Thinking about going to college?  Maybe going back to College and finishing up after years?  Thinking it will land you that dream job, make you lots of money, further your current career?  Here something to consider.

If you are graduating high school and shopping for a college, good for you.  Take all the grants and scholarships you can and go for it.  College can be a great experience.  You will learn a lot and grow as an individual.  You will have the opportunity define yourself as a person.  Share thoughts, opinions and ideas with other people you may have never had that chance to. Not to mention a degree and a GPA to prove you did it.

Now for a bit of reality.  College costs money, A LOT of money.  The college recruiters will tell you all about their outstanding programs, excellent placement record and maybe even about their unbelievable sports teams.  They will tell you that 90+% of their graduates work in their field.  How people with a degree from them are highly sought after and earn top dollar.   Think about that statistic for minute.  How many people are in the major you are taking?  How many other colleges are there in your area? And  how many open positions are available in that area in your field?  90+% seems hard to achieve thinking of it that way.  And how about the large starting salaries?  Those are hard to believe too.

So here's the hard truth about a student loan.  The Debt you rack up will probably be in  $100,000 dollar range.  That debt MUST be paid back.  Think about how much a home in your area costs and balance that to the debt of your student loan.  Now think about graduating for the college of your choice already burdened with 100k in debt and you haven't landed that high paying dream job.  Here's another truth, I'm sure there are high paying jobs in your field for someone that has no, or little, work experience in that field.  But, believe me, those are VERY few and far between.  So if yiu are lucky enough to land a job in your field it will probably be about at a pay rate 50 - 70% less than those college recruiters promised and you have that huge debt hanging over your head.

When you talk to the financial people at the college ask them about that.  See if they will explain that the only way out of that debt is to pay it, become permanently disabled, or die.  And, by the way, death may not really end the debt.  If your parents or someone else co-signed for you the inherit it with the same conditions. So if someone does co-sign, take out a life insurance policy so if something does happen you won't send them into poverty trying to pay it off.

Student loans are a great lie.  They will never tell you that it will hang around you neck for years.  You see, I did that.  I decided that I would return to college and finish my degree.  I visited several colleges deciding which one to choose. They all told me what a great program they had.  That employers were clamoring for their graduates, they all were paying top dollar too.  Their job placement rates were on the field I chose were all over 90%.   They were setting me on a path to my high paying dream job.  So off I went, worked full time during the day (I had responsibilities and a family) and carried a full credit load in the evening.  I graduated with a 3.7 GPA.  Not bad.   I lived in a large metropolitan area, lots of jobs with lots of competition for those jobs.   All the colleges placement department every did was call me regularly to see if I had found a job in my field.  I'm guessing if I did they could count that in their win column.  I eventually did, on my own foe about 35% of the salary they said would be out there.  By them I had a house and thought my future was bright.  This is what really happens.  They don't care if you got your job, what your responsibilities are, who you're taking care of, if you keep or lose your house.  All they care about is getting that loan paid.  If the loan payment puts you in poverty, so be it.  If you can't take care of your loved one, they don't care.  And there is no recourse.  You can't file bankruptcy against it, you can only pay it, become disabled or die.

I'm not saying don't go to college or get an education.  Just be educated about the loans and options after you graduate.  If your not, they will crush you, your hopes and your dreams.