We Have a New College Debt Queen

After detailing college graduates with $97,000 and $120,000 in debt, I thought I had reached the peak of "bad ways to finance college." I was so, so wrong.

Here's the story of a young lady who has $200k in college debt (from an undergraduate degree alone.) Yikes! Her words:

The severity of my situation goes a bit deeper than "I owe this money, help me" - I am actually forced to live with my parents (forced = I am lucky! But...) as the monthly payments for just my private loans are currently $891 until Nov 2011 when they increase to $1600 per month for the following 20 years... attached is my payment plan. I also mentioned I have a job - which is great! And I probably have my college education to thank for that! Except there is still no way to make these monthly payments, and live on my own as a contributing member of society. Neither of my parents, nor I, really knew how this would pan out — unfortunately — and now that I'm here, I see no real light at the end of the tunnel.

Ugh! Here's another person who simply didn't think through the college/education/debt/earning issues in advance -- and now she's paying for it.

But she's got another great idea! She's set up a website so people can donate and help her pay off her debt. Yeah, that's gonna be money well spent.

Let me say this again in the hopes that a future college student (or his parents) will read this: to get the most financial benefit out of college, you must compare expected costs with expected post-graduation incomes. And you HAVE to do this before you decide which college to attend and how much you'll borrow (if any) to go there.

And be sure to read Thoughts on the "New" Way to Go to College before you take any actions. It will save you thousands of dollars.

As for the student above, I can't muster much sympathy. I suggest she puts her nose to the grindstone, makes as much as she can, saves as much as she can, and pays off as much of the loan as soon as possible. Yes, it will take her several years to do so, but if she works at it, she may just end up making lemonade out of lemons. I imagine hearing of her in ten years -- she'll have a best-selling book, a well-read blog, and be all over speaking to people on how she paid off $200k in college loans in five years. Here's hoping! ;-)