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Cost of living has gotten really insane today compared to a couple decades ago. Its pretty easy to go to college on loans and rack up $150k in debt for an aver

Cost of living has gotten really insane today compared to a couple decades ago. Its pretty easy to go to college on loans and rack up $150k in debt for an average 4-year degree. Its easy to spend $35k-$50k on a new car, even 10 year old cars in good shape are $10k-$15k. Housing costs vary a lot more by area, but I think most would agree its extremely expensive these days. The idea that a young family could have $5,000/mo just in debt payments between school, vehicles, and housing is insane to me. That doesn't even account for day to day expenses, children, vacations, etc.

tzs 2y ago
> Its pretty easy to go to college on loans and rack up $150k in debt for an average 4-year degree. It isn't easy for a 4-year degree. To get to that level generally requires law school or medical school debt or an unfunded graduate degree. For 4-year degrees around 80% of students graduate with less than $30k in debt. For public schools only 7% of graduates have debt above $50k. For private nonprofit schools 12% have debt above $50k. For private for-profit schools it is 32%.
- _heimdall 2y ago
  The University of Alabama has estimates cost for in-state attendance of roughly $34k per year [1]. That is their general tuition unrelated to what school/department or degree you are there for. That does include estimates for housing, food, books, etc so there's wiggle room especially if you have family near by and live at home. For anyone going to school entirely on loans though, you wouldn't make it a year with only $30k in debt. [1] https://afford.ua.edu/cost/ https://afford.ua.edu/cost/
  - tzs 2y ago
    Sure, but most students at the University of Alabama don't go through entirely on loans. Only 42% of them take out loans. Median federal loan debt at graduation for them is $23k. 8% also take out private loans. The people with private loans have a median debt of $59k.
    - _heimdall 2y ago
      That wasn't actually my point though. My original comment was specifically calling out the cost to go to college entirely on loans, not what the average student ends up borrowing. To me its less interesting to look at what the average person who is able to afford college today borrows to pay for it. That's a self-selected population and doesn't show what the impact would be on anyone who gets into college but doesn't have family money, scholarships, or grants to help pay for it.

tzs 2y ago

> Its pretty easy to go to college on loans and rack up $150k in debt for an average 4-year degree. It isn't easy for a 4-year degree. To get to that level generally requires law school or medical school debt or an unfunded graduate degree. For 4-year degrees around 80% of students graduate with less than $30k in debt. For public schools only 7% of graduates have debt above $50k. For private nonprofit schools 12% have debt above $50k. For private for-profit schools it is 32%.

_heimdall 2y ago
The University of Alabama has estimates cost for in-state attendance of roughly $34k per year [1]. That is their general tuition unrelated to what school/department or degree you are there for. That does include estimates for housing, food, books, etc so there's wiggle room especially if you have family near by and live at home. For anyone going to school entirely on loans though, you wouldn't make it a year with only $30k in debt. [1] https://afford.ua.edu/cost/ https://afford.ua.edu/cost/
- tzs 2y ago
  Sure, but most students at the University of Alabama don't go through entirely on loans. Only 42% of them take out loans. Median federal loan debt at graduation for them is $23k. 8% also take out private loans. The people with private loans have a median debt of $59k.
  - _heimdall 2y ago
    That wasn't actually my point though. My original comment was specifically calling out the cost to go to college entirely on loans, not what the average student ends up borrowing. To me its less interesting to look at what the average person who is able to afford college today borrows to pay for it. That's a self-selected population and doesn't show what the impact would be on anyone who gets into college but doesn't have family money, scholarships, or grants to help pay for it.