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Comment by scarface74 | Hacker News Reader

There is really no reason for an American to have a unaffordable student loan. They could easily go to a state school instead of a private college and save thousands.

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That’s not the full equation. There are a lot of jobs out there that you straight up cannot get out of college without going somewhere “prestigious.” That translates into YEARS worth of lost income and a completely different/lower earning career trajectory. Yes, some folks manage to get into FAANG out of state school, but that isn’t the norm. It’s damn near impossible to get into investment banking or management consulting straight out of college from a state school, for example.

I got into $200k worth of undergrad student loans. I am still paying them back and probably could have done things to reduce that burden early on. Regardless, I don’t regret it for a second because I’ll be done paying for them in about three years, and I’ll keep the high income job and great network I’ve accumulated in the process.

I mean, isn't that the only equation? If your income covers it, by definition not unaffordable. But there's people who get degrees that don't give a surefire way to pay back the tuition who go to those schools too.

I don't understand why this comment is downvoted. There are many many inexpensive state/community colleges that have pretty affordable programs which would probably provide the same level of education. If one is hell-bent on getting a degree from a better Uni, you can always apply and transfer later.

This option should most certainly be made clearer to students. I don't want to play a blame game, but I think its somewhat related to the culture of parents wanting "the best" for their kids and considering all money spent on education as an "investment". Its not. Its a huge financial commitment and should be thought through carefully.

Now, its not like college is completely useless. The connections you form there last for life. Many founders initially met in college and so on. But someone considering taking on ginormous student loan debt probably should consider whether that is worth paying off loans for decades.

I don't know that it's quite that simple; for one, tuition dominates college cost discussions while actual costs consist in large part of living expenses, i.e. room, board, food, misc. Second, there are some impressively expensive state schools out there, and not all have especially affordable in-state tuition, particularly not to those of working class background.

Still, I agree with the general idea you're reaching for. The ostensible premium of elite private schools isn't worth going into crippling debt for in most cases I can envisage.

How many college students have to stay on campus? How many could go to two year college, stay at home and then transfer two years later?

I went to a small state college with a horrible computer science department. Four years out of college I was making just as much as people who had way more debt than I had (I.e. none)

I dropped out of UGA 2.5 years in and moved to Atlanta to pursue a burgeoning tech career. :-)

I can tell you that UGA requires freshmen to live on campus, though in my case I was able to get a waiver because my parents were local. And I get the impression that their housing costs are actually fairly competitive compared to local commercial rent.

If someone's ultimate goal is to graduate from UGA and they are not local, they still could probably find a two year college where their core credits would transfer (English, math, etc.)

I think that's probably true.

Most people who go to a CC with the intent of transferring to a larger school don’t do it. Too many distractions get in the way.

Isn't better for distractions to get in their way while they are at community colleges and not out of as much money than for the same distractions to get in their way at a more expensive school and either way not come out with a degree?

I didn't go to a community college but I did go to a cheap state school with the intention of transferring to GA Tech under a 3 + 2 program - I was accepted straight out of high school but I got a scholarship to go to the no name school.

When it was time to make a decision, I felt GT was a waste of time for me. I didn't want to be a "computer engineer" I wanted to develop software. I don't see my career trajectory being any different. No one cared what school I graduated from three years after I started working.

Well, indeed, and I followed a similar career path to you. I was a philosophy major at UGA, and by the time I was 20 I was the senior technical personality at a small local ISP and interested in VoIP. I had been working nearly full time since my second semester. By the time my sophomore year began, work had rapidly evolved to take up 98% of my time and attention. I technically lingered into the first part of my junior year, but by that point long a very token and symbolic presence in class. The next step up from there was going to be a move to Atlanta and a big-boy corporate job, so I took it.

However, you can't just extrapolate from these experiences to everyone going to college across the entire work force. Our field is a bit uniquely ... democratic.

I often hear people refer to tuition + room and board as just tuition, especially in the context of student loans. And "money paid to the school" is ~= tuition, even if it's not itemized that way.

In-state tuition at the University of Illinois is $31,000 per year.

I just looked on the website - it's $17100 a year (for engineering). But how much is a two year state school? That would save some money at least for the first two years before transferring.

GA Tech is $12,500 if you don't stay on campus for a GA resident. If you meet the HOPE scholarship requirements (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HOPE_Scholarship), it will pay 90% of the tuition costs - not including books and fees - reducing that cost by about $9000 a year.

If you don't have the qualifications for Hope, more than likely you wouldn't be admitted into GT anyway.

Yes the ethics of using the lottery to fund education is unclear and no it doesn't apply to every state, but is the University of Illionois worth it unless you are qualified for a high paying job to make the expense worth it (serious question - I don't know)? If not, are their cheaper state schools?

I have a kid there; my number comes from the actual invoices.

State schools are still ridiculously expensive

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