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Not always. Borrowing $200K to get a Literal Arta degree from a private school is probably a bad idea. Borrowing $10K to finish your degree in Accounting is easier to justify financially, since it should be paid off within a year of getting a job.

The number is fairly arbitrary so it depends on what your cost of living is. Making $75K in, say, Alabama, is much different than making $75K in New York City. It's easier to live on much less than $75K and use the rest to pay off the student loans as quickly as possible.

Not always. Borrowing $200K to get a Literal Arts degree (meaning a general degree with no specific specialization) from a private school is probably a bad idea. Borrowing $10K to finish your degree in Accounting is easier to justify financially, since it should be paid off within a year of getting a job.

The number is fairly arbitrary so it depends on what your cost of living is. Making $75K in, say, Alabama, is much different than making $75K in New York City. It's easier to live on much less than $75K with a lower cost-of-living and use the rest to pay off the student loans as quickly as possible.

Not always. Borrowing $200K to get a degree in Liberal Arts from a private school is probably a bad idea. Borrowing $10K to finish your degree in Accounting is easier to justify financially, since it should be paid off within a year of getting a job.

Not always. Borrowing $200K to get a Literal Arta degree from a private school is probably a bad idea. Borrowing $10K to finish your degree in Accounting is easier to justify financially, since it should be paid off within a year of getting a job.

The main financial consideration is: how much do I expect to earn with this degree versus without it? That requires four guesses, though: What kind of job can I get now, how much does it pay, what kin of job can I get with the degree, and how much does it pay. Take that difference and divide it into the amount you'll need to borrow, and that tells you at least how long it will take to pay off the loan (in reality the interest will make it a longer period). Since that analysis has to be done before beginning college, that's a lot of unknowns to gamble a large student debt burden on. I changed degrees three times in college (taking loans along the way), and paid for it later with a larger debt burden than I would have liked.

The main financial consideration is: how much do I expect to earn with this degree versus without it? That requires four guesses, though: What kind of job can I get now, how much does it pay, what kind of job can I get with the degree, and how much does it pay. Take that difference and divide it into the amount you'll need to borrow, and that tells you at least how long it will take to pay off the loan (in reality the interest will make it a longer period). Since that analysis has to be done before beginning college, that's a lot of unknowns to gamble a large student debt burden on. I changed degrees three times in college (taking loans along the way), and paid for it later with a larger debt burden than I would have liked.