Guest Post by Marcela De Vivo
Starting a new chapter in your life can be exciting and scary, and full of possibilities. Making sure you start off on the right foot on the path to your financial future is important. New graduates and soon-to-be graduates are facing some of the highest levels of student loan debts in years due to ever-increasing tuition costs (an increase of 500 percent over the last 60 years).
It’s important that we are honest about how long that debt can stick around, if not handled correctly. Upon graduation, the student loan comes due—and with current interest rates, if you only pay the minimum, you may end up paying nearly double the original amount of the loan or more. With the average student borrowing $25,000 to cover four years of tuition, books, food, and other college costs, the loan can end up taking decades to pay off.
The decisions you make on how to handle repaying the loan will have an impact on your finances. Be savvy about how you plan your post-collegiate life by learning more about the past, present and future of student loans in this Consolidated Credit infographic.
Do these facts change your mind on how you need to budget for college? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Guest Author
Marcela De Vivo is a freelance writer and online marketing professional in Los Angeles. With three kids of her own, she realizes that she has much planning to do so that they can best take advantage of life’s opportunities.
Noam Chomsky -https://twitter.com/valueroad/status/368553207036776449
Hey Marcela
This is great –
It is ridiculous how the ponsy scheme has trapped us on the belief of having a better life or fair of having a shit one and rather chaining us down to the desk-
U may like this?
My question is how do we get out of the debt with a generation approach rather then alone suffering the fact that there is no job to help us out of the system.
That is a good question. First, our Gen X and Boomer leaders need to begin making decisions for a positive future rather than getting muddled in politics. We, as citizens, need to hold them accountable through our votes. Second, we need to try, no matter if Millennial or another generation. We need to try to do the most with the situation we have, one step at a time. Thanks for your comments.
Hi Marcela,
This was a very good post with interesting and somewhat alarming stats in the infographic. It was good to learn more about the situation in the States.
I’m sure it is similar for university students in England. The fees are extortionately high (around £9000 a year) and I really do feel for students. I personally was quite lucky. When I did my undergraduate degree, we used to get grants.
I think parents and families really have to make an effort to save now, as you’ve highlighted in your post, to support the next generation.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comment! Wow, £9,000/year?! With numbers like these, parents really do need to keep the future generation in mind and start saving for their children as soon as possible.