If you have student loans, some of these stories may sound familiar. If not, you may find the following testimonials enlightening.
Using the power of social media, these brief stories encompass a wide variety of careers and unique educational backgrounds. They were each collected through a Facebook page called, My Student Debt, which was established in December 2017.
Worth it because I use my education to run my own business and inspire kids daily. And also - realistically, I'll never be able to pay a dime. If we're all in debt, is anyone really?
I realized last year that the economy was headed towards trouble based on how few schools were accepting my singers...With the news over the last year, I realized we're heading straight over the cliff again. I think it is going to hurt a lot worse this time though because we will be the older spending generation now, not the baby boomers who had the benefit of cheap education and a roaring economy. Leave it to America to only pay attention after catastophe hits.
I thought I had a full ride at a private school. It turns out there was an error on my FAFSA and I ended up receiving less than half my tuition in federal loans. I had to turn to private loans. I made it through a year and a half of schooling before I had to throw in the towel; I couldn't take out any more private loans. Now, ten years later, I am still in school, pursuing a career that will actually pay me, and my debt from that year and a half has grown to about $60k.
Currently, I am about to start grad school. My top school choices don't admit students without funding, which is great, but the current administration has made major cuts to science programs, making it difficult for schools to continue this funding . Hopefully I will laugh about all this stress in a year, but right now I am sweating bullets.
I ended up with $273,000 in student loans after 5 degrees (4 music, 1 JD). I got my Bachelor of Music, Master of Music and Master of Arts in Musicology without debt because I attended public schools and had scholarships. However, I ended up with about $45,000 in debt for my DMA. I then said to hell with music and went to law school, where I accumulated about $230,000 in additional loans.
Was it worth it? For music degrees, no - musicians generally do not have good prospects of earning enough money to pay off student loans in a reasonable manner (meaning, not end up paying double the amount in interest because it takes you 20 years to pay it off).
For law school, yes. Although I still find the amount outrageous to attend law school, because I went to a top 15 school and got a job with a prestigious law firm, I am now in a great position to pay this off in about 3 years and be debt free. I can’t buy a house or invest in the stock market or in any other way contribute to the economy as a 30-something high income earner because I am diverting 60% of my salary to pay off my astronomical debt as quickly and with as little interest as possible. But at least I will be debt free in a matter of years. Hope that helps!
This is debt only incurred for my Master's degree - an MBA. I was very fortunate to have my entire undergraduate education paid for, but it turns out that most of the business world doesn't appreciate my music degree. Unfortunately, I am still struggling to find a job that pays me enough to pay back my MBA debt, because of my strange career trajectory.
Here are my numbers:
1st: B.A. in Sociology. Cost $27,000, paid $8,000 before next degree. Worked 3 jobs while completing pre-requisites for nursing school.
2nd: B.S. in Nursing. Cost $100,000 (there was no financial aid available because it was labeled a second bachelor's...so it qualified for nothing)
3rd: M.S. in Nursing and School Nurse Services Credential. Borrowed approx $8,000 and paid the rest in cash.
As of today, I still owe $132,785, even after 2.5 years of payments.
I am $103,000 deep in student loan debt and can't afford to finish my master's. I actually went into a master's program because we weren't going to be able to afford my payments with my bachelor's alone.
My masters was and is not worth it, but I only have 15 credit hours to finish and we feel like I should just try to figure out how to pay for it...otherwise all the extra money was for nothing.
At $1,000 a month in loan payments, we aren't sure another baby is in our future, but we would really love to have just one more. I could have been making OK money without a master's degree and without that debt. The loans rule my life and I wish that wasn't the case.
My husband and I got married with a total of $243,000 in student loan debt. Yep. At 30 years-old, I got married just after that the Great Recession hit. We had to move out of state and away from family to get jobs where we could make enough to make our payments.
We have tried to apply for SEVERAL opportunities to get assistance, but we weren't eligible for any federal programs because of our income - and you can’t “count” student loan payments as an expense. So many tears shed over this. Both our parents told us student loan debt was "good debt." BOY WERE THEY WRONG!!!
With a Master’s degree in social work, I have spent years working for non-profits and government agencies. My last job at the VA promised me student loan assistance. After applying for this every year - for 8 years- and always getting denied, I left the VA for a higher paying opportunity to try to get ahead. Feeling depressed and discouraged.
Yes, I feel like both my associate's and bachelor's degrees were worth it. I feel like they've increased my employability.
My associate's helped me to get a promotion at one of my past jobs and working towards my bachelor's helped me get my current job in marketing.
Would I go for a master's? I don't know. I'm not sure it would be worth it. I know people who have held all the same jobs as me with no degree. But I do feel more respected as a potential job candidate and just as an individual person.