Originally Posted by
AndrewLewis
Great article Rip and Nick. I've been going through the following exercise for my cousins and relatives for a few years. It may not have changed their mind, but it did give them something to think about.
Before even taking any college course or considering it for a specific field (any field), the interested party (17 year old senior in high school) should be able to answer the following questions:
1) What job will you have when you exit college (with a degree or not)?
2) What do actual practitioners of that job recommend you do?
3) What do people who hire actual practitioners of that job recommend you do? Contact at least 10 hiring agents
4) What will the total cost of education be?
5) What is the annual salary of that job?
6) How long will it take you to pay off that college debt with the annual salary?
7) Is that number of years acceptable to you?
8) If you change your answer to number 1 halfway through college, how salvageable is your time and money or it just a sunk cost?
There is a solid chance that the answer to number 3 will not be "get a degree" but you don't actually know until you ask.
If you can't answer all of those questions, you have no business asking for a loan of any size.