30 Alarming Posts About How The Student Debt System Affects People’s Lives And It’s Terrible

You can do at least your first two years in community college, which is way cheaper, and transfer to university for the remaining.

Maci, as a special ed teacher you can work for a Title 3 (low income) school. After 5 years you can qualify for loan forgiveness. After graduation consolidate all of your loans into one loan. Then apply for the IBR plan which will lower your payments significantly. DO NOT apply for private loans. Only accept federal subsidized and unsubsidized loans. Look for grants each semester. Also, most times they'll want to give you more than you need. Take the extra cash and use it to pay for summer classes to graduate early. Or get a summer job and put the money into an S&P 500 index fund to start saving for early retirement. Come to Houston. Starting pay for most ISDs around here is 50k or more and TRS has good pension plans. Hope this helps you. Don't be afraid of your dreams.

Hi Maci, I’m a special education teacher. There is a 5 year loan forgiveness program (17.5k) available for special education teachers and a 10 year public service loan forgiveness (100%) also available. Good luck!

I'm 17, incoming Senior. First of all, it's great that you're thinking about the future. Don't overthink though! Make sure you spend time just being a teenager. My advice to you would be to a) pick up little odd jobs when you can just to save up some change. As you get older, look for a so called 'real job' with a paycheck. Later, when you're applying for college, if your country uses need-based financial aid and has scholarship opportunities, GO for those. Hope that helps a little!

Please read the book The Total Money Makeover and start listening to Dave Ramsey podcasts. It is possible to graduate from college debt free. Now is the time to start preparing for it. www.daveramsey.com

Maci Mae, this breaks my heart. When you are of age, make sure to use your vote as your voice. It's about all we have. And look for scholarship money. Also, no one care where you started school. They care some where you graduate. So go to community college for your first two years.

take the advice of the people below. Really look for scholarships- special ed doesn't pay. All those jobs in education (I work in education) don't pay despite all the research showing how vital they are. So there are scholarships and grants programs, especially for underserved areas of the country. You can get the job with a Bachelors, then get the school to pay for you to get your Masters. If you don't mind moving, some districts in the US pay WAY better than others. St. Paul is apparently the highest paying with a number of public school teachers making 80-100K (you work your way up there, but you CAN work your way up there) while some states, like AZ, barely clear 30K despite the shortage. Best of luck! And very smart of you to be thinking about it now :)

Considering the situation we're in, Maci, you should have started saving for college twenty years before you were born. Also, you're absolutely right, and I'm sorry the adults in your life are brushing off your valid concerns. Plus, unfortunately, teachers are very poorly paid in this country. They shouldn't be, but they are, so unless you have a trust fund or end up with a spouse who makes a lot of money, getting deep in debt to become a teacher is probably not a sound financial decision.

Go to community college and transfer & live at home. Lots of student debt comes from rent from living near their school. Those two things will save you thousands! Also, apply for financial aid through FAFSA. Depending on your parent's income you might get grants that you'll never have to pay back.

I regret not saving for college. Look into A LOT of scholarships. Apply to them all. No one told me all the debt that I'm in will never go away. I wish someone had. I am also a special education major I have to pay over $800 for certification exams before i even get a licensed job. Also in NY you have to get a masters within 5 years of graduating or you have to redo everything and your license is null and void

you're 14, but you're wise beyond your years, my dear!

What country are you currently living in?

Pick a higher paying degree, not teaching.

This comment has been deleted.

Go to school in-state. Live at home if possible, or if not, with several roommates. Take the bus. Research inexpensive foods, like eggs, beans, rice etc. Take your distribution requirements at a community college and then transfer. Commit to getting out in four years. Work part-time on the weekends, and look for a job that pays $10-15 an hour on average. Commission or tipped work is good.

Just do what will make you happy and accept that you will be making a payment every month until you die to be happy. That's how I deal with my $100k+ loan. Being happy with your job is worth the debt for me.

Hey kid. Here's the plan. Start out at a municipal community college. There are several reasons you want to do this. 1. Community colleges are way cheaper than 4 year colleges. 2. After 2 years of community college, if you need to stop going to school for a while, you have an associate's degree. If, after 2 years, you have to stop going to a 4 year college, you're just a dropout with 60 credit hours. 3. If you comPLETEly bomb your first year at community college, when you transfer to a 4 year college, you get to pick which grades transfer, so you can just pick the classes you got As in and transfer in with a 4.0. 4. After 2 years of community college, when you get that associate's degree, you now have EARNING POTENTIAL. It's probably not going to be the traditional route to being a teacher, but you can do it. I'm also going to be honest. I don't know how useful it is to be an education major. I'm a teacher who got my certification through alternative certification.

That's a very specific time. Honestly, you start saving when you can, and do your best. I must advise you though... don't be like me and blow it on a new car and a bunch of camera equipment. I would have my own house by now... it was not worth it.

Here's a suggestion: gain some secretarial skills. Then apply for a secretarial position with a university that you want to attend. Most four-year state universities offer a tuition waiver as an employee benefit. You might have to work full-time and take night classes or work it out with your boss, but that's one way to get through school. (It's working for me.)

I am a teacher and I think it is wonderful that you want to be a teacher too! There are far too few of us who feel called to the profession. Some tips to help you not take out as many loans in the first place: Apply to as many scholarships as you can, at least one a week. Go to a community college first, and then finish your degree in state. In state tuition is sometimes less than half the price of out of state. Live with your parents during college if possible. Some states, (I live in Kansas) Will help repay a portion of loans if you work so many years in an underserved area.

Start by getting as many credits as you can at a community college. Not all credits are transferrable, so talk to the registrar's office for the school you want to attend.

There are websites where you, at your age, are able to apply for scholarships now. Some of them are just random drawings and some you have to work really hard to get but I hope you make the effort. Also, I believe there are programs to help students that want to go into your field. GOOD LUCK!

Go to community college & transfer. It's soooooo much cheaper! Live at home if you can. A lot of the debt comes from housing when students move away from home to go to college. Those two things alone will save you thousands!

Hope our BP community was able to help! Good luck! (;

work. save. apply for scholarships. work during school. its really not that hard. millions of people do it everyday

As long as you have the letter stating that there was basically no loan made they have no legal footing to demand payment. Payment on what? Unless I understood that backwards, which is entirely possible. I mean, I'm just the guy who kept arguing that when Michigan decided to raise sales tax from 4 cents on dollar to 6 cents on dollar that that was a 50% increase! People kept telling me it was only two cents and I should shut up so maybe I don't understand.

I repaid my loan from '78 in the mid 1990's. Even though I only took out around $ 5,500 in loans, due to being a single mom, it was difficult to pay off. Any time you quit paying it back, even for two months, the penalties basically re-set the amount you owe back to what you owed to begin with. *** Anyway, I digress. Right before I re-paid the final payment, I mentioned to a friend I was about to re-pay it. He said, write out the check for the full amount still owed, with "Balance now paid in full" on the memo line. Then make triplicate copies of the final check, and get a copy of the front and back to show it is cashed. And hold on to it. In six months, they will claim you owe the same amount you owed to begin. I thought this person was paranoid. But 6 months to the date of my final payment, they sent me an invoice asking for the full amount with penalties for never paying a red cent of it off. I had everything in triplicate and called the Wachovia phone lines and resolved it.