What is the worst case of bad spending that you've seen?

[drbizzaro]

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I remember one girl who ended up recklessly racking up over 45,000 dollars in credit card bills from crazy shopping during optometry school. Then after graduating she bought a new car for 30,000 dollars.

She ended up with less than 1 grand in her bank account after an entire year of working. 😱

 

[Ryan_eyeball]

I remember one girl who ended up recklessly racking up over 45,000 dollars in credit card bills from crazy shopping during optometry school. Then after graduating she bought a new car for 30,000 dollars.

She ended up with less than 1 grand in her bank account after an entire year of working. 😱

Naive students going for degrees that are far worth less than they'll make. I like the rule of any degree is not worth more than one year's worth a salary. A teaching degree should not have a $60k education to teach 2ndary ed for a salary of 35k. Even optometry degree's are over-valued. Students graduating from school with 200k in debt is ridiculous. I think the average OD will make around 60-70k a year first out.

Live as cheaply as possible as a student. Do not envy other students that are buying new cars or have the greatest entertainment centers. Work while in school, to reduce overall debt incurred. The amount of interest you'll pay back is so high now with the higher debt loads, and interest up around 7% now.

 

[gochi]

pretty much, except for the part about working while in school.

 

[SarahNC]

Work while in school!? Have you lost your mind!? I barely have time to sleep! 😱

 

[drbizzaro]

Of course there was one girl I knew at school who ended up graduating with bad credit card debt because of her love of Burberry purses, but saved herself some cash when she forced her boyfriend to buy her a new car at graduation.

 

[Mixin Marc]

Of course there was one girl I knew at school who ended up graduating with bad credit card debt because of her love of Burberry purses, but saved herself some cash when she forced her boyfriend to buy her a new car at graduation.

I will never understand why a guy who's dating a girl will buy her a brand new car if they're not married or engaged. That's crazy!

 

[gochi]

how about roughly between 140k-200k for optometry school ? 😱

 

[EyeWitness]

Well what's considered reasonable and "worth it' debt to become an OD? Less than 100K? no more than 120k? curious what everyone thinks

 

[eyestrain]

Well what's considered reasonable and "worth it' debt to become an OD? Less than 100K? no more than 120k? curious what everyone thinks

Depends on what you make afterwards.

 

[Ryan_eyeball]

Work while in school!? Have you lost your mind!? I barely have time to sleep! 😱

I loved working in school, because it keeps you very focused. It builds time management skills, and priorities. You're focused on graduating with an OD degree, and keep that debt down. You have to have fun, but keep the want column of a budget low and the need column high. Any job in optical in school is invaluable experience. Try to get a job at a commercial, or private practice. Being an expert in adjustments, or lensometer will save you future remakes.

Have a good night =)

 

[4Eyes]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you're in the minority on the working thing. 😉 But it depends how much you work. I'm glad it worked for you, but I know if I worked enough to put any sort of dent in my student debt AND studied enough...I would have either NEVER slept, gone absolutely crazy, or never seen my husband. And those just weren't viable options for me. Some semesters would have been better than others though.

 

[gochi]

i just dont think its worth it....just because you can make 100 dollars, does not mean you should.

 

[Ryan_eyeball]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you're in the minority on the working thing. 😉 But it depends how much you work. I'm glad it worked for you, but I know if I worked enough to put any sort of dent in my student debt AND studied enough...I would have either NEVER slept, gone absolutely crazy, or never seen my husband. And those just weren't viable options for me. Some semesters would have been better than others though.

I agree every situation is different. If i had a spouse at the time I don't believe I would have tried working so much. Also, having a child now while I'm out of school would have been so much more difficult while in school. You don't have to put a dent in your student loans, but future students can have some control over how big of a hole it becomes.