Why college debt is not worth it? (2024)

Why college debt is not worth it?

Key Takeaways. Carrying student debt can affect your ability to buy a home if your debt-to-income ratio is too high. If you have too much student loan debt, you won't be able to save as much for retirement. Student loan debt can lower your credit score, especially if you fail to make on-time payments.

Student loan debt can ruin your credit score and make it difficult to borrow money in the future. You may be unable to find a job that pays enough to cover your monthly payments. The student loan debt is becoming a national crisis. Student loans can be difficult to repay.

A recent study by the University of Chicago and The Wall Street Journal found that 56 percent of Americans feel that a four-year college degree isn't worth it. High college tuitions, the competitiveness of obtaining a highly paying job, and long turnaround times for earning a degree may all be to blame.

Nearly a quarter of Americans with student loan debt (24 percent) say borrowing too much for their education is their biggest financial regret, according to a Bankrate survey conducted in June.

College: It's an investment

If taking on student debt helps you land a lucrative and fulfilling career, those loans may be worth it. You can't see the future, though, and there's risk involved. Make sure you work hard to succeed and expand your opportunities so that those loans pay off!

Depending on your loan type and repayment plan, you could be in debt for 10 to 30 years. So, how much is too much student loan debt? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recommends borrowing no more than you expect to earn in one year from an entry-level position after graduation.

Often, the primary reason students drop out of college is financial, and some are even choosing not to attend college after graduating high school. In our work with families, we've seen that students often want to choose to go to colleges they can't afford.

According to research from Georgetown University, the lifetime earning potential of a worker with a bachelor's degree is $2.8 million. Without a degree the expected earning power is $1.6 million. But in a study of universities in Massachusetts, college graduates were found to earn no more than high-school graduates.

More recently in 2021, the American Association of Colleges and Universities found that 60% of adults said that a college degree is either “probably” or “definitely” worth the time and money. However, in that same survey, an overwhelming majority of employers, 87%, said a degree is worth it.

College is a good investment

By 2021, the difference had grown to 62 percent (and closer to 90% for workers with graduate degrees). Currently, California workers with a bachelor's degree earn a median annual wage of $81,000.

Are student loans ruining the economy?

Economists say the loan payments alone aren't expected to dent the economy. Instead, they're more likely to deliver a small ding, thanks in part to recently launched federal repayment programs and forgiveness efforts that are blunting the initial impact.

They can be considered good debt because the money you're borrowing to attend school is your ticket to earning a degree and getting hired at a well-paying job. That debt should pay itself off over time with a lucrative career in place.

A study published in the Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work analyzed 85,664 comments from Twitter and Reddit on student loan debt and mental health from 2009 to 2020. Researchers found high levels of mental health issues, including depression, anxiety and fear and anger associated with the loans.

The only way to make your student loan debt go away is to apply for forgiveness and, if necessary, take advantage of the alternative repayment options to help you pay the remaining balance.

If those monthly payments look low compared to what most borrowers pay, it's because most borrowers carry a lot more than $20,000 in student loan debt. As of March 2023, the average federal student loan debt in the United States was about $37,720, according to a BestColleges analysis of Education Department data.

The average student loan debt amount is slightly over $30,000. However, many borrowers owe $50,000 or more in student loan debt. This isn't impossible to overcome using the right repayment methods.

What is considered a lot of student loan debt? A lot of student loan debt is more than you can afford to repay after graduation. For many this means having more than $70,000 – $100,000 of total student debt.

Federal financial aid regulation states that if you withdraw from all of your classes or cease enrollment prior to the 60 percent point of instruction in any term, you will be required to repay all unearned financial aid funds received. A calculation will be performed to determine the repayment amount.

It's Taking a Toll on Your Mental Health. It's not worth staying in college if it's taking a toll on your mental health. If you constantly feel depressed, anxious, and stressed because you don't know what you want to do in life and feel like you're wasting time in college, drop out and pursue your passions.

Who is most likely to drop out of college?

Students aged between 24-29 are most likely to drop out of four-year colleges, as 52.5% of them have already left without a degree (What to Become, 2021).

A student loan is not a normal debt

So if you don't earn enough, you don't repay. You don't start repaying your loan until you earn over a certain amount. Once you earn more than this threshold, you pay back 9% of your annual income above this threshold, until your debt is cleared or written off.

Failing to pay your student loan within 90 days classifies the debt as delinquent, which means your credit rating will take a hit. After 270 days, the student loan is in default and may then be transferred to a collection agency. Keeping up with your student loan payments helps improve your credit score.

Examples of good debt. Education While student loans can be a financial burden, taking on debt to pay for education is generally considered "good debt" because more education can raise your future income. The typical college graduate earns $579 more per week (or $30,000 a year) than someone with a high school diploma.

Are they a big benefit, or do they just add up to one poor investment? In reality, they can be both. Good student loan debt could deliver a college degree to help you climb the career ladder. Bad student loan debt can leave you ill-equipped for repayment, harming your finances for years to come.