Who is student debt free?

[Baptist]

I worked full time while going to CC so I got an AA with no debt. Transferred to a 4-year and will soon graduate with two BAs in History and Poli Sci. Yes they are pretty much worthless degrees. I'm probably going to ride the educational gravy train until that bubble bursts, which means I hope to teach at a CC then possibly a 4-year. The good news is that I will only be in debt about $10k for the two degrees. I did not find out that school was a racket, the nature of money & debt, and everything else we discuss on these boards, until after I was well into school. If I had, I of course would not have taken this path.

On top of nursing, dental hygienist is a good paying gig (if you can handle working in people's mouths). With nursing and dental hygiene you only have to bust out a a few prereqs at CC, then take their 2-year courses. With most of them you graduate with an AA, but some of the schools you get a BA/BS. But really for these two professions it is 2.5-3 years of schooling, and then you get paid decent. The places I lived nurses started $25+ hour, and dental hygienists started $35hr-$55+ hour.

Good blue collar jobs are a plumber and a construction equipment driver or operator. It is easy to get a Journeyman's and make livable wages while you study/learn for a Master's. Guys who drive around dump trucks for construction companies get paid good money. So do people who can operate cranes for building homes. You can learn all this blue collar stuff with no education, just work experience and studying books on your own.

 

[WaltM]

The places I lived nurses started $25+ hour, and dental hygienists started $35hr-$55+ hour.

but do dental hygienists work less hours and shifts overall?

 

[teacherone]

get out of the country-- go to asia or the middle east and teach english in a private school.

you will make money...and avoid the meltdown.

 

[WaltM]

get out of the country-- go to asia or the middle east and teach english in a private school.

you will make money...and avoid the meltdown.

if i wanted the living conditions in the middle east or asia, i can move to middle America.

 

[Thrashertm]

I wanted to know, who has graduated year 2000 and after.

And has paid off their student debt, if so, what is your profession?

Thanks
(My philosophy is, if you can't pay it off in 10 years, it's not worth the debt)

Graduated in 2006, MBA IT/business consultant, $50K of student debt. So far it has been a good investment. Salary increased 50%, far more than the cost of servicing the debt.

 

[Thrashertm]

get out of the country-- go to asia or the middle east and teach english in a private school.

you will make money...and avoid the meltdown.

What a coincidence. I've started a company to enable just such a move. You can do more than teach english given a reasonable skill set.

 

[WaltM]

Graduated in 2006, MBA IT/business consultant, $50K of student debt. So far it has been a good investment. Salary increased 50%, far more than the cost of servicing the debt.

was your BS in computer science?

 

[teacherone]

if i wanted the living conditions in the middle east or asia, i can move to middle America.

lol-- you have no idea what you are talking about

 

[Baptist]

but do dental hygienists work less hours and shifts overall?

Oh yeah. Dental hygienists have it made. I actually got back into school because I was going to pursue this occupation. However, for a number of reasons I decided that it was not for me.

The pros:
- 2.5 years of cheap schooling
- high starting wages ($35hr in CO, $55hr CA = those are two places I checked out when contemplating the profession)
- 3 or 4 day work weak, or more if you wish. Very flexible scheduling.

The cons:
- working in people's mouths, many of which are disgusting
- very good chance of getting carpal tunnel. So if you are going to be a dental hygienist, I would make bank while doing it, but instead of blowing the money I'd save money to pay for further schooling to become a real dentist, or some other money-making profession. If you do it your whole life chances are you will get carpal tunnel.



Another good gig might be a vet technician. Also there are tons of jobs in the medical profession that only require two years worth of schooling. I believe that the x-ray people only go to school for a few years, and they make good money. Physician's assistants make good money with not much schooling too.

 

[WaltM]

lol-- you have no idea what you are talking about

Which countries are you referring to?

 

[Dan710]

No debt yet. My parents saved up and are paying for it. Majoring in Social Science Education. The plan is to start a business within the next year. The degree is more of a back up at the moment. If I had known that college is worthless I would have gone the entrepreneurship route right out of high school. No need to waste your time when you can learn everything you need for free or for a hell of a lot cheaper outside of college.

 

[Thrashertm]

was your BS in computer science?

I took some Comp Sci and Information Systems classes for my bachelor's. The most useful class out of the lot was an Excel class.

 

[Thrashertm]

No debt yet. My parents saved up and are paying for it. Majoring in Social Science Education. The plan is to start a business within the next year. The degree is more of a back up at the moment. If I had known that college is worthless I would have gone the entrepreneurship route right out of high school. No need to waste your time when you can learn everything you need for free or for a hell of a lot cheaper outside of college.

If I could do it again, I'd get an undergrad degree related to the applied sciences. I ended up getting a generic liberal arts degree, followed by an MBA to make myself marketable, and then into consulting, and now entrepreneurship.