Seniors at for-profit colleges are more than twice as likely to have accumulated dangerous amounts of education loans as seniors at other kinds of four-year colleges, according to a new report.
Almost 30 percent of seniors at for-profit universities in 2008 owed at least $40,000 in college loans, an amount that could be excessive, according to a new analysis of the latest federal data by Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Finaid.org and Fastweb.com. For comparison, only about 11 percent of seniors at private nonprofit colleges—many of which charge higher sticker prices than typical for-profits—graduate with excessive debt, Kantrowitz found. And excessive debt was a problem for only about 6 percent of seniors at public universities, which are typically comparatively lower priced. That means new graduates of for-profit schools are about five times as likely to have borrowed heavily as new graduates of public universities.
Education, politics, and anything else that catches my attention.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Want As Little Debt As Possible When Graduating From College?
Short of going to a service academy, having rich relatives who will spring for everything, or getting an awesome scholarship, graduating with as little debt as possible is probably a big concern. How might one accomplish this? Perhaps by reading this article, and responding accordingly :-)
Having just gotten two of three kids through college it doesn't surprise me. I have to actively tell my students not to seek out the for profits first. We have a national art for profit in the Dallas area that offers some decent programs, but charges more than all of the state schools and most of the private ones. A good friend of our family had gotten a "scholarship" to the Big National Art School in Dallas. She would have had to live in apartments in a very dubious section of Dallas, and paid more to attend an uncredited for profit than to attend the Big Money Private Universities in the DFW area. I suggested that they see what it would cost to major in art at a state school for comparison. For her to live at home or with friends in an apartment and attend University of Texas El Paso was 30% of what she would have paid going to the Big National Art School. Looking back, I wish I had gotten my kids to do their core classes at community college. State of Texas says if you have passed a core class that is part of the joint approved curriculum, you cannot be made to retake it. That means big money when you consider that many universities ignore AP test results, deny CLEP testing and insist students take the university core. It's a money thing. Also, changing majors costs money. Try not to do it too often.
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