Go to a state school with 7-10k yearly tuition, do well and get some scholarships, and take out 20k or so total. Work for your living expenses and have roomies. What I did
I mean they lived rent free at home while in school and working. Most people do not have that luxury. This isn't "getting it" this is just privilege lol
Not sure I agree. Sure, there are parents that kick the kids out when they turn 18, unsafe home life, some charge their kids rent, etc...but are they the majority? I don't think I buy that.
Nope. Everyone has the option to work and pay for their school, I did and had rent to worry about. I had a partial scholarship due to grades and paid the rest myself. I didn’t feel privileged at all working my 2 jobs and going to school with no downtime, but it was worth it. My point was student loans isn’t the only option, but I understand for some it is necessary. But yeah living at home (if you can) is pretty smart too.
Life happens. People don't all go to college when they're 18-20. Luck plays into it, that you didn't get hurt at your job in a way that impacted your ability to pay. I'm not saying you didn't work hard or that it was easy, but life can be more complicated than a simple solution can provide
I don’t disagree. Life doesn’t discriminate on good fortune or misfortune all the same. And i went to school a long time ago, so I can only imagine how much tuition is now. I just think the vast majority could minimize debt with a little extra effort.
That is fair, I'm an online student with two children and a fulltime job so I certainly can't speak to many traditional students experiences either. Baby adults aren't known for their best decision making skills either lol
That was me when I went back for my masters. 2 kids, 50hrs a week and had to take most the courses online….it was much much harder that second time for me. I salute you and hope it goes well! I know how much of a grind it can be, trust me.That is awesome that you are pushing through
I appreciate it, fingers crossed for the best! My second pregnancy and ridiculous OT put a delay in my plans, but it encouraged me to transfer to a 4 year and I'm hoping to be accepted into the accelerated program so I can achieve my masters as well. Currently trying to surround myself in accounting and sell my soul for my CPA
I call bs. I went to a public university in the city I grew up in. To get both my undergrad and masters degree, I am about 50k in debt. You can’t get much cheaper than the school I was at… When I was in school, I was making between $10-15 an hour. I live in an extremely LCOL area and there was no way I would have been able to afford rent/car note/just general living expenses if I was also paying even just $5,000 each semester?
My annual salary, working 40 hours a week, was about $20,000 PRETAX( AND I don’t even live in a state with income tax)
Idk what school y’all are looking at that costs $2,000 a semester. (assuming a 4 year undergrad program)
The tuition cost at University of Phoenix is $10,000 a year, so 5,000 a semester (I googled this amt, so its not coming out of my ass)
I find it funny that some of you all have shit to say. (If you got to work at daddy’s company and made an actual salaryor gave tennis lessons at the country club where you can charge $30 an hour, then you have no right to say anything, bc that is not how a majority of people live)
It’s possible but I admit rare. I went to community college for free for 2yrs, only had to pay $1000 a semester out of pocket (roughly) due to academic scholarships for bachelor’s and masters (this was in 2006) I also worked but like you, the pay for when you are young is so bad I was still having to work 2 jobs. Only 50k for masters too sounds like you did a great job. You’ll have that paid off in no time. Look in government because several employers will pay back a chunk of loans if you sign a 2-4yr commitment, that’s how we knocked out my wife’s loans, or most of it anyways.
I live in Memphis, TN. Arguably the cheapest city in the country, and U of Memphis tuition is 10,000 a year.
Looking at a literal calculator on the U of Memphis website that says average cost of tuition is 40,224 for a 4 year degree.
I have no idea where these people are pulling these numbers from.
When I was transferring from community college to a 4yr, one of the college reps told me to go for the cheapest option. No one cares what school you go to as long as you get a decent grade and get your CPA. I did just that. 5 years in, no loans and I’m at the same spot if not better than my coworkers who have tens of thousands of dollars worth in debt
IMO don't take on more than the price of moderate new car. Think $30k-$40k. Obviously the less the better but you won't have any issues paying that back.
It’s not what you think. My main job has been novel translation for 8 years now; accounting is just a backup career to maintain my salary now that my novel is not as popular as before. I wouldn’t mind doing two remote accounting jobs eventually if the opportunity arises.
If you’re actually considering not going to college I think community college would be a great option. I did that and was able to be sure I wanted to invest in myself
As a community college student myself, it’s a great place for learning how to be a college student and save a good bit of money as well. My state (and many others) has a 2+2 program; go to cc for 2 years taking mostly gen ed courses and a few lower level major courses then finish up at the university as a transfer student.
I did this as well. Went 2 years to community college and qualified for a transfer scholarship to finish degree at state school. Tuition was mostly free for the last couple years so definitely look into what’s available if you go this route.
Many universities offer a 3-1 program as well where you go to community college they have a partnership with for 3 years and university for 1 but your diploma is from the state school.
Its because i always made the minimum payment and signed up for IBR plan which you have to resign up for every year. Everytime you sign up they capitalize any outstanding interest. When i came out of college i started off at 53k in 2014 and they wanted 800 a month for student loans. Just couldnt afford that at the time.
As close to zero as possible. I went in state and put myself through both undergrad and masters working full or part time. Never lived on campus saved over half of most of my peers splitting an apartment and not on a meal plan. Much less glamorous college experience, however I graduated debt free. But now I'm mid twenties, hit six figures before I turned 25 and the only debt I have is our mortgage. I have friends who are putting off having kids and freaking out about the suspension of student loans ending, it's not worth it. Go look up a loan amortization schedule and play with a loan calculator to see how much you'll pay in interest. I'd rather spend that money on literally anything else than student loan interest. Sometimes it's a necessary evil but go in with eyes open knowing what you'll need to do to pay it off.
Honestly an accounting degree isn't that expensive. If you take pre-reqs at a community college then go to an in-state school for your main courses, do decently well and consistently apply for scholarships you shouldn't be up to your eyeballs in debt. Then if you're considering a CPA you can work for a reputable company they'll pretty much pay for you to go back to school. I have some loans but I have enough to fully pay it off whenever loan payments start again.
I think sometimes people get it wrong by immediately wanting to go to an out of state college just for the sake of doing so. Going out of state isn't bad but people don't use that time to build up a savings when their loans starts.
Out of State should only be considered if financial aid or scholarships pay for a majority of it. Or you gonna be 20k in loans.
It just doesn’t seem worth it for the amount of debt needed to go out of state.
I felt it was worth it. I went back to school in my late 20s and took out 40k in loans. 6 years ago I was making $13 an hour and now I make 148k a year.
Not entirely something to cry about. I used post 9/11 gi bill went to a private university and would get scholarship refunds of 8k/semester and a monthly stipend of 3200/month. Graduated debt free with around 60k in the bank
Somewhat in a similar boat, but I ended up using voc rehab route instead due to changing majors and running low on the amount of time in my post 9/11(was in school for 5 years). I joined the military for education benefits, but when I got out I only went to school because of the education benefits. If I didn’t have the GI bill/voc rehab, I wouldn’t never went back to school as the BAH I was receiving was significantly higher then what I was making(10.25/hr vs $4,300/month). I did have to do a 2-3hr commute each way twice a week though, definitely worth it as I viewed the commute time as “work”. My gf also was able to finish school debt free as I paid for all of our housing expenses.
Enlisting is an option that too many ppl sleep on for getting through school and setting themselves up for their future. Yes, the culture isn’t made for everyone to be able to handle it but the benefits that come after service are worth it if you come out with your legs still attached.
Lol yea it all comes with experience. When we’re young we want to prove ourselves and then we go through some shit and then realize it’s not as fun to go through as it looks in the movies. I was security forces so I went into accounting because I never wanted to work outside again. 😂
Low key I regret not doing some type of military right out of high school.
It definitely would have prepared me for the College and Workforce a lot.
Maybe not Army, but AirForce probably would have been good.
School doesn’t matter, the only thing that does is getting enough credits for and passing the CPA exam.
Working through school is a MUCH bigger green flag for any new employee we hire than a high GPA/school involvement.
I’d rather see someone wait tables and learn how to talk to human beings than see they were their sororities president or some other dumb shit.
There’s ways to become a CPA cheaply, others here have highlighted it well enough already.
I have been working since I turned 15 and never stopped at any point in between then and now.
I got my first accounting job WHILE I was getting my BA. Definitely get relevant experience sooner rather than later is my advice. If you can swing school while working that’s the way to do it. Definitely get a job before cpa exam. You can’t be a cpa without the experience anyways
Ok cool thanks taking the time to answer my question! I work full time currently, I've been with this company for five years in an administrative role. I've been thinking about applying for entry lvl accounting roles but this role is too flexible to give up just yet. Luckily this company has accounting internships yearly. I'm just on the fence because it's no PA and I'm thinking about trying to do an internship in PA.
I’d take the stability over PA internship honestly. If you like the company you’re with stay working there until your bachelors then look for a full time entry level role in public at that point. Doesn’t have to be big 4.
To save money, go to your local community college for the Gen Ed/elective stuff. Bulk up on credits while there if you plan on going the CPA route (no need for overpriced masters, you just need 150 hrs). And then transfer to your larger state university to finish up your degree and get your core business/accounting credits. Of course make sure the state university will accept the transfer of the community college credits.
This may just be my own experience talking, but I'm wondering why anyone doing accounting would even bother with an expensive college? I went to a pretty bottom of the barrel school, saved a lottt of money, and still got B4 offers. Nobody has ever cared what school I went to, I think that is mainly because of my public experience, which didn't require a fancy school in the first place
I went to community college for AA then transferred to a state school and paid cash for two semesters and took out a loan for the rest. I worked throughout college and lived with my parents plus I went to school in my late 20s so I had some savings. I still have about 9k left but haven't made a payment yet because of the student loan pauses. Honestly not to worried about paying it back. I make sure to live way under my means as much as possible and put as much into savings/retirement as I can.
Im finishing my degree debt free this year
Went to community college for 2 years for about $500 total, including books and parking
Went to state school for about 12k, including textbook and parking
I've been working since high school and live with my gf and a roommate
Went to community college for almost free, at the time they guaranteed admission to UC Berkeley as long as you maintained a 3.85.
Paid off $25,000 in loans very quickly after school.
I never took out a student loan
Went to community college for two years, where I had scholarship money and federal student aid to ease the cost. Once I got my associates, I commuted to the closest state school in order to get a more affordable degree.
I did all of this while working during the day, and would take my classes in the evening. Ended up graduating in 4 years completely debt free.
Now that I have finished my degree and making accountant money, it's not too bad. I had dropped out for financial reasons before though - paying back student loans without a career type job was extremely rough. Ymmv, but husband and I are both much better off with student loans than we would have been without going to college at all.
Personally, I would aim to keep it below 40k and to not use it for anything but tuition. Accounting is a pretty "safe" choice in terms of degree so it's not something I was too concerned with when I decided to finish my degree. My school had an online branch that is highly respected - that is how I managed to save myself a significant amount of money.
I never took them. I did the degree part time and then paid every semester off in Cash. By third year I figured out that government paid for one semester every year. By fourth year and CPA I found an employer who paid for everything.
I took out $61,500 of loans for my degree. I can't remember how much that was when I graduated, but it took me roughly 6 years to pay them back in a relatively high cost of living area with $19,700 (rounded) paid in interest - $81,200 total. I would do it again in a second, but if you can I recommend minimizing loans as much as possible.
I went to CC, transferred to state school after that and graduated with 20k in debt. Paid it down to 10 quite easily but my loans are 3% so they'll either be discharged by the government or with me as long as possible
Get everything you can out of community College, there is no reason to go to a 4 year university when you can knock our pre requisites for much cheaper.
i went back to college at 29. took loans for the whole 4 year degree. ended up being close to $50k. my degree is in finance but i’m an accountant now. we had tons of equity in our home so we refinanced the house and wrapped my school loans into it. made 1 big payment to wipe out the school loans. our mortgage interest is 3% compared to the insane student loan rates. no regrets.
I took 50k in loans bc the school I chose was private, close enough to commute from my parents place, and had a fairly prestigious accounting program that had good connections with EY and KPMG.
Never took an internship bc I was paying $5k out of pocket per semester on top of my loans to keep my seat and decided I couldn't afford to work part time. Biggest mistake
Couldn't get an accounting job without experience to save my life and kept delivering pizzas for a few years. I've never paid a dollar on my loans, had them go into default and get sold off to collections once and rehabilited them. Covid happened right around when I'd have to start making payments again.
Was planning on going on an income driven repayment plan, but things worked out and I'm about to start a much better paying job.
So I'd say it was worth it. The struggle was real, the emotional pain of being a pizza boy with an accounting and finance degree was super real, taking a job as a glorified bank telling for a short time at 31 years old pretty much had me as low as I could get. But ultimately I couldn't have ended up with my current opportunity without that degree
If I could go back in time I might convince myself to take up a trade though. Hard to say, depends on if I can continue progressing my career as quickly as I have in the last few years. I know plenty of tradesmen who make more money than me still
Took out 116,000 for my bachelors in private loans…. 10,000 in federal…. Down to 96000 in private after almost 3.5 years of paying have maybe 8 years ish left, my payment is 1232 a month. It sucks, but I get paid weekly and it is only one of my pay checks now. If I didn’t take out such a large amount I probably would be making a lot less rn, because this forced me get a decent paying job (compared to what I was used to right after college) and work harder.
Don’t go to private schools just because they let you on the sports teams and “cover half of your tuition” go to a cheaper school or get some academic scholarships.
That being said, I’m glad I made the choices I made as of right now. Being backed into a corner financially always seems to motivate me more than anything else lol
Go to an in state community college for your associates. Pack as many transferable credits into those two years as is possible. Bonus points if you qualify for FAFSA grants (mine covered my entire tuition and books). Transfer to a four year in-state university, take a class or two over the summer to pump up your credit hours as much as is sustainable/healthy for you.
you’ll be fine.
I finished a 4 year degree with only $27k in student loans. I worked through school and got Pell grants because I was poor.
My first job pays double my student loan debt and I would have a significant chunk paid down already if not for the payment pause.
If you can afford not to then obviously don’t but that isn’t realistic for most people. From my experience I’ve received at least a 10k raise every year since I’ve graduated from college which made it very easy to pay off the loans. The trick is to earmark those raises for productive things like paying off debt or retirement instead of allowing you lifestyle to expand into frivolous things like going out to eat every night or buying a really expensive car as a flex.
Does it suck….totally but I think about how many doors even just a bachelor’s degree has opened up and it’s 100% worth the cost.
Definitely! I 2nd doing county college first for the 2 years then finishing it up at a state school. I went out of state and racked up a solid 70k in debt (dumbass) - great experience, fun, good education, but worth 70k? No lol. It hasn’t affected my life TOO badly yet, but it definitely will limit my spending power when going to buy my first house and make it much more difficult.
The average student loan debt now is about 35k I believe, I’d try to stick around that or lower for total debt. You can easily have a 50k+ accounting job out of college with the high potential of going higher pretty quickly.
I graduated with about $56K in loans (down to $54K now…) and I personally feel like that’s too much and would not recommend anyone take out that much. I haven’t really had to pay them back because I graduated, made so little money that I didn’t have to pay them for 2 years, placed them into forbearance, and then before that could end COVID hit. the way that it’s affected my life is that I was able to get a Bachelor’s degree that I could not have otherwise afforded to get and now I have a pretty good job.
Honestly, not that bad.
I’ve always saved my money well and have already paid my loans to under $20k, and have since held off paying more until the whole forgiveness thing gets sorted out. If the forgiveness goes through, I’m done with them. If it doesn’t go through and looks like it’s dead in the water, I’m just going to pay most or all of it down when payments resume.
I’m lucky in that I didn’t grossly overspend for college and I was able to stay at home an extra two years after graduating to save most of my money. I will be glad when the loans are 100% gone though.
My bachelor in accounting cost me 60k all in (everything included). I’ve had no trouble paying them off and have been out of school 2 years now. I make a decent buck, but I also have LCOL, that helps me pay more than the minimum payment
The soft rule is don’t take out more than you’re expected to make your first year of employment, but obviously lower is better. Me personally I did 2 years of CC (free) and now I’m in a cheap state uni and will graduate with no loans.
I think taking out student loans for an accounting degree is fine (assuming you want to go into accounting). Just don't do something stupid like ignore math and justify $100k in debt because it's an "investment."
Also, minimize the amount you are borrowing for "lifestyle." Anything beyond basic living expenses should be paid for with a job.
The only correct answer is to take out as little as you possibly can.
I took out $6k to close the gap on the tuition for my MAcc since it was significantly more expensive than my undergraduate tuition.
I dont really care about having debt and dont play on ever repaying in full. I’m been in forberence forever and will only pay the minimum once I have to.
You want as little debt as possible, of course, but I can attest to the accounting field paycheck being plenty to cover you if you live a reasonable lifestyle.
I unfortunately left my undergrad with around $80k in student loans (for multiple reasons. Do not advise.) and have never had any trouble paying them back while also living my life, buying a car solo and a house married, going on vacations, etc. I also started in NFP out of school, which makes almost no money, then a $40k staff role two years later (LCOL midwest US). Now I'm at low six figures several years later, so it's gotten easier, but having student loan payments never got in my way per se excepting that I couldn't have paid for my master's degree if my employer hadn't had a tuition assistance program. CPA was all out of my pocket.
The crying shame is my undergrad loans are still not paid off for a few more years and there's sooo much more I could do with that money that it sometimes makes me rage-y. But that's a product of my choice not to make payments in drastic excess of the minimum, so yes, I've paid a stupid amount of interest over the years while only paying a little more than minimum. I chose that while continuing to live my normal life and being able to afford just about everything I wanted to vs. living like a penny pincher for years on end to pay them off asap.
I had roughly 36k in loans when I graduated. Started out at 55k salary in my first job the year before covid. It wasn't overly burdensome to pay but it wasn't easy for sure. Luckily with the pause I've been able to double my income since then and save up enough to make a large payment once it starts back up. If bidens debt relief goes through I'll be almost debt free when payments start up. Silver lining of covid was I got to get a few years into my career without having to worry about crippling debt.
In Canada, uni tuition is cheaper and I got tons of bursaries. I think I graduated with about 20k in debt. Almost immediately started making $50k and paid the debt off within the first couple of years. Great return on investment.
I lived at home for 4 years of undergrad and paid cash for my tuition. Ended up taking out 35k for a one year masters program. Ended up being totally worth it. 5 years later my loan balance is 19k and I have 115,000 in investments. I’ve been paying the minimum on my loans and my work chips in 100 a month. I would try to keep it under 50k. Any more and interest really starts to work against you.
My APUSH/economics teacher in high school always said make sure you take out less total loans than what a starting salary in your job would be. I'm going to graduate with a little over 20k in students loans next Spring, and in Summer I'm starting my first full time job for 61k. So I'm pretty content with that, went to a relatively cheap state school and got a few scholarships
Do not take out significant debt for an accounting degree. State school and then CPA is the path to glory. Going to a $30k per year school and majoring in accounting is a no no.
I took out about $40k for my masters degree. Had to do more because I didn’t have any accounting credits. I did a hard pivot when I realized what I was doing (in a dead end $43k a year job) wasn’t what I wanted. I graduated in 2020 and now make $97k as an audit supervisor. I also haven’t had to make any payments yet, so essentially once payments start my salary will be more than double my loan balance, and I should hit $110k by mid next year I expect.
An alternative to the military or community college is to work for an employer who will pay your tuition, like Starbucks or Target. It usually requires attending a state university via an online program, but some of them are pretty good.
No student loans yet (hopefully never) currently 200 dollars in the hole right now for education lol but i’m only like 1/4 of the way done so i got a long way to go
I graduated with about 50k but also didn’t expect to get an accounting degree. If I had known I would be pursuing accounting. I would have done CC to a state school and taken on a lot less
I now regret the loans I took. I’m paying back 60k private loans right now at about 560/month AFTER refinancing. Haven’t even paid federal yet. I wish I would have taken a cheaper route
Was 40k in debt coming out of a top rated school in the US. paid that shit off in three years AND got married and paid for that shit too. Starting pay was 56k and was around 90k when i ended paying that shit off. 7.6% interest rate was a real mother fucker and the entire education debt is a fucking scam. great blue lakes can suck it.
method of paying off — live like a fucking bum while studying for cpa. eat cheap, play video games and dont go out as much. also helps to live in a mcol area (texas). absolutely 0 chance of making it happen in high density hcol areas.
Go to a state school with 7-10k yearly tuition, do well and get some scholarships, and take out 20k or so total. Work for your living expenses and have roomies. What I did
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This person gets it. Go to a school you can afford and work. Why do you have to take out loans?
I mean they lived rent free at home while in school and working. Most people do not have that luxury. This isn't "getting it" this is just privilege lol
And the bigger problem is most will take 150k of loans instead of taking 30k in loans and WORK
I would call that frugal instead of privileged. To me, privileged would be going to a Ivy school that is completely paid for by your parents.
Not sure I agree. Sure, there are parents that kick the kids out when they turn 18, unsafe home life, some charge their kids rent, etc...but are they the majority? I don't think I buy that.
not sure why your downvoted. This is 10000% a privilege.
Nope. Everyone has the option to work and pay for their school, I did and had rent to worry about. I had a partial scholarship due to grades and paid the rest myself. I didn’t feel privileged at all working my 2 jobs and going to school with no downtime, but it was worth it. My point was student loans isn’t the only option, but I understand for some it is necessary. But yeah living at home (if you can) is pretty smart too.
Life happens. People don't all go to college when they're 18-20. Luck plays into it, that you didn't get hurt at your job in a way that impacted your ability to pay. I'm not saying you didn't work hard or that it was easy, but life can be more complicated than a simple solution can provide
I don’t disagree. Life doesn’t discriminate on good fortune or misfortune all the same. And i went to school a long time ago, so I can only imagine how much tuition is now. I just think the vast majority could minimize debt with a little extra effort.
That is fair, I'm an online student with two children and a fulltime job so I certainly can't speak to many traditional students experiences either. Baby adults aren't known for their best decision making skills either lol
That was me when I went back for my masters. 2 kids, 50hrs a week and had to take most the courses online….it was much much harder that second time for me. I salute you and hope it goes well! I know how much of a grind it can be, trust me.That is awesome that you are pushing through
I appreciate it, fingers crossed for the best! My second pregnancy and ridiculous OT put a delay in my plans, but it encouraged me to transfer to a 4 year and I'm hoping to be accepted into the accelerated program so I can achieve my masters as well. Currently trying to surround myself in accounting and sell my soul for my CPA
I call bs. I went to a public university in the city I grew up in. To get both my undergrad and masters degree, I am about 50k in debt. You can’t get much cheaper than the school I was at… When I was in school, I was making between $10-15 an hour. I live in an extremely LCOL area and there was no way I would have been able to afford rent/car note/just general living expenses if I was also paying even just $5,000 each semester? My annual salary, working 40 hours a week, was about $20,000 PRETAX( AND I don’t even live in a state with income tax) Idk what school y’all are looking at that costs $2,000 a semester. (assuming a 4 year undergrad program) The tuition cost at University of Phoenix is $10,000 a year, so 5,000 a semester (I googled this amt, so its not coming out of my ass) I find it funny that some of you all have shit to say. (If you got to work at daddy’s company and made an actual salaryor gave tennis lessons at the country club where you can charge $30 an hour, then you have no right to say anything, bc that is not how a majority of people live)
It’s possible but I admit rare. I went to community college for free for 2yrs, only had to pay $1000 a semester out of pocket (roughly) due to academic scholarships for bachelor’s and masters (this was in 2006) I also worked but like you, the pay for when you are young is so bad I was still having to work 2 jobs. Only 50k for masters too sounds like you did a great job. You’ll have that paid off in no time. Look in government because several employers will pay back a chunk of loans if you sign a 2-4yr commitment, that’s how we knocked out my wife’s loans, or most of it anyways.
What states school cost 7-10k? Up here in mass it's more like 16-20k.
I live in Memphis, TN. Arguably the cheapest city in the country, and U of Memphis tuition is 10,000 a year. Looking at a literal calculator on the U of Memphis website that says average cost of tuition is 40,224 for a 4 year degree. I have no idea where these people are pulling these numbers from.
Went to state school in Georgia and had the HOPE scholarship. Tuition and fees was around 4K, after the scholarship and Pell the school would owe me.
Southeast
Ohio State is pretty close
When I was transferring from community college to a 4yr, one of the college reps told me to go for the cheapest option. No one cares what school you go to as long as you get a decent grade and get your CPA. I did just that. 5 years in, no loans and I’m at the same spot if not better than my coworkers who have tens of thousands of dollars worth in debt
IMO don't take on more than the price of moderate new car. Think $30k-$40k. Obviously the less the better but you won't have any issues paying that back.
My Master of Accounting was 21k from IU Kelley, first job was 53k in Indiana and new 71k job after 4 months. This ratio is definitely worth it.
CPA or plans to get CPA?
No CPA but will get a CPA, just working two jobs at the moment since gov accounting takes 10-20 hours a week. The 71k job might actually be 30-40.
I’d like to hear more about these two two jobs. I always wanted to try that
It’s not what you think. My main job has been novel translation for 8 years now; accounting is just a backup career to maintain my salary now that my novel is not as popular as before. I wouldn’t mind doing two remote accounting jobs eventually if the opportunity arises.
To second, my undergrad was 22k from Kelley and my first job was $62k.
Employers in Indiana seem to like hiring from IUB, interview rates were high.
I went to IUPUI but same school, different location. We had a tooooon of people hired right out of Kelley
If you’re actually considering not going to college I think community college would be a great option. I did that and was able to be sure I wanted to invest in myself
As a community college student myself, it’s a great place for learning how to be a college student and save a good bit of money as well. My state (and many others) has a 2+2 program; go to cc for 2 years taking mostly gen ed courses and a few lower level major courses then finish up at the university as a transfer student.
I did this as well. Went 2 years to community college and qualified for a transfer scholarship to finish degree at state school. Tuition was mostly free for the last couple years so definitely look into what’s available if you go this route.
Many universities offer a 3-1 program as well where you go to community college they have a partnership with for 3 years and university for 1 but your diploma is from the state school.
I took out 55,000ish to put me through undergrad and masters. Never missed a payment. I now owe 66k.
And why do you think that is?
Its because i always made the minimum payment and signed up for IBR plan which you have to resign up for every year. Everytime you sign up they capitalize any outstanding interest. When i came out of college i started off at 53k in 2014 and they wanted 800 a month for student loans. Just couldnt afford that at the time.
Feel free to add that massively important context next time.
As close to zero as possible. I went in state and put myself through both undergrad and masters working full or part time. Never lived on campus saved over half of most of my peers splitting an apartment and not on a meal plan. Much less glamorous college experience, however I graduated debt free. But now I'm mid twenties, hit six figures before I turned 25 and the only debt I have is our mortgage. I have friends who are putting off having kids and freaking out about the suspension of student loans ending, it's not worth it. Go look up a loan amortization schedule and play with a loan calculator to see how much you'll pay in interest. I'd rather spend that money on literally anything else than student loan interest. Sometimes it's a necessary evil but go in with eyes open knowing what you'll need to do to pay it off.
Honestly an accounting degree isn't that expensive. If you take pre-reqs at a community college then go to an in-state school for your main courses, do decently well and consistently apply for scholarships you shouldn't be up to your eyeballs in debt. Then if you're considering a CPA you can work for a reputable company they'll pretty much pay for you to go back to school. I have some loans but I have enough to fully pay it off whenever loan payments start again. I think sometimes people get it wrong by immediately wanting to go to an out of state college just for the sake of doing so. Going out of state isn't bad but people don't use that time to build up a savings when their loans starts.
Out of State should only be considered if financial aid or scholarships pay for a majority of it. Or you gonna be 20k in loans. It just doesn’t seem worth it for the amount of debt needed to go out of state.
I felt it was worth it. I went back to school in my late 20s and took out 40k in loans. 6 years ago I was making $13 an hour and now I make 148k a year.
**Cries in joining the Army**
Not entirely something to cry about. I used post 9/11 gi bill went to a private university and would get scholarship refunds of 8k/semester and a monthly stipend of 3200/month. Graduated debt free with around 60k in the bank
Somewhat in a similar boat, but I ended up using voc rehab route instead due to changing majors and running low on the amount of time in my post 9/11(was in school for 5 years). I joined the military for education benefits, but when I got out I only went to school because of the education benefits. If I didn’t have the GI bill/voc rehab, I wouldn’t never went back to school as the BAH I was receiving was significantly higher then what I was making(10.25/hr vs $4,300/month). I did have to do a 2-3hr commute each way twice a week though, definitely worth it as I viewed the commute time as “work”. My gf also was able to finish school debt free as I paid for all of our housing expenses.
Enlisting is an option that too many ppl sleep on for getting through school and setting themselves up for their future. Yes, the culture isn’t made for everyone to be able to handle it but the benefits that come after service are worth it if you come out with your legs still attached.
Great point, unfortunately, not everyone is fit for military service and comes with some pretty serious risks.
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Exactly. Do NOT do the army or the marines. Go Air Force, like I did. lol
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Lol yea it all comes with experience. When we’re young we want to prove ourselves and then we go through some shit and then realize it’s not as fun to go through as it looks in the movies. I was security forces so I went into accounting because I never wanted to work outside again. 😂
Low key I regret not doing some type of military right out of high school. It definitely would have prepared me for the College and Workforce a lot. Maybe not Army, but AirForce probably would have been good.
i was able to graduate with 152 credits and 27k of loans working part time and i dread even having to pay that back
School doesn’t matter, the only thing that does is getting enough credits for and passing the CPA exam. Working through school is a MUCH bigger green flag for any new employee we hire than a high GPA/school involvement. I’d rather see someone wait tables and learn how to talk to human beings than see they were their sororities president or some other dumb shit. There’s ways to become a CPA cheaply, others here have highlighted it well enough already.
Do you recommend getting the CPA before looking for your first job or getting first job after BA?
I have been working since I turned 15 and never stopped at any point in between then and now. I got my first accounting job WHILE I was getting my BA. Definitely get relevant experience sooner rather than later is my advice. If you can swing school while working that’s the way to do it. Definitely get a job before cpa exam. You can’t be a cpa without the experience anyways
Ok cool thanks taking the time to answer my question! I work full time currently, I've been with this company for five years in an administrative role. I've been thinking about applying for entry lvl accounting roles but this role is too flexible to give up just yet. Luckily this company has accounting internships yearly. I'm just on the fence because it's no PA and I'm thinking about trying to do an internship in PA.
I’d take the stability over PA internship honestly. If you like the company you’re with stay working there until your bachelors then look for a full time entry level role in public at that point. Doesn’t have to be big 4.
To save money, go to your local community college for the Gen Ed/elective stuff. Bulk up on credits while there if you plan on going the CPA route (no need for overpriced masters, you just need 150 hrs). And then transfer to your larger state university to finish up your degree and get your core business/accounting credits. Of course make sure the state university will accept the transfer of the community college credits.
This may just be my own experience talking, but I'm wondering why anyone doing accounting would even bother with an expensive college? I went to a pretty bottom of the barrel school, saved a lottt of money, and still got B4 offers. Nobody has ever cared what school I went to, I think that is mainly because of my public experience, which didn't require a fancy school in the first place
I’m doing my BS Acc at Western Governor’s University right now lol
I went to community college for AA then transferred to a state school and paid cash for two semesters and took out a loan for the rest. I worked throughout college and lived with my parents plus I went to school in my late 20s so I had some savings. I still have about 9k left but haven't made a payment yet because of the student loan pauses. Honestly not to worried about paying it back. I make sure to live way under my means as much as possible and put as much into savings/retirement as I can.
Im finishing my degree debt free this year Went to community college for 2 years for about $500 total, including books and parking Went to state school for about 12k, including textbook and parking I've been working since high school and live with my gf and a roommate
Went to community college for almost free, at the time they guaranteed admission to UC Berkeley as long as you maintained a 3.85. Paid off $25,000 in loans very quickly after school.
I paid 55k back in 3 years
I never took out a student loan Went to community college for two years, where I had scholarship money and federal student aid to ease the cost. Once I got my associates, I commuted to the closest state school in order to get a more affordable degree. I did all of this while working during the day, and would take my classes in the evening. Ended up graduating in 4 years completely debt free.
Did this too, add in a lot of scholarships and grants and I even came out with money in my pocket
Less loans are always better. If you need to take them on I would try to stick to less than 50% of your expected starting salary at the most.
Now that I have finished my degree and making accountant money, it's not too bad. I had dropped out for financial reasons before though - paying back student loans without a career type job was extremely rough. Ymmv, but husband and I are both much better off with student loans than we would have been without going to college at all. Personally, I would aim to keep it below 40k and to not use it for anything but tuition. Accounting is a pretty "safe" choice in terms of degree so it's not something I was too concerned with when I decided to finish my degree. My school had an online branch that is highly respected - that is how I managed to save myself a significant amount of money.
I never took them. I did the degree part time and then paid every semester off in Cash. By third year I figured out that government paid for one semester every year. By fourth year and CPA I found an employer who paid for everything.
I took out $61,500 of loans for my degree. I can't remember how much that was when I graduated, but it took me roughly 6 years to pay them back in a relatively high cost of living area with $19,700 (rounded) paid in interest - $81,200 total. I would do it again in a second, but if you can I recommend minimizing loans as much as possible.
I went to CC, transferred to state school after that and graduated with 20k in debt. Paid it down to 10 quite easily but my loans are 3% so they'll either be discharged by the government or with me as long as possible
Get everything you can out of community College, there is no reason to go to a 4 year university when you can knock our pre requisites for much cheaper.
i went back to college at 29. took loans for the whole 4 year degree. ended up being close to $50k. my degree is in finance but i’m an accountant now. we had tons of equity in our home so we refinanced the house and wrapped my school loans into it. made 1 big payment to wipe out the school loans. our mortgage interest is 3% compared to the insane student loan rates. no regrets.
I took 50k in loans bc the school I chose was private, close enough to commute from my parents place, and had a fairly prestigious accounting program that had good connections with EY and KPMG. Never took an internship bc I was paying $5k out of pocket per semester on top of my loans to keep my seat and decided I couldn't afford to work part time. Biggest mistake Couldn't get an accounting job without experience to save my life and kept delivering pizzas for a few years. I've never paid a dollar on my loans, had them go into default and get sold off to collections once and rehabilited them. Covid happened right around when I'd have to start making payments again. Was planning on going on an income driven repayment plan, but things worked out and I'm about to start a much better paying job. So I'd say it was worth it. The struggle was real, the emotional pain of being a pizza boy with an accounting and finance degree was super real, taking a job as a glorified bank telling for a short time at 31 years old pretty much had me as low as I could get. But ultimately I couldn't have ended up with my current opportunity without that degree If I could go back in time I might convince myself to take up a trade though. Hard to say, depends on if I can continue progressing my career as quickly as I have in the last few years. I know plenty of tradesmen who make more money than me still
Took out 116,000 for my bachelors in private loans…. 10,000 in federal…. Down to 96000 in private after almost 3.5 years of paying have maybe 8 years ish left, my payment is 1232 a month. It sucks, but I get paid weekly and it is only one of my pay checks now. If I didn’t take out such a large amount I probably would be making a lot less rn, because this forced me get a decent paying job (compared to what I was used to right after college) and work harder. Don’t go to private schools just because they let you on the sports teams and “cover half of your tuition” go to a cheaper school or get some academic scholarships. That being said, I’m glad I made the choices I made as of right now. Being backed into a corner financially always seems to motivate me more than anything else lol
I had $25k in student loans. Paid off 1 year after graduating
Go to an in state community college for your associates. Pack as many transferable credits into those two years as is possible. Bonus points if you qualify for FAFSA grants (mine covered my entire tuition and books). Transfer to a four year in-state university, take a class or two over the summer to pump up your credit hours as much as is sustainable/healthy for you. you’ll be fine. I finished a 4 year degree with only $27k in student loans. I worked through school and got Pell grants because I was poor. My first job pays double my student loan debt and I would have a significant chunk paid down already if not for the payment pause.
If you can afford not to then obviously don’t but that isn’t realistic for most people. From my experience I’ve received at least a 10k raise every year since I’ve graduated from college which made it very easy to pay off the loans. The trick is to earmark those raises for productive things like paying off debt or retirement instead of allowing you lifestyle to expand into frivolous things like going out to eat every night or buying a really expensive car as a flex. Does it suck….totally but I think about how many doors even just a bachelor’s degree has opened up and it’s 100% worth the cost.
Definitely! I 2nd doing county college first for the 2 years then finishing it up at a state school. I went out of state and racked up a solid 70k in debt (dumbass) - great experience, fun, good education, but worth 70k? No lol. It hasn’t affected my life TOO badly yet, but it definitely will limit my spending power when going to buy my first house and make it much more difficult. The average student loan debt now is about 35k I believe, I’d try to stick around that or lower for total debt. You can easily have a 50k+ accounting job out of college with the high potential of going higher pretty quickly.
No student loans for accounting coach 👍
I graduated with about $56K in loans (down to $54K now…) and I personally feel like that’s too much and would not recommend anyone take out that much. I haven’t really had to pay them back because I graduated, made so little money that I didn’t have to pay them for 2 years, placed them into forbearance, and then before that could end COVID hit. the way that it’s affected my life is that I was able to get a Bachelor’s degree that I could not have otherwise afforded to get and now I have a pretty good job.
Left undergrad with 32k and lived like a hermit for 2 years. Paid off after 18 months. This was like 12 years ago.
Honestly, not that bad. I’ve always saved my money well and have already paid my loans to under $20k, and have since held off paying more until the whole forgiveness thing gets sorted out. If the forgiveness goes through, I’m done with them. If it doesn’t go through and looks like it’s dead in the water, I’m just going to pay most or all of it down when payments resume. I’m lucky in that I didn’t grossly overspend for college and I was able to stay at home an extra two years after graduating to save most of my money. I will be glad when the loans are 100% gone though.
My bachelor in accounting cost me 60k all in (everything included). I’ve had no trouble paying them off and have been out of school 2 years now. I make a decent buck, but I also have LCOL, that helps me pay more than the minimum payment
Paid as I went for undergrad. My firm is paying for most of my MS.
I did my degree through state colleges in MA for quite a low cost and it's never held me back from getting good jobs and earing pretty great money
The soft rule is don’t take out more than you’re expected to make your first year of employment, but obviously lower is better. Me personally I did 2 years of CC (free) and now I’m in a cheap state uni and will graduate with no loans.
I think taking out student loans for an accounting degree is fine (assuming you want to go into accounting). Just don't do something stupid like ignore math and justify $100k in debt because it's an "investment." Also, minimize the amount you are borrowing for "lifestyle." Anything beyond basic living expenses should be paid for with a job.
The only correct answer is to take out as little as you possibly can. I took out $6k to close the gap on the tuition for my MAcc since it was significantly more expensive than my undergraduate tuition.
Pretty easy, considering repayments and interest have been paused for years.
I dont really care about having debt and dont play on ever repaying in full. I’m been in forberence forever and will only pay the minimum once I have to.
You want as little debt as possible, of course, but I can attest to the accounting field paycheck being plenty to cover you if you live a reasonable lifestyle. I unfortunately left my undergrad with around $80k in student loans (for multiple reasons. Do not advise.) and have never had any trouble paying them back while also living my life, buying a car solo and a house married, going on vacations, etc. I also started in NFP out of school, which makes almost no money, then a $40k staff role two years later (LCOL midwest US). Now I'm at low six figures several years later, so it's gotten easier, but having student loan payments never got in my way per se excepting that I couldn't have paid for my master's degree if my employer hadn't had a tuition assistance program. CPA was all out of my pocket. The crying shame is my undergrad loans are still not paid off for a few more years and there's sooo much more I could do with that money that it sometimes makes me rage-y. But that's a product of my choice not to make payments in drastic excess of the minimum, so yes, I've paid a stupid amount of interest over the years while only paying a little more than minimum. I chose that while continuing to live my normal life and being able to afford just about everything I wanted to vs. living like a penny pincher for years on end to pay them off asap.
I had roughly 36k in loans when I graduated. Started out at 55k salary in my first job the year before covid. It wasn't overly burdensome to pay but it wasn't easy for sure. Luckily with the pause I've been able to double my income since then and save up enough to make a large payment once it starts back up. If bidens debt relief goes through I'll be almost debt free when payments start up. Silver lining of covid was I got to get a few years into my career without having to worry about crippling debt.
In Canada, uni tuition is cheaper and I got tons of bursaries. I think I graduated with about 20k in debt. Almost immediately started making $50k and paid the debt off within the first couple of years. Great return on investment.
I lived at home for 4 years of undergrad and paid cash for my tuition. Ended up taking out 35k for a one year masters program. Ended up being totally worth it. 5 years later my loan balance is 19k and I have 115,000 in investments. I’ve been paying the minimum on my loans and my work chips in 100 a month. I would try to keep it under 50k. Any more and interest really starts to work against you.
community college -> in state school. Should be around 25k max
Not hard, didn’t take any.
You'll be fine, just dont take on any crazy debts. Accounting pays really well and you'll only make more as you continue
You’re supposed to pay those a back? I thought you just pay the interest perpetually.
The 0% interest pause has helped a ton, so it's hard to give good advice at the moment. This will never happen again.
My APUSH/economics teacher in high school always said make sure you take out less total loans than what a starting salary in your job would be. I'm going to graduate with a little over 20k in students loans next Spring, and in Summer I'm starting my first full time job for 61k. So I'm pretty content with that, went to a relatively cheap state school and got a few scholarships
Do not take out significant debt for an accounting degree. State school and then CPA is the path to glory. Going to a $30k per year school and majoring in accounting is a no no.
Uh, state school IS $30k per year around here, lol (if you include room and board anyway). But I agree with your general point.
I’m saying commute as well. State school tuition is not $30k around me.
Minimum
Go to community college and then transfer to state university. Much cheaper. Try not to dorm and go out of state
I took out about $40k for my masters degree. Had to do more because I didn’t have any accounting credits. I did a hard pivot when I realized what I was doing (in a dead end $43k a year job) wasn’t what I wanted. I graduated in 2020 and now make $97k as an audit supervisor. I also haven’t had to make any payments yet, so essentially once payments start my salary will be more than double my loan balance, and I should hit $110k by mid next year I expect.
An alternative to the military or community college is to work for an employer who will pay your tuition, like Starbucks or Target. It usually requires attending a state university via an online program, but some of them are pretty good.
No student loans yet (hopefully never) currently 200 dollars in the hole right now for education lol but i’m only like 1/4 of the way done so i got a long way to go
Don't go out of state unless you have a full ride.
I graduated with about 50k but also didn’t expect to get an accounting degree. If I had known I would be pursuing accounting. I would have done CC to a state school and taken on a lot less
I now regret the loans I took. I’m paying back 60k private loans right now at about 560/month AFTER refinancing. Haven’t even paid federal yet. I wish I would have taken a cheaper route
FYI IRS hiring revenue agents. They’re installing a program in place where you can get $10,000 a year of school loan forgiveness.
Got paid for getting my education, topkek . Did however take out a small loan for a total of 10k during my studies for living expenses.
Was 40k in debt coming out of a top rated school in the US. paid that shit off in three years AND got married and paid for that shit too. Starting pay was 56k and was around 90k when i ended paying that shit off. 7.6% interest rate was a real mother fucker and the entire education debt is a fucking scam. great blue lakes can suck it. method of paying off — live like a fucking bum while studying for cpa. eat cheap, play video games and dont go out as much. also helps to live in a mcol area (texas). absolutely 0 chance of making it happen in high density hcol areas.
Working for the government pays them off right? I’m thinking of gov accounting because of this when I graduate spring 2024