# Cost of College: How much debt are you in? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 11, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809 "2003-07-11T20:36:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rayray5884](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@rayray5884](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayray5884)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/1 "2003-07-11T20:36:13Z")
Not including graduate courses, how much debt were you in when you finished getting your college degree? Please include: [ul] [li]Year Graduated or Expected[/li][li]Number of years in school[/li][li]Public or Private[/li][li]Degree Earned[/li][li]Any other information you’d like to offer[/li][/ul] Thanks in advance! Please check out my other thread in IMHO… [Should I live on-campus or off-campus?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=196945) ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/2 "2003-07-11T20:39:57Z")
Year graduated: 1984 Number of years in school: 4 Private school. Degree earned: B.S. Student debt upon graduation: about $8000 Ed ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/3 "2003-07-11T20:44:10Z")
Year graduated: 1992 Number of years in school: 5 (3 in community college, 2 in university). Public schools. Degree earned: B.A. College-incurred debt: $0.00 ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/4 "2003-07-11T20:48:22Z")
I graduated, after 5.5 years of full time attendance, from The University of Texas with a B.A. in 1980 with no debt. I paid as I went and worked full time most of the way. And lived cheaply. While I was there, the school published a study that included the fact that students who worked had better GPAs. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/5 "2003-07-11T21:16:53Z")
Year Graduated or Expected: 1995 Number of years in school: 4 Public or Private: Private Degree Earned: BA I had about $15k in student loan debt and $10k in credit card debt. About $6500 of that CC debt primarily came from the purchase of plane tickets home for school vacations and class books. My parents took out PLUS loans, but I don’t know how much. ---
**Author:** ![Jpeg\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@Jpeg\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jpeg_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/6 "2003-07-11T21:19:15Z")
**Year graduated:** Me: 1997, Wife: 2001 **Number of years in school:** Both 4 years **Type of school:** Both private (same school) **Degree earned:** Both BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) **Total college-incurred debt: $90,000** I don’t want to talk about it.:mad: ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/7 "2003-07-11T21:26:20Z")
Year Graduated or Expected: 1998 Number of years in school: 4 Public or Private: Public Degree Earned: BS Eng College-incurred debt: $17,000.00 (max Direct loans, basically) Years to pay off: 4 ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/8 "2003-07-11T22:14:06Z")
Year Expected to graduate with B.S.: 2004 Number of years in school: 3 Public university Degree: Animal Sciences, minors in zoology and Portuguese College-incurred debt: None for me so far, I get scholarship and parental allowance, and I live cheap. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/9 "2003-07-11T22:31:57Z")
1988 4 years Private BS Engineering Zero debt (full ride ROTC) ---
**Author:** ![rayray5884](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@rayray5884](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayray5884)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/10 "2003-07-11T22:32:40Z")
**KarlGrenze** - How were your payments? ---
**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/11 "2003-07-11T22:40:55Z")
Year expected to graduate: 2005 Years in school: 5 Public University Degree: BS in Aerospace-Maintenance Management In addition to the degree: FAA Mechanic, Airframe and Powerplant ratings Flight Instructor - Airplane Flight Instructor - Instrument Airplane Flight Instructor - MultiEngine Airplane Endorsements: Tailwheel High Performance High Altitude Complex Aircraft I pay for the tuition and books myself. I will borrow a total of $30k for the flying, most of which I have done already. ---
**Author:** ![homercles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ed8c4c/32.png) [@homercles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/homercles)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/12 "2003-07-11T22:47:51Z")
UG: Year Graduated: 1997 Number of years in school: 5 Public or Private: Public Degree Earned: BA Debt: $0 Grad: Year Graduated: 2002 Number of years in school: 5 Public or Private: Public Degree Earned: PhD Debt: $38,000 First, I would like to thank the insane cost of living in the bay area for this debt. And to my supporters at berkeley, thank for the below the poverty line stipend. Oh, and i cant forget to thank the berkeley city council for rescinding rent control. That REALLY helped me, thank you. Should i also thank jezus/god? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/13 "2003-07-11T22:58:19Z")
General Questions is for questions with factual answers. IMHO is for polls and such-like. Since this is a poll, I’ll move it to IMHO for you. Off to IMHO. **DrMatrix** - GQ Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Seldon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/14 "2003-07-11T23:05:32Z")
UNLV Year to Graduate: 2004 Number of years in school (at graduation): 4.5 Public or Private: Public Degree: B.S. in Environmental Geology Debt: Just hit the $10,000 mark. My husband works full time, I work parttime, and we only have the two little ones in part time day care. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/15 "2003-07-11T23:09:25Z")
Payments? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/16 "2003-07-11T23:25:11Z")
Year graduated 1987 Number of years 5 Public Degree B.S. in psychology Debt- None ---
**Author:** ![tramp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tramp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tramp)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/17 "2003-07-11T23:35:03Z")
Expected to graduate 2006 4 years Private Juris Doctor… aka imma be a lawyer Debt- $60,000 already, will be close to $120,000 at the end… yuck. ---
**Author:** ![DadWagonDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@DadWagonDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DadWagonDriver)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/18 "2003-07-12T00:37:11Z")
Western Michigan University Expected Grad Date: Dec 2004 Time: 5.5 years (2 at community college, a huge waste of time and money) State funded B.A. in Secondary Education (English/Political Science) Debt: Around $30,000 so far, but I have an expensive apartment and a girlfriend, and a nasty lacrosse habit that’s expensive. I expect to be about $60,000 in debt upon graduation. These figures include my credit cards and computer loan. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/19 "2003-07-12T00:50:20Z")
Undergrad: Graduated Spring 1990 Time: 5 years State School Degree: BS-History (Developing World), Minor: Mass Comm Debt at Graduation: $0 I’ve often thought that more people (not necessarily the ones here) should consider college on a cost-benefit basis. Will incurring the debt making long term living easier or harder? Example: I got accepted to Harvard with a free ride my first year. Sitting pretty, eh? Except it would cost another $60K or so for the other 3 years and I had no idea what I wanted to study or even **if** I wanted to go to college. I was a middle class 18 year old…we went to college because that’s what one did? But I couldn’t justify that expense without having an end game payoff. If I was just going to study liberal arts then being that far in debt wasn’t worth it. If I’d wanted to go into law or medicine or some other high-end high-pay occupation it would be worth it. So instead I chose the small, cheap state school, got out with no debt, and began making my way in the world. ---
**Author:** ![MrTuffPaws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MrTuffPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrTuffPaws)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809/20 "2003-07-12T01:05:24Z")
Year Graduated or Expected: 1999 Number of years in school: 2 and 1/2 after 5 years Jr college Public or Private: Public, but out of state. Degree Earned: BS in Computer Engineering. Any other information you’d like to offer: 30 grand in the hole. Stay in state. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-college-how-much-debt-are-you-in/187809.md?page=2)