Interesting article regarding Student Loans

I hear this argument a lot of the time, that we're poaching sheltered children with student loans.

Then, I look back to when I was 15 and working part time in high school to go to community college, which was about $4k, whereas some of my peers were buying, at the very least, new Toyota Corollas. And then I turned 17, finished my first year of college with straight A's (liberal arts courses mind you), and managed to earn enough money through scholarships to pay my way through The University of Texas at Austin for a mathematics degree, debt free.

And honestly I didn't have any mentors to walk me through it. Single mom, lived in a shithole apartment complex.

At 18, you're not a kid, you're an adult. Nobody owed me anything. I just said no to the notion that I'm young so I should be making mistakes. And I'm not alone either, there are thousands of not tens of thousands of students just like me. I look at my folder of recycled scholarship essays, totaling about 25 or so which I reused for more than one scholarship apiece, and can calculate that I made roughly $1,600 an hour working for scholarships. Literally couldn't have been more than 50-60 hours of effort. And here I am, an adult wishing I could continue making that much money an hour.

This isn't to berate you, I'm just illustrating that we both have different stories and different conclusions. I do from time to time worry about young people taking out too much for student loans - I just can't help but remember being told to "fill out scholarship forms" in high school, looking around at everyone else in home room fucking off, and noticing how I was the only person to heed the advice.

/r/personalfinance Thread Parent