"but I'm talking $500,000 in debt. that is a lot to swallow."

Aside from confusing payments w debt, either you are exaggerating here or mommy and daddy are hella loaded to back that kind of loan. Thats like 200k in principal @ 10% over almost 25 yrs on top of yr student loans?

If yr folks are that loaded you really dont have a problem.

^ I was wondering the same thing! Are you grossly exaggerating? 500k, really?

That's what I was wondering. My old boss had a 250k business loan that he had to put his house up for collateral. And all your parents had to do was co-sign a 500k loan?

I don't know how that could be physically possible. You could probably burn through that if you were at an Ivy and lived in a nice place. $75k x 7 years (4 under, 3 grad) is $525k. That's probably not unreasonable for some.

But if you are doing that you had better not have to think about money as an issue!

Numbers like that would certainly change things! Hard to even comprehend, honestly.

Pratt is roughly 33k a year so what are you spending 67k a year on? I mean Manhattan is expensive to live, but maybe move to Brooklyn? Eat out less. Drop the lease on your Ferrari?

live to learn or learn to live

Guys, Rosebot is looking at the total lifetime cost of his/her loans when quoting $500k. He/she said earlier that that is the total amount he will pay on this loan, including amortized interest, over the life of the loan.

Which honestly is the best way to look at loans. So, if he/she can pay them down more quickly, it won't have ended up being so much.

I, personally, am doing like trace and paying only minimums so that I can save/invest any (little) leftover money. Therefore I personally WILL have paid the full amount of my loans + interest by the time I'm done. In my case this is something like $150k or so, depending on my (hateful) variable interest rate.

Ahh. That makes more sense. How much was the actual loan for before interest?

Just for a reference, I calculated how much money you can make when investing 500k instead of paying for debt.

This calculation is based on 5% interest/yr for 20 years.

Year Money
1 25200
2 54243
3 86262.9075
4 121564.8555
5 160485.2532
6 203394.9917
7 250702.9783
8 302860.0336
9 360363.187
10 423760.4137
11 493655.8561
12 570715.5814
13 655673.9284
14 749340.5061
15 852607.908
16 966460.2186
17 1091982.391
18 1230370.586
19 1382943.571
20 1551155.287

In 20 years, it becomes 1,550k$. It could simplify the issue too much, but difference between 500k, which is what you should pay into others pocket, and 1,550k, which is what you will have in you pocket, is really significant.

In the former case, you have nothing in your pocket in 20 year. You clear just your burden. However, in the latter case, with 1,550k, you would be able to run your own business in a relatively safe finance condition.

It’s just one example and can be a narrow sight, but something to think about.

I am taking the 30-year repayment route as well. My thought is that 15 years down the road (regardless of what I am doing) I will be at the point where my income is much higher then it is now (wishful thinking, but it should logically be the case.) So I will be able to pay the loan principal back much faster.

Things like bonuses or side job could be great for knocking off big chunks of the principal as fast as possible.

So my 100k loan would turn out to be 200k if I pay it over 30 years, but it will never get that far.

So even if 500k is calculated as the total life of a 30 year loan, rosebot is still taking out 250k for his/her undergrad education.

This is not even close to a responsible choice and still leads to a minimum $1650 minimum monthly payment. Yikes.

That’s 20k a year going directly to the loan company, then you have living expenses, savings and health care? Good luck trying to make that work on a 35-40k income.

That would be a really rough place to imaging yourself fresh out of school.

I transferred from Pratt to UW for financial (and other) reasons, and highly recommend it. You will not make enough money as an architect to pay off the loans you describe. Also, I know people who do have $100k loans from architecture school and regret it now.

THANK YOU bb, that's the direction I'm going. I think I might finish up my BA at the new school then go for Grad arch at UW. I might apply for undergrad transfer too, just for the hell of it. I only wish I could make it happen today! But I'm hauling ass to try and make change by spring, maybe even this fall if I'm lucky. good luck to you.

I am a firm proponent of the 'worth' of one's education being shaped by the actions of the individual. The onus is up to you to get the most out of your education whether it be at Pratt or at UW. The arguments are endless for and against attending so called 'prestigious' schools, surely there are some slackers at the GSD that will not make the most of their opportunities while other hard working minds at Tulsa might wind up becoming successful. The rhetoric is redundant at this point.

If you seriously believe in Pratt, believe in the opportunities that exist within NYC, and work hard, you will overcome the financial hardships of debt ($500k being a little excessive no?). I agree wholeheartedly with otis, education is a mindset, an attitude. The people you meet, the experiences you share will shape you for the rest of your life, and life is too short to have any regrets. I have a few friends that have turned down the likes of Harvard, Columbia, Penn to go to 'less' prestigious institutions, and while they may be somewhat financially stable, they have regrets about their decisions. It would be interesting to hear from people that have chosen the prestigious schools, racked up the debt and are now regretting it. Any archinecters courageous enough to admit to such a thing?