but still ended up with over $40,000 in student loans!

@Amanda, it sounds like you had fun and prioritized in a way that gives you no regrets – that sounds perfect to me!

@Claudia Lynn, being an RA is an awesome opportunity! I applied but wasn’t accepted the first time around and moved off campus after that…

@Ms. K, no crying, lol. I was actually very happy – just a little tired. Nice Canada strategy!!!

@Lindsey, sounds like you and your husband put in even more work than me! That is what I see as inspiring.

As far as getting my mom or dad to write up their side, I would never ask. We agree that a bunch of things were mishandled and miscommunicated and just generally messed up. They wanted to make sure I was responsible and I sort of hated them for making me prove it like that. It’s taken 5 years to get back to a non-angry place, so I am just letting it go.

@Pam, I think you hit the nail on the head about figuring out the proper balance. Sure, my way worked for me, but it is not the best way for everybody. Thanks for commenting!

@retirebyforty, you could do anything when you don’t see any other options.

I took loans/scholarships and working in the summer to finish my degree (about ~30K in debt when it was done). But as an engineering student I had classess, labs and tutorials from 8 am to 5 pm four to 5 days a week and typically 30 to 40 hours of work outside of classes to finish assignments and prep for exams. Working more than one day a week would not have been possible and really I was no fun to be around given how terrible my schedule was.

Grad school was done on a scholarship and stipend. I taught a tutorial four semesters while at school and used the extra money to put against my studen loans (which were not accruing interest as I was at school). When I left school I had ~16K in student debt and had it paid off in about 2.5 years.

Everyone is going to be different and the trick is balance of school achievement, loans, and end goals. I had friends at school that could have worked more and I had friends that used loan money to live a lavish life (for a student). I think everyone looks back and thinks they could have done something differently. You had a goal and you stuck to it. Good for you.

It is absolutely possible to work that much as an engineering student. My husband did it, too, although we had divergent grade expectations; he expected to pass and I held a B+/A- average. Yes, we missed out on some things, but you can’t do everything anyway. We did make time for things that were important to us. Today, we are much better off in many regards than college friends who didn’t work.

@Crystal or JD – Is there any chance to get Crystal’s parents’ story? I would love to read the “other half” of this tale. For instance, when did they decide to cover part of her expenses? How did they save for her and her siblings’ college? How/why did they forgive the loans?

Don’t downplay your achievement – reading your schedule makes me almost cry. Just the amount you slept – I wouldn’t have been able to focus in class AT ALL if I got only 7 hours of sleep/night. (I have been told this is genetic…people need from 6-10 hours of sleep/night, with 8 being just the average.) And the amount you worked! Wow!

I majored in geophysics and was not the sharpest pencil in the box – I probably had to study more hours/week than you worked (60+) just to pass with good marks.

Just FWIW, my strategy for saving money in school was to go to university in Canada and work hard over the summer to pay with American dollars…they charge international students much more than Canadians, but the tuition is still a joke compared to the tuition at US schools. Or at least it was in the late 90s, when the US dollar was stronger.

@Aishah, I had a roommate for 2 years that was a Biochem major – you have my complete sympathy. I was surprised my roomie still ha hair…

@Bill, good advice!

@Amy, hello to a fellow help-desk worker (and apparently, that is where all the love is, lol)! I am so glad I wasn’t the only one to pull off so many work hours – it is possible and you even got a great job! I am happy you liked my post – thanks for reading!

@MoneyIsTheRoot, LOL, my husband is a traditionalist or the wedding would have been even cheaper, hahaha.

@Lincoln, yes, everything you said is true. As I’ve said in other comments, I had a unique set of circumstances.

@LaTisha, thanks! I’m glad you made it through too!

My schedule was full, I’m not arguing that, but I really do not think I’m particularly special. I simply always had somewhere to be or something to study. Here was my schedule for the last semester.

M-W-F-S I would wake up and drive to the tax office (8am-5pm). I’d take calls and keep the appointment book, but I’d also read my text books and work on my papers.

Monday and Wednesday evenings (6pm-midnight) were when I finished all of my assignments.

Friday and Saturday evenings, I drove to whatever party I was dealing blackjack at (7pm-midnight).

Tuesday and Thursdays I had class from 10am-4pm straight through. Those evenings I worked in the Games Room from 5pm-1am. I used any downtime to catch up on reading.

Sundays were actually pretty open, so I hung out with friends, family, or my fiance. If I had any leftover assignments, I finished them.

That comes to 58 hours a week of work, 6-7 hours of sleep at night (not bad for most college students), 12 hours of business classes, 20-25 hours of studying spread out, and a day of just hanging out when I could.

Yes, I was busy. No, I did not write down my story to try to convince others it was a great idea. But, it isn’t impossible. I am smart but probably not MENSA material. I was an Honors College student and I did manage to graduate with honors, but I honestly think a business major has it easier than any math or science-based major. In short, I was able to do this based on a lot of little things that came together for me. It was unique circumstances, but I would guess that quite a few people could do it who are in similar circumstances.

I am special, but no more than anybody else, lol.

More affordable schools and schools that offer scholarships are great, but they do not always offer the same job placement and networking opportunities. There is sometimes a tradeoff.

http://www.moneyistheroot.com