$160,000 Student Loan Debt at NYU

https://www.wsj.com/articles/nyu-college-graduate-parent-student-loans-11639618241

This lady owes $160,000.00 student loan debt at NYU for a Master in Public Health. Did anybody tell her that she could get the same degree from Imperial College London for $24,000.00 or the University of Michigan for $45,000.00? She has to sell her eggs to pay back the tuition. I am wondering if she would blame the Government for her bad decision and expect President Bident to cancel the student loan debts.

 

160k... she coulda, bought a house in TX, paid in full, used her bachelors to find work... and be debt free (not sure if she had UG debt...)

 

Seems everybody wants an online degree from a big-name school these days.

How would she be debt-free? She used student loans to pay for her master's, not cash. So, I assume she would have a 160k mortgage. I would much rather have a mortgage of that amount than student loan debt.

 

idk. i dont really look at a mortgage loan the same as a student loan.

like.. uhh, i look at a mortgage loan like im putting $$ each month into my house, which can be an investment. (i know the bank takes a slice of it via interest). but if i ever wanna unlock the value of my home 5-10 years down the road, i could sell it away. still get some sorta cash back.

but student loans... idk. its just money gone - unless its some sorta really niche masters degree, like a PA/NP program or something that really gives u a nice ROI - but she took an MPH =\

 

Okay. I get your rationale. However, the house itself is an asset but the home loan is a liability. So, technically, you're in debt because it's money you have to repay. However, most homes appreciate and you create equity as you pay off the loan. Hence, it is a way better debt/investment to be in than student loans (IMO).

 

Just another example of how just because someone is intelligent in one area (public health in this case) doesn't mean they're financially literate.

 

I know a woman in a very similar position (much less debt because of when she earned the degree). She was offered admission to both NYU and to one of the CUNY schools for an MPH. She took NYU because she believed that hype that she needed the better name. Twenty years on and she says it is a major regret. The jobs she has she could have landed with a CUNY masters, for sure. Salary is the same either way.

A first year RN is getting paid the same whether they have their BSN from Columbia or Binghamton University. Plan accordingly.

 

Indeed. This is the same thing for a newly minted $60,000 MSW from Columbia, who gets paid the same as the $24,000 MSW from the University of Iowa.

 

The really unfortunate thing that people don't want to acknowledge is that these elite schools with top tier prices were founded as playgrounds for the rich. They were places for the upper class to learn all of the things that separated them from the lower classes.

Today, we have a notion that you deserve a degree from an Ivy League school if you're smart enough. And if you get a decent financial aid package I say go for it! If your dad runs a hedge fund and you're a fifth generation Columbia legacy and earning that $60k MSW is what you want for the hobby career you'll take on while your trust fund pays for your upper west side apartment, then go for it. It's your money.

When you can't pay cash and need to borrow you need to be more strategic. And, frankly, you need to be more value focused. These days people view that as being an unacceptable compromise. Little Johnny is just as smart as those other kids at Princeton er go Little Johnny deserves to go to Princeton! But if Little Johnny wants to become a teacher, will have to borrow money to earn the credentials that will get him there and is choosing a career path with limited earning potential then he would be wise to choose a cheaper route to his degrees.

Just think of all of the people who turn up their noses at the idea of their kids going to a community college and then transferring to a 4 year school later, though.

It's like the people with no money who decide they'll buy an old Lexus because they feel they've earned the right to say they drive a Lexus. Then they have a heart attack the first time the brakes need to be replaced.