Taking on 120k of debt for engineering school EE or Aero worth it?

[ModusPwnd]

Im not in that much debt. That was the original poster's question. My wife and I have less than half of that for our 4 degrees combined. I agree a cheaper school is in order. But it seemed that people have the wrong impression on how student loans work... Thinking you need to show financial hardship to be on income based repayment (you dont, they call it "partial financial hardship" which is simply when income based repayment would be lower than the 10 year plan), or that student loan payments can keep you poor (of course some here think that making the median american family income is poor...).

Also, you don't pay 10% of what you make. You pay either 10 or 15 of your "discretionary monthly income" which is the difference between your gross income and, iirc, 3/2 of the poverty line for your family.

 

[YAHA]

Hey guys I've gotten accepted into RIT Rochester Institute of Technology for electrical engineering and Embry Riddle for Aerospace engineering. I'm a non traditional student aged 28 with a BA in Econ who always had a passion for engineering. I am still making up my mind between EE or Aero.

I want to go into engineering for two reasons: job stability (more than the field that I'm in) and intellectual enjoyment. I took calc 1 and calc 2 and physics 1 and 2 in undergrad and did really well so I would be okay with the heavy math just in case anyone is wondering.

Most of my aid is in the form of loans and that comes to about 30k a year in loans with the rest covered by need based aid. 30k * 4 = 120k over the course of 4 years.

My question is, I've been reading about engineers being laid off and outsourced and having trouble finding employment especially when they are older. I've read so many posts about how hard its gotten for engineers to find jobs. I know the BLS the gov puts out is really not indicative of the reality on the ground when it comes to job hunting and job stability.

Unlike medicine where the loans are very large but the pay and job stability is there to service the debt. I don't know if the same can be said about engineering.

Am I taking too big of a financial risk? I'm scared that at my age at 28 with a 120k loan on my head that it doesn't make sense and that I should just keep working in finance, even though the threat of losing your job is there all the time, I won't have a loan on my head

Taking financial risk? No. More like you will ruin your life. Don't do it man.

Learn engineering on your own, study it, invent products, etc. There are resources online to study the same material that any engineer studies for FREE. If you really want to get a full experience, shell out some $$$ on actual equipment like oscilloscopes, boards, microcontrollers, and other stuff. Believe me, it will be MUCH cheaper than $120K. In fact, you can probably set up an excellent beginner EE lab in your bedroom for less than $2K.

If anyone wants to tell me that it is not that simple, one needs a job, blah blah blah, yes I know. But keep in mind that if you are truly good and talented (at engineering in this case), you will either start something of your own (at least enough to get you by) or be noticed by a decent company (there was a recent article on Google's increased rate of hires for technical positions of people without degrees at all ).

Just watch these. Hope that helps. If not, well, good luck.

 

[SteamKing]

This article may be of interest to those planning on taking a financial plunge into college life:

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/...discounts-again#sthash.MlPFRnRZ.RI1EUJfl.dpbs

Buying an education is like buying a car: negotiate for your best price, and if the dealer won't budge, threaten to walk away from making a deal.