Why do American Students seem to be broke all the time.

4 years is atypically generous and uncommon from what I've seen and heard talking to peers regarding these forgiveness programs.

Quick googling shows "Public Service Loan Forgiveness" is 10 years (without missing a payment), "Teacher Loan Forgiveness" is 5 years but only up to $17,500 and PLUS loans (the higher interest graduate version) are not eligible. But these programs apply to specific loans and for specific careers with specific requirements. They're a good start but feeble overall.

 

Yeah, there's different programs you can apply for and they change from year-to-year. There are also state repayment programs in some states.

 

Singapore schools is very different, if you're a Singaporean and you get it, its pretty damn cheap. The hard part is actually getting in and getting the course you want. I think you meant malaysian schools

If we are talking Malaysian schools, its RM60-120k for the entire 4 years. For those that come from out of state, rent is 400-600, food is 300-400 (if you're being smart, not cheap, if you're cheap, i survived on less than 100 a month before.) Transport is 100 or less if you don't own a car. Most of the time, you can get full loans for it, interest rate is like 1.5-2% (Which explains the insane amount of private colleges here), and they are not that strict on payment (until recently, but not as bad as the states). Most students do not pay their own insurance.

On the travelling bit, is it holidays or just general?

Thanks for the breakdown, i think i see the main cost now.
1) Insurance
2) Miscellaneous university expenses.
3) University cost.

For top schools, 200k for the whole thing is pretty insane, especially if its not STEM, Law or Medical.

I hope you're doing comp sci or something similar, its my only regret not doing it since i actually have the mind for it. I went accountancy instead. A friend of mine works in SF and lives in a very luxurious van. With the savings and some prudent (And some luck) investing, he's almost hitting 500k after 3 years of work.

 

By the way, if anyone here needs college books (new ones) and want to give a middle finger to university publishers, let me know.

Theres a photocopy shop near my area and the owner always seems to be able to get very recent textbooks. And in USD terms, that works out to 10-15 bucks a book, plus shipping (20) if he refuses to give the PDF.

 

They way they wring out students of their limited reserves is sometimes absurd...

 

One of my favourite profs back in undergrad wrote his own version of the notes/text and just left a copy in the library for students to check out and photocopy at their leisure.

 

The textbook market has become a bit more insidious lately, it reminds me of mid 2000s RIAA. They pump out new editions of textbooks every ~2 years and offer instructors pre-created online assignment and grading systems which can only be accessed with a new license key from a new textbook, meaning the books also can't be sold used (but you can "rent" a PDF version for one semester for 80% of the printed cost; what a bargain). Less work for instructors; more expense for students.

 

Assuming a STEM degree will cover ridiculous student loans is boneheadedness that happens all the time. Most STEM career paths will max out at salaries under 200k USD a year in high cost of living areas. Most of the people with those degrees will not come close to that or ever hope to make well over 100k. That's more than your typical "general studies" alternative degree like a BA in psychology, communications, non CPA track business, or most anthropology degree seekers but under the workload of a traditional upper level humanities degree (English, history, and philosophy) that will give you the writing skills to actually work upper management jobs ordering around the energy drink chugging coder with a CS bachelors degree whose socialization consisted of watching One Punch Man and playing DOTA clones. Maybe he will service your servers and not be let out of the room to see the clients in his stained polo and cargo shorts. If that's the case with 300k of debt (it's always more than just tuition) and One Punch Man makes 100k a year in a high cost of living area, One Punch Man is fucked.

Law? Unless you went to one of the best law schools, good luck. Even then, the market is over-saturated and crashing. Most people do not have the motivation to work the insane hours to make huge salaries in law even if they did get great grades at a top law school.

Medicine? Thanks Obama.

DEBT IS BAD

 

Fun fact! The bottom fell out already in 2008-2010, when shitloads of recent JDs got to "explore alternative career paths". Also both law school admissions and bar admissions have been down (in some regions severely) in the last several years. This was of course frustrating for the law schools, many of which were expanding and building new structures to ride the ever increasing tide of applicants. The best was when the schools tried to blame the NCBE (which writes the bar exams) saying that the exams were too tough, so fewer people want to be lawyers, blah blah blah. In reality, everyone who got fucked circa 2008 told everyone they know "don't go to f'ing law school".

 

I had 2 profs write their own textbook (edit: free in PDF form) just for the course. That was insane.

 

My Psychology professor ended up writing the textbook for the entry level course partly because he thought the other books were way too expensive, and partly because he didn't like any of the other books for whatever reason. The thing came unbound in loose page form pre-punched for a 3-ring binder and still cost $50, which is sadly outrageously cheap as far as all of my other textbooks were concerned, even the damn used ones. Honestly, if it weren't for the cost of textbooks, my college education would have been two-thirds the cost. All I can say is thank God for Amazon.

 

Yeah I meant malaysian school sorry. Those costs are zany cheap compared to here, and the school I go to is in an area where cost of living is super low compared to most (urban/suburban) areas in the US. And the travelling is mostly to and from school during breaks (we get kicked out of the dorms during winter for example) and the beginning and ends of the year. My family doesn't vacation often, but the drive between my school and home takes about a day, which is short for the US.

I'm actually NOT a STEM major. I study music and writing, but I have a big focus on business, design strategy, and creativity. I also understand tech extremely well in applied way. I'm looking at being an investor/inventor/strategic design consultant. Lots of folks from my school are crazy successful applying the creative/artistic/writing parts of their degrees in business. As noted above, it's the innovators who understand a bit of tech who make big bucks, not the scientists/coders themselves.

And I'm blessed this year with awesome profs. who don't force us to buy books. They just put up PDFS of all the readings. Benefits of going to a smaller school I guess.