In 2006 nearly 78,000 college seniors graduated more than $40,000 in debt. What are you teaching your kids?...

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Do you agree? Disagree? Make your point in the comments section.

Comments

[Pat]

What are they learning? I have a problem getting customer service personnel to help me. They have a self-centered attitude and treat me rudely. My pet peeve is getting passed on to the next person on the press button technology and ending up with no solution to my problem. A major bank cannot fix an error on my account for weeks because the person in technical support ignores the employees of the bank. It's very frustrating.
If colleges went back to the basic of teaching respect for others the world would be much better off. To come out of college owing $40K and then fortune 500 companies having to retrain the employee seems totally wrong to me.

[Steve]

That's an awfully complicated subject to be reduced to a sound bite.

1. If 78,000 is the numerator, what is the denominator? The US Census bureau says there are 14.4 million in college. Most won't graduate, but 78,000 still sounds like a pretty small percentage.

2. US Census bureau also says the average annual income for a college graduate is $20,000/year higher for a college graduate than a high school graduate. A 50% annual return on a $40,000 investment sounds like pretty good financial planning to me.

3. Most importantly, why is the debt incurred? It makes all the difference whether the debt is incurred to pay for room, board, and tuition versus HDTVs, designer shoes, and spring breaks in Aruba.