Student Loans – A Raw Deal?

Student Loans – A Raw Deal?

5 3227

My education cost as much as this Chevy MalibuWhile looking at the stats for PantsInACan.com, I noticed a new blog out there that has me listed in their blogroll. They’re shaping up to be my top referrer this month. I’d never heard of the site, but I’ve been checking it out for the last few weeks.

I’m guessing that we’re roughly the same age; I may be a couple years older. I’m also guessing that we make pretty close to the same amount of money, perhaps I make a little more having been in the workforce a bit longer. We both own comparably priced homes. We both invest aggressively.

Basically, there are a lot of similarities to draw from.

One thing is *very* different though. My total non-mortgage debt is under $10k. Their non-mortgage debt exceeds $200k.

The culprit?

Student loans.

I can’t fathom carrying $200k in debt for something that I can’t even put my hands on. I’m admittedly, very materialistic — hence the BMW and the airplane in my garage.

I’m not real well versed in student loan rates, I’m pretty sure they’re super low, but even still, at just 1 percent, $200k is growing at a rate of $5.50 per day. That works out to over $2000 per year?! And that’s just to keep it level.

Ouch.

That said, I obviously never had student loans. I went to school in Canada where most of your education is paid for through your taxes. Fortunately, my parents also covered my education 100%.

I don’t know the exact numbers my parents paid for me, but the using the 2007-08 school year tuition rates, my time in University cost a grand total of $13526.86. Toss in another $7k or so for food and housing.

Total education cost, for simplicity sake, was around $20000. (Remember though, this number is skewed — I’m sure tuition was significantly lower in the mid 1990’s when I went to school).

My sister, on the other hand, did have student loans as she went to school in the States. Her tuition for just one year, based on 2007-08 numbers, comes right up to the $20k my entire education cost. Multiply by 4, and we’re talking some pretty serious money — more than any average household could ever afford.

For perspective, my education cost the same as a Chevy Malibu. My sister’s education cost the same as a Porsche. My new top referrer’s education cost, well, Ferrari money. More than my house… Actually, more than my house, my BMW, and my plane COMBINED!

So what did we all get out of the deal?

Well, while I don’t know the specifics of my sister’s financial standing, I’m pretty certain that I’m carrying a lot less debt than she is. I know for a fact that I’m carrying a lot less debt than my top referrer.

I’m also pretty certain that neither of them make substantially more money than me, certainly not enough more to justify the disparity in the costs of their education when compared to mine.

As far as I can tell, the only thing they got out of the deal was debt.

That’s a pretty raw deal.

I wonder sometimes if they see it that way… or if it’s a deal they’d make again.

SIMILAR ARTICLES

0 1385

0 8586