College Tuition: My Immaturity And The Burden Of Debt
It is scheduled to cost $15,000 per semester for an out-of-state engineering undergraduate to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder. I attended that school for that major from 2005 to 2009. Let’s assume that the price of tuition for each of these years was $15,000 (not true, but to make math easier.) That’s about $3,000 dollars a month, and a little over $100 dollars every day for four months.
Today, $15,000 in my pocket would mean 25 months of rent or 300 weeks of groceries. It would mean that I could live for seven months without getting paid a thing.
But wait! In addition to the $15,000 per semester for tuition, there is living. At CU Boulder, it was about $8,000 to live in the dorms and more for a meal plan. Then you have to add in the car I drove. Add in money for books and school supplied. Pile some more on there for gas, haircuts, clothes, movies, and eating out. Don’t forget about buying alcohol or birthday presents for people.
When you look at everything, all together, I believe that every semester in college I probably spent around $25,000 a semester, $50,000 a year. That means for every day I lived in Boulder, CO, I owed $136 to someone, somewhere.
Except, when I went to school, I wasn’t in charge of paying the bills. I chose a school based on how beautiful the setting was (and my god, it was gorgeous). I chose a school based on the excitement of experiencing winter. I went because I liked the program, because people seemed trustworthy and because, at 18, $15,000 for a semester of tuition was just an abstract number.
I had always been told, and therefore expected, that my parents would pay for college. So when they first expressed concern over the cost of the tuition, I did what any annoying, limited-minded teenager would do—I complained. I whined. I moaned.
And, I convinced them to let me go.
Now 11 months out of school, I’m forced to consider the costs of education, the choice I made to go to CU, and the implications it will have on my and my family’s future.
I am currently paying off less than a quarter of what is left in my school loans. If I pay every month the amount they ask, I will be paying for ten years. My father, who has agreed to still pay the rest, might not see the end of his side of the loan.
When I think about my parents allowing me to go to school at CU, I wonder why they allowed it. We were better off then, sure, but the money CU was (and still is) asking for is outrageous. So are the costs of out-of-state tuition in other states. I wonder how many other 18-years old kids are taking out loan after loan after loan, not really understanding the implications that ten years of debt has on their lives.
It’s a confusing feeling for me. Stressed and stretched with money already, paying off a loan is something I’d rather not have to do. Had I gone in-state, had I chosen a cheaper school, had I done better in high school so I could’ve gotten scholarships, could I have saved myself and my family from the strife of tuition?
At the same time, I loved living in Colorado. It transformed my life. It changed my interests, it allowed me to grow, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.
But still. With my maturity level at the time, my begging to go to CU Boulder was dismal. I knew nothing of money, or taxes, or interest or loans or bankruptcy. I didn’t know about how hard finding a job would be, or that if I changed majors (which I didn’t) that it would have added more money on the docket. I didn’t realize that SCALE of what I was doing.
I hope that other students, now looking at colleges and making there choices, will take these things into account when making the choices for their future.
Photo Credit: Adobemac
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I think this is the perfect example of what most college students go through. At the age of 18 we don't have a full concept of the cost of our education. All we know is that we like a certain school and want to go there. We figure, after financial aid, our parents and loans, we'll be all set. It doesn't always work out that way and I think you really captured that. Great article!
You hit the point right on when you said “at 18, $15,000 for a semester of tuition was just an abstract number.”
I had a similar experience in that I wanted to go to University of Pittsburgh so badly, but instead of my parents whining about the costs too, we both just assumed that we would pick up student loans as if we didn't actually have to pay them back. I had been told I could go to any school I wanted and somehow it would just work out, because that's what kids at my high school did — we went to the college of our dreams.
I think there's a point when you're forced to realize the impact of the debt you're taking on. For me that point was near the end of my freshman year at an out-of-state school when my parents realized the burden they were taking on themselves. They simply said “We can't afford this anymore. You can either take on all these student loans yourself or you can transfer to a much cheaper in-state school.” While I was heart-broken at first, I'm glad they gave me that ultimatum because I realized overnight the burden of debt. Luckily for me I was able to transfer to a fantastic in-state school (UNC- Chapel Hill) and lived happily ever after–with $55k LESS debt.
I think high school grads would be making some pretty different college choices if they could actually fathom how much the cost of college would impact their lives.
This article makes a fantastic case for the importance of financial literacy classes in high school.
It's completely bizarre that we start asking young people to make life-changing financial decisions at the age of 17 or 18 without any practical instruction in real-world finance.
Whether you're considering the burdens of private-college debt, negotiating the salary on your first job or deciding what kind of bank account to open, we provide almost no guidance to the vast majority of high school students.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/10/your-money/10…
My husband and I choose to send out kids to local schools and the kids get to choose out of those. We will never sign for loans for school. If they want to go someplace expensive, they take the cost on themselves. We have taught them abut money, though, so they want to do this cheaply, too. They saw us struggle to pay off student loans and they have felt the pain of it, too. They work hard for scholarships and get summer jobs.
Nice post. There are people who are getting very very rich off of this, and imho, the schools are totally complicit in it. They're the ones who get most of the money, so it certainly doesn't benefit them to tell you how easily student loans turn into a crippling debt.
I think part of the problem is that the education industry has us all convinced that we NEED to go to college and that the world will be ours after we do. I know my parents never went to college, because they couldn't afford to — so when I was growing up, it was all, 'you're going to get the opportunities we never did, no matter what' … so I think for our generation, whether or not we can actually afford it is much less of a barrier to higher education now. And of course, the student loan companies are all too happy to take advantage of this.
When I was 17, I did consider money as a factor, but I weighed it against what I believed the opportunities would be. I don't regret my choice because I went to the least expensive/most scholarship money option of the good (and pricey) private schools I got into … but can't say it doesn't sting a bit to look at all my debt now, and think that I could have gone to a less prestigious undergrad practically for free.
I actually went to CU boulder for a year, and thankfully after that year (the best year of my life), I realized that financially it wasn't worth it to go there. I transferred back home-ish. I attend Keene State College as an out of state student (from Mass.), which costs me about $12,000 a semester, half the price of CU.
My parents are taking a portion of my loans (about $5,000 a semester) but at CU that still meant I was taking around $40,000 a year. Now I'm looking at $14,000 a year.
I still think that it was worth it for me to spend on year out there, like you said “It transformed my life. It changed my interests, it allowed me to grow, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.” I loved that school, and two years out I'm still closer to my friends there than my friends from high school, or even from KSC.
As a journalism major however, I'm potentially in worse shape than you. But for me, it's an experience that I'm glad I had, and more importantly, the one year there was the most life changing, mind blowing, learning experience of my life.
I think that students absolutely need to weigh out the consequences of attending an expensive college. But, like I think both of us can attest, I would not be who I am today if I did not take that risk.
As a Gen Y kid, my parents said I could go anywhere I wanted for school but that I would be responsible for the costS. I chose to attend an in-state school not because of cost but because I fell in love with the school on my first visit. Regardless of the cost, I wouldn't trade my 4 years at East Carolina for anything. It does hurt a little bit to see my college loan payment come out of my account each month but I know my degree will pay me back eventually even if it's not right away.
It would be very helpful to have a finance type class for parents AND students before they sign the acceptance papers so that they both know what type of payments to expect after graduation.
I think all too often people look at their secondary education like a car: the more money you spent the better a status symbol it is. The fact that said car may be completely over-priced, break down after a few years, and not actually help you get anywhere is rarely considered: as long as you have that brand name on your resume. Having always been averse to debt, I actually almost ended up in West Point (which costs 4 years of Army service after graduation), however when 9/11 occurred my senior year I decided against it. I was fortunate enough to have Penn State as an in-state option, which (at the time) was an excellent value at about half the cost I hear some of these Boston schools charge. Do your homework (hah!) and don't fall in love with a school because of aesthetics or the amount of high profile folks who went there 30 years ago; choose a school that will give you the experience you need to hit the ground running, and won't leave you eating Ramen Noodles until you are 50.
I'd argue that perhaps colleges need to reign in their costs and be more honest to their “barely legal” customers. Tuition costs have outpaced inflation by ~2x the past 50 years, and many schools are looking at double digit % increases this year. How has education changed in such a fundamental way that universities should have more price control than OPEC? What proof are they giving that money isn't being wasted on their campuses?
Hmm, I'm so happy that you're so frank now about the decisions that you made … it really is a luxury that we can't afford paying so much money for higher education – in the long run, I guess I'm happy my parents didn't let me leave Boston for college.
At the same time that I think about the monetary downsides to paying for out-of-state tuition, I also find it hard to wish I hadn't gone to the college I did. I loved it, and I don't know if I would change my decision. I just wish I'd made it with more information at the time–then at least feel like I owned the choice more.
Haha, responding to your “as a journalism major, I'm potentially in worse shape than you”. After going to school at CU for engineering, I am now a journalist/reporter as well, so we can both share the same dismal money boat if you'd like?
I agree with what you've said otherwise. Thanks for commenting !