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I know millennials with combined household incomes in excess of $200k who can't afford to buy, because huge student loans are required to get that kind of incom

I know millennials with combined household incomes in excess of $200k who can't afford to buy, because huge student loans are required to get that kind of income if mommy and daddy aren't rich in the first place.

uwuhn 7y ago
What's their occupation? You don't need huge student loans to get that kind of salary as a software engineer.
- filoleg 7y ago
  It depends a lot on the school you went to and what kind of financial aid you were able to get. Back when I was picking a college for my CS undergrad, the choice boiled down to (numbers are rough estimates, because I don't remember the exact ones, but they are close enough and should relay the point I am trying to make): * UCLA out of state: some financial aid for the first year, bringing the costs down to around $25k/yr. Around $35k+ each following year. * Georgia Tech in state: without financial aid, around $9.5k/yr. With Zell Miller/HOPE scholarship (which every in-state student gets, provided they maintain a certain GPA), it brought down the tuition costs to essentially $0/yr. I still took out some loans for rent/basic necessity expenses, but those were miniscule. Like, less than the first year at UCLA kind of miniscule. Both are well respected colleges, same program, but wildly different loan situations post-graduation. I obviously choice GT, but not everyone is in the same situation as me. The amount of loans doesn't always correlate with the kind of program you are choosing.
  - wil421 7y ago
    Just to add you could’ve done TAG (Transfer Admission Guarantee) to both GaTech and UGA from Georgia Perimeter (community college) and saved a bunch on tuition or get in via transferring to a difficult school. I went to KSU to be with my wife (girlfriend at the time) and did Information Systems. Had I known I would love software engineering I might have done CS elsewhere. Are you still in Atlanta? If so what kind of tech do you work on?
    - uwuhn 7y ago
      I did TAG too (in California).
    - filoleg 7y ago
      Oh yeah, I definitely heard about TAG program before, but it is fairly tricky, as I felt that the first years at GT are the ones that shape you up and give you a very strong head-start in terms of internships and such. I've known quite a few people who went through TAG, and a lot of them struggled at GT pretty majorly after transferring, because they weren't hit with the GT intensity hammer straight to their temple when they started college. While students who went through GT from the very beginning already embraced the hammer hits to the head by that point and even started hitting themselves with it. Definitely not a hard rule though, I've met quite a few TAG transfers who were just as resilient and successful in their college career. As for ATL, unfortunately no. I moved to Seattle right after graduation for a couple of reasons. Starting with the career opportunities and ending with the desire for a change of scenery. If you want to talk more about it, do not hesitate to reach out - me(at-sign)olegwritescode.fyi
rwmurrayVT 7y ago
You certainly don't need to be drowning in student loan debt to reach that. You could go to a state school and get an excellent job. That's just poor financial decision making. Where I live you could go to UVa, VT, or maybe VCU.
- Yhippa 7y ago
  Don't forget the highly underrated community college systems in VA.
  - rwmurrayVT 7y ago
    I hear community colleges put out there as an option to move into a 4 year state school often. I can't help but think it applies to many more states than I expected initially.
    - brixon 7y ago
      A lot of states have this, but follow the plan. Don't take random CC classes, only take ones that will transfer to schools they have agreements with. I did CC for a year and they marked the classes with an * which would transfer to the closest university.
    - Yhippa 7y ago
      Yep, in the state of VA you go to community college for 2 years and then can transfer to any 4-year school in the state. An amazing deal.
- mrlase 7y ago
  PA, for example where I went to school, was still nearly $20k/year for tuition at the flagship state schools. I know a lot of people in-state that ended up with over $100k debt.
  - rwmurrayVT 7y ago
    $100k in student loans @ 4% and a 10 year pay off period. That's over $70k net pay in Philadelphia. I'd imagine you could certainly afford to buy a home after a short period of time saving for a down payment. If the dual income household is over $200k gross then it's just poor financial decision making.
bradlys 7y ago
> I know millennials with combined household incomes in excess of $200k who can't afford to buy, because huge student loans are required to get that kind of income if mommy and daddy aren't rich in the first place. Man - I'm nearly at that income just by myself. (Am millennial) I know others my age who make $300k+/yr as single income. They also cannot afford to buy a home. It has nothing to do with debt for me or them (I graduated debt free thanks to the VA). It's purely the price of homes.
avgDev 7y ago
I know people in their 20's who make 100K+ but cannot afford anything because they get starbucks in the morning, expensive lunch and dinner at a bar daily.
CapricornNoble 7y ago
They could have joined the Air Force, gotten some tech-related work experience, and then used the GI Bill to pay for their university education (I used mine to pay for my Masters).

uwuhn 7y ago

What's their occupation? You don't need huge student loans to get that kind of salary as a software engineer.

filoleg 7y ago
It depends a lot on the school you went to and what kind of financial aid you were able to get. Back when I was picking a college for my CS undergrad, the choice boiled down to (numbers are rough estimates, because I don't remember the exact ones, but they are close enough and should relay the point I am trying to make): * UCLA out of state: some financial aid for the first year, bringing the costs down to around $25k/yr. Around $35k+ each following year. * Georgia Tech in state: without financial aid, around $9.5k/yr. With Zell Miller/HOPE scholarship (which every in-state student gets, provided they maintain a certain GPA), it brought down the tuition costs to essentially $0/yr. I still took out some loans for rent/basic necessity expenses, but those were miniscule. Like, less than the first year at UCLA kind of miniscule. Both are well respected colleges, same program, but wildly different loan situations post-graduation. I obviously choice GT, but not everyone is in the same situation as me. The amount of loans doesn't always correlate with the kind of program you are choosing.
- wil421 7y ago
  Just to add you could’ve done TAG (Transfer Admission Guarantee) to both GaTech and UGA from Georgia Perimeter (community college) and saved a bunch on tuition or get in via transferring to a difficult school. I went to KSU to be with my wife (girlfriend at the time) and did Information Systems. Had I known I would love software engineering I might have done CS elsewhere. Are you still in Atlanta? If so what kind of tech do you work on?
  - uwuhn 7y ago
    I did TAG too (in California).
  - filoleg 7y ago
    Oh yeah, I definitely heard about TAG program before, but it is fairly tricky, as I felt that the first years at GT are the ones that shape you up and give you a very strong head-start in terms of internships and such. I've known quite a few people who went through TAG, and a lot of them struggled at GT pretty majorly after transferring, because they weren't hit with the GT intensity hammer straight to their temple when they started college. While students who went through GT from the very beginning already embraced the hammer hits to the head by that point and even started hitting themselves with it. Definitely not a hard rule though, I've met quite a few TAG transfers who were just as resilient and successful in their college career. As for ATL, unfortunately no. I moved to Seattle right after graduation for a couple of reasons. Starting with the career opportunities and ending with the desire for a change of scenery. If you want to talk more about it, do not hesitate to reach out - me(at-sign)olegwritescode.fyi

rwmurrayVT 7y ago

You certainly don't need to be drowning in student loan debt to reach that. You could go to a state school and get an excellent job. That's just poor financial decision making. Where I live you could go to UVa, VT, or maybe VCU.

Yhippa 7y ago
Don't forget the highly underrated community college systems in VA.
- rwmurrayVT 7y ago
  I hear community colleges put out there as an option to move into a 4 year state school often. I can't help but think it applies to many more states than I expected initially.
  - brixon 7y ago
    A lot of states have this, but follow the plan. Don't take random CC classes, only take ones that will transfer to schools they have agreements with. I did CC for a year and they marked the classes with an * which would transfer to the closest university.
  - Yhippa 7y ago
    Yep, in the state of VA you go to community college for 2 years and then can transfer to any 4-year school in the state. An amazing deal.
mrlase 7y ago
PA, for example where I went to school, was still nearly $20k/year for tuition at the flagship state schools. I know a lot of people in-state that ended up with over $100k debt.
- rwmurrayVT 7y ago
  $100k in student loans @ 4% and a 10 year pay off period. That's over $70k net pay in Philadelphia. I'd imagine you could certainly afford to buy a home after a short period of time saving for a down payment. If the dual income household is over $200k gross then it's just poor financial decision making.

bradlys 7y ago

> I know millennials with combined household incomes in excess of $200k who can't afford to buy, because huge student loans are required to get that kind of income if mommy and daddy aren't rich in the first place. Man - I'm nearly at that income just by myself. (Am millennial) I know others my age who make $300k+/yr as single income. They also cannot afford to buy a home. It has nothing to do with debt for me or them (I graduated debt free thanks to the VA). It's purely the price of homes.

avgDev 7y ago

I know people in their 20's who make 100K+ but cannot afford anything because they get starbucks in the morning, expensive lunch and dinner at a bar daily.

CapricornNoble 7y ago

They could have joined the Air Force, gotten some tech-related work experience, and then used the GI Bill to pay for their university education (I used mine to pay for my Masters).