Student loans: How graduates, families should be thinking about debt
With student loan payments set to resume starting October 1, the average U.S. borrower is expected to be making an average payment of $500 per month. Soon-to-be graduates are now carefully considering their career paths and job options in order to better prioritize paying off their student loan debt. Wells Fargo Head of Advice & Planning Michael Liersch and Linda Nicholas, NYU's School of Professional Studies Student Financial Services Director, sit down with Yahoo Finance Live to discuss borrowers' longer-term financial sustainability of paying off student loans and whether this type of debt is worth taking on. "Sometimes there's this "golden ticket" effect that people have," Liersch explains. "Where they think they're going to invest in themselves and then after they invest in themselves, they're going to somehow have this outsized earning potential. And I think we need to reframe that here in the United States of America." "Oftentimes, we see that schools with a higher tuition sticker price offer more in terms of scholarships and financial aid than a lower or moderately priced institution," Nicholas says on the financial aid packages colleges can offer. "So, I think it's easy to pit different schools against one another, but I think that... if [students are] interested in a program [and] if they see a program as a successful, well-known, reputable program, apply and then compare the financial aid offer." Click here to watch more of Yahoo Finance's special coverage "Student Loans: Smarter Strategies."
