An Accountant Explains Why 45% Of Her Income Goes To Student Loans | Hacker News Reader

An Accountant Explains Why 45% Of Her Income Goes To Student Loans

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21 pointsdimitar14 comments

I would be surprised to know that she's explored and threshed out her refinancing options fully. With 5 different loans, even a longer-term refinance could end up saving money if she pays more than the minimum every month.

On another note, I find it interesting that she's not assigning a dollar value to having some walking around town money. There are real opportunities being missed for networking etc., as well as an increased stress load, which can have career and personal consequences. I'm not saying consolidation's the proper way to go; I am saying she may be short-changing her happiness and future upward mobility by focusing only on money when well-rounded balance is important.

While many of the comments question her judgment, I would rather question the educational opportunities society (state, federal government etc.) have provided her. In order to start a receiving a wage she had wager 45% of her potential future income.

Considering all that talk how education is an important investment for society, it is seems like a risky business.

45% of her starting income. Though based on median income data ($63,550/yr), it's still 26.7% of her income potential.

http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/accountant/salary

And accountants make reasonably good money (there's also better upside potential, but median is a good planning basis).

I didn't realize that other states were having tuition problems till I read this article. My in-state tuition costs are $5k / semester, or $10k / year. (And another ~5k / year for other costs like food and books) I'd only be paying $20k+ if I were going to a dorm.

I stayed at my parents house and car-pooled to college each day to reduce costs.

With a bit of summer work, I was able to pay more of my tuition without loans. I left college with ~$30k in loans, and was able to pay that off within a few years. Sizable yes, but no where near the $100k that this person is complaining about.

I do realize that the State of New Jersey is to blame here for ridiculous tuition costs. But again, if money was going to be a problem, there are cheaper ways of getting your education.

I'm having a hard time understanding why she let herself get into debt and complain about it. 1st she could have gone to community college for 2 years and transferred to a 4 year school. Also, living at home would have saved her a lot. There are other option she should have done if too much debt was a problem for her. If I decide today that I'm going to stop working and do something without an income I need to be ready to finance it somehow, debt or saving. That's reality!

On the other hand, the full college experience is something that nothing can replace but you got to understand that it going to cost. This was choice. The reality is that without debt she would have not gotten a chance to go to school. She should look at the bright side. She got what she wanted and in time she will be done with the debt but she will always be a CPA.

> something is wrong with the system when a student like me doesn’t get financial aid — even after repeatedly applying for it

Perhaps there was some sort of dissonance between the expectation and the reality of how this system works.

School is expensive, probably to the point of being a real problem, but there's not a lot of substance in this article.

Sounds like she's still oblivious to what median household income is in the United States (~ $45K/household). Her family's $85k a year is almost twice what's normal.

Frankly, it also sounds like her family wasn't supportive at all, either, though there are at least a few plausible situations, like living in too upscale of an area and having high mortgage payments eat their income, which could explain it.

Likewise, she probably should have started at a community college.

...and she cares more about having fancy wedding than getting rid of her debt. Meh.

While the family income is $85k a year it has a single working adult, one person with disability, two children and a senior. So it really depends on how old are the children and what pensions/welfare do the person with disability and senior get and how expensive their care is.

I'm not living in the US, but I was under the impression that getting a community college degree wasn't enough to prepare you for the "CPA exam to become an accountant".

I will not comment about finances, but the idea behind starting at a community college isn't that an associates degree will prepare you for something like the CPA exam, but that it will help you satisfy degree requirements for a bachelors degree without spending as much money as doing all four years at a public four-year institution.

The tuition for a community college, per year, is about 1/3rd [1] the cost of a year at a public in-state 4-year college. If you live at home, you possibly save another couple grand a year. Factor in that some states have Guaranteed Admission Agreements [2], it can make community college an attractive option.

[1]: http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-table... [2]: http://www.nvcc.edu/current-students/transfer/Search/GAAAdmi...

A college-aged student isn't a child, and she doesn't say whether her brother is older or younger.

In the US, you can start a degree at a community college and then transfer to a state/private college later. This has the benefit of you paying a lot less in tuition for first-year and gen-ed classes, plus you can often live at home so you save living expenses.

She should consolidate. I had multiple lenders as well and when I consolidated my payment went down from ~750 a month to ~275 a month. It added .25% to my interest rate but it was worth it.

Why doesn't anyone know about income-based repayment? You can keep your payments at below 15% of your income.

$22,000 per year for 4 years. First of all, this is a gross figure, I can't believe anyone would be paying that for in-state tuition. It is a failure on New Jersey that this is happening... but in a state with 0% sales tax, I can imagine that they have budget issues.

Even then, Community College for 2 years + $44k after that sounds a hell of a lot better than getting $100k+ into debt.

So yes, the state of New Jersey is to blame for their broken in-state tuition system. Nonetheless, the approach to schooling here isn't exactly optimal either.

NJ has a 7% sales tax rate. Except on clothing and uncooked foods, I think.

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