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Did you study STEM? I did. This was absolutely the correct choice for me. In the company I last worked, fresh grads were making $175k/y. I would say you wou

Did you study STEM? I did. This was absolutely the correct choice for me. In the company I last worked, fresh grads were making $175k/y. I would say you would have to be completely bonkers to work at $12/h instead. On top of that, tuition increases far faster than inflation. Every year you wait. Tuition can go up by about 6%. That essentially wipes out any savings you have. On top of all that, student aid is quite generous if you are really broke. By going to school as a broke 20 year old say, you will likely get 50% off your tuition. Then you get lots of subsidized loans where the interest doesn’t start until graduation, then finally a couple expensive loans. Let’s say you start your first job making $120k, year in computer science. Not average, but you did say STEM. Live with four roommates, and with any luck you’ll have paid off your loans in two or three years. UC Berkeley costs $43k/y right now fully loaded. How many hours at $12/h wil that take? Ps- the solution I would use today is actually different. First I would max out community college. This is almost free. This would mean I would only have two years of in-state college to pay for. It would also tell me if I am any good at programming. After community college, I would finish at in-state, then get a job, preferably living at home, roommates if not possible, then aggressively manage my career.

UpbeatZoltar 5y ago
I think you must have misunderstood OP. They're saying that Ramsey recommended not getting a student loan, but rather working and saving until he had the cash to pay tuition. OP is saying that's crazy, get the loan and start studying today.
bumby 5y ago
Your overall point stands, but I have a feeling it falls into the trappings of the biases of HN which are disproportionately drawn from SV and not normal for the general population. Case and point: >Let’s say you start your first job making $120k This may be normal in SV but it's not normal for the industry as a whole. The average starting salary is hard to find government statistics, but BLS says the average median mid-career salary is $110k.[1][2] AFAIK, BLS doesn't track starting salaries, but considering the median salary in [3] aligns with BLS data, it's probably not far off to say a median starting salary closer to $69k. That's just software roles and most other STEM positions are considerably lower. All that being said, I don't think it negates your point, but we have to be careful about generalizing using SV-like numbers. [1] https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/15-1252.00 https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/15-1252.00 [2] https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#15-0000 https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#15-0000 [3] https://appliedcomputing.wisconsin.edu/about-applied-computing/applied-computing-salary/ https://appliedcomputing.wisconsin.edu/about-applied-computi...

UpbeatZoltar 5y ago

I think you must have misunderstood OP. They're saying that Ramsey recommended not getting a student loan, but rather working and saving until he had the cash to pay tuition. OP is saying that's crazy, get the loan and start studying today.

bumby 5y ago

Your overall point stands, but I have a feeling it falls into the trappings of the biases of HN which are disproportionately drawn from SV and not normal for the general population. Case and point: >Let’s say you start your first job making $120k This may be normal in SV but it's not normal for the industry as a whole. The average starting salary is hard to find government statistics, but BLS says the average median mid-career salary is $110k.[1][2] AFAIK, BLS doesn't track starting salaries, but considering the median salary in [3] aligns with BLS data, it's probably not far off to say a median starting salary closer to $69k. That's just software roles and most other STEM positions are considerably lower. All that being said, I don't think it negates your point, but we have to be careful about generalizing using SV-like numbers. [1] https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/15-1252.00 https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/15-1252.00 [2] https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#15-0000 https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#15-0000 [3] https://appliedcomputing.wisconsin.edu/about-applied-computing/applied-computing-salary/ https://appliedcomputing.wisconsin.edu/about-applied-computi...