Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Think twice before choosing a name-brand college - Jillian Berman, MarketWatch

Dear 17-year-olds (and parents) allow this to serve as a memo from your 20-something self. Avoid taking on more in student loans than you have to. You will regret it. That message, well-documented in news stories and likely in conversations with your older sibling/cousin/friend etc., was reinforced by a survey of nearly 2,000 student loan borrowers released Thursday. The study, conducted by American Student Assistance, or ASA, a nonprofit that aims to help families find ways to finance college and manage their student loans, found that just 46% of borrowers said they would choose the same college if they knew then what they knew now about debt. What’s more, a full 62% said they either only somewhat understood the debt they were taking on or didn’t understand it at all when they took out their student loans. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/an-open-letter-to-prospective-college-students-dont-borrow-too-much-2015-12-18