Debt Poll

nda_roxybabe

So I just read the confessions thread which was kind of sad
and I was kind of surprised to see some of you say that you have debt. It kind of made me feel better that I'm not the only here in that boat. So I'm curious -how bad is it?

thesuninherhead

I gather we're excluding home loans here?
Because in that case, I have none. If we're not excluding home loans, well, I have about $470k worth, plus interest! ;P

thesuninherhead

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_debt-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:9489bf97-09e5-4c17-8584-4af3593d018bPost:4b2b09f8-d2b0-4ad2-aea5-b2e7c542c470">Re: Debt Poll</a>:
[QUOTE]I have a bit over $1K in CC debt, and about $70K in student loan debt for undergrad, master's and PhD. Ugh. Brie---wow. I'm sooo sorry! That's a lot of student loan debt. Oddly enough, my sister is very close to you, $145K, and she only got an undergrad....that should make you feel better!
Posted by RachNRich[/QUOTE]

Dear Australian education system: thank you for not being American. Love, Sun.

To be fair, I do have a student loan amount, but it's not structured like a loan- they have an education payment scheme here in which, essentially, the government 'loans' you the money for your education, and the repayments are taken out with your tax until it's paid off. There's no interest attached, although it does rise with inflation, and so there's not a 'loan' to manage as such as you don't make payments- they just come out of your tax (of course, you are paying slightly more to tax as a result, but what I mean is that you wouldn't have to actually 'make' payment- the payment is managed automatically and is a very small amount. Given that it comes from the money that is being taken out for tax, you don't notice losing it). If you don't ever work in Australia, you're not going to pay off your education, and if you die, they wipe the amount owing... so it's not exactly a 'loan' in the terms of most loans. Our student fees are also vastly different to yours: my four year degree in total was about $18,000. I do think fees have probably increased since then, and you do pay more depending on what you're studying (fees are regulated by the government so all unis charge the same fee for domestic students), but it is MUCH cheaper than the states... and my PhD is free, as the government is trying to encourage PhD students through subsidising fees. It's not as great a system as some other countries in which all education is free, but it does make me grateful to be in Australia when I read about debts that big!

RaiKai

Law school killed me. I have about $60,000 in debt, and that is despite having received $20,000 in bursaries. The breakdown of a common-law relationship part way during law school did not help things. I was debt free before quitting my first career and going back to school (and had been debt-free through undergrad), so it sucks!

As a household though, we are doing fine and my debt is "manageable". DH only has some debt left from the breakdown of his own former common law relationship, however it is actually more than overtaken by a locked in retirement savings he has from his military retirement (we just cannot access it for another thirty years!) and his other investments in stocks/bonds.