Category:
- March 11, 2018
The Crucial Questions to Consider Before Taking on a Student Loan
Though a considerable majority of students will have to take out a student loan as their only means of getting through college, both parents and students can still be financially savvy when it comes to making such substantial decisions.
With student debt rising each year significantly, anything which can be done at this point to soften the overall loan amount is most certainly worth investigating.
Consider these 3 crucial questions before applying for a student loan.
What Will This Degree Pay Out in The Future?
While college is a place to experience adulthood, learn how to live away from home and have a great social life, you also need to ask yourself whether the degree you are choosing will be a good earner in years to come.
If you are looking at moving to college more for the experience and environment, rather than the classification of your degree overall, then you’ll most likely not want to take on a substantial amount, only to leave and not put it to any use at all.
Why Is This College the Best Choice for Me?
Colleges are also businesses and need to attract customers to stay open. Therefore, they will employ some well-versed marketing techniques to get you through their doors.
You should always aim to look beyond the traditions and branding when investigating the best colleges. You will ultimately get more out of a college if you put your bests into the whole experience, but you must have the right mindset to start.
What Can I Do to Reduce My College Costs?
With so many available, ensure that you at least look for a possible scholarship as you search for your college. These are widely accessible in many income level brackets but not always advertised so readily to those who believe they aren’t entitled to financial aid.
How I wish I had been given such crucial but straightforward advice when I was looking at colleges. Unfortunately, I took on a heck of a lot of debt without really being positive about following my chosen degree path. I ended up retraining; lesson learned!
Same here, unfortunately, though I know many people who took degrees without honestly thinking of what they would be able to do with them in years to come. I also ended up back at night school, battling through exhaustion, to get a more relevant degree.
Thank you both for sharing your thoughts. It isn’t just about being saddled with debt which colleges should be looking at, its about how prepared prospective students are with their career plans. I too know of friends who just picked a subject because they still weren’t sure where they were headed, ending up in completely different careers! This is apparently a subject which needs highlighting further.