[From the class of 09]

Though affordability remains a priority at Liberty, the average debt for students graduating in 2010 was $27,663, higher than the state average. The estimate includes federal and private loans for undergraduate residential students, said Rob Ritz, LU’s executive director of financial aid. Liberty did not provide a figure for online students.

Liberty’s blend of online and residential programs allows the university to keep tuition on the low end for private schools, LU officials said.

“There’s not anything more important you can do to help a student stay out of debt than to keep your cost of tuition down,” said LU Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr.

Liberty’s loan default rate was 4.8 percent for students entering repayment in 2009-10, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education. The rate includes residential and online students, with the latter now comprising the bulk of Liberty’s enrollment. Liberty has about 12,560 residential students and 80,000 online.

Liberty officials point out that the university’s default rate falls well below many of their online competitors in the for-profit sector, which have come under scrutiny for their high default rates.

“There was a concern at one time that online students would just take a course here and a course there, and they might be somebody who is chronically unemployed, but that’s not the case,” Falwell said. “These are people who are out there working. They’re taking more education to move up ... So the outcome’s pleasing to us, the fact that they’re paying their loans back.”

All schools that administer federal loan programs are required to provide financial counseling that educations students about their loans. Liberty has expanded on that requirement by creating more than 60 YouTube-style videos about money management.

“We are pushing financial literacy online more than ever before,” said Ritz. “We have links to videos and information on handling their money, handling a checking card, credit card debt. . . That’s all in addition to the government required entrance counseling.”

By next fall, Liberty plans to implement special programming for at-risk students, such as those who have defaulted on past loans. It’s part of a long-term strategy to keep default rates down, Ritz said.

http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2012/m ... r-1736194/

[From the class of 09]

Living the american dream. And we wonder why our country has a budget problem.

[ALUmnus]

If you can get a cheap loan to get a degree you think will change your life, why would you not? Sure it's a risk, but for most people it's a good one.

[From the class of 09]

If you can get a cheap loan to get a degree you think will change your life, why would you not?

Because a 18 year old kid has no idea what 20k+ of student debt looks like. What principal are we teaching when your first adult experience is financed by debt. It starts a pretty easy pattern for later in life. Especially when a 18 year old has no idea what kind of salary they will be looking at upon graduation.

If I would have worked a year or two after high school I know I would have been much more appreciative of my college classes. I also would have put a lot more thought into taking out student loans. But that's probably just me, I'm sure I was the only teenager who took out more money than they needed in student debt.

[ALUmnus]

Sure it's a risk, but for most people it's a good one.

Let's quote the second part of my statement.

[From the class of 09]

Sure it's a risk, but for most people it's a good one.

Let's quote the second part of my statement.

Thats your opinion and used to be mine.

But as our nation approaches $1 trillion in student loan debt with rising default rates I'd tend to disagree with you.

[ATrain]

Thank God for scholarships and putting me and others in the right place at the right time.

[SuperJon]

I don't wish my student loan debt on anyone. I push most of my students to go to community college for two years before going to a four year school. My debt from school is ridiculous.

[ALUmnus]

Sure it's a risk, but for most people it's a good one.

Let's quote the second part of my statement.

Thats your opinion and used to be mine.

But as our nation approaches $1 trillion in student loan debt with rising default rates I'd tend to disagree with you.

First, of course the debt total is high, it's accumulated over decades and millions of students. Second, the rising default rates might have just a smidgeon to do with unemployment and the rising price of commodities, just a guess. Community colleges are great for gen ed classes, but tuition rates are too high for most people to save up for a BS/BA or pay as you go. You'd be in your late 30's before you'd graduate.

No, loans are not ideal, but they are typically the best and only option.

[adam42381]

I know a guy in NC who graduated from Wake Forest with student loan debt amounting to almost $200k. He was a government major and couldn't find a job out of college. At the time I moved in May 2010, he had been working for over a year making $12 an hour working in a call center. He's still working there now.

[SuperJon]

Community colleges are great for gen ed classes, but tuition rates are too high for most people to save up for a BS/BA or pay as you go. You'd be in your late 30's before you'd graduate.

Most states have some sort of a scholarship that you can get that will cover most of the tuition of a community college. My sister did it in NC and I know Tennessee has a scholarship that will do it. If you get ___ on the SAT/ACT or have an ____ GPA then you qualify for it. It will basically cover your community college tuition and books. Then, if you do well in community college (which you have to do to keep your scholarship), it opens you up to a lot of scholarships for your University that you wouldn't have had out of high school.

It doesn't completely eliminate the need for loans but that route makes it much, much more affordable.

[LUconn]

What is wrong with you guys? I'm paying like 2% on my loans. I wish I had taken out 5 times the amount and slept on top of piles of money. Cheapest money you'll ever borrow in your life.

[From the class of 09]

What is wrong with you guys? I'm paying like 2% on my loans. I wish I had taken out 5 times the amount and slept on top of piles of money. Cheapest money you'll ever borrow in your life.

But you still have to pay it back and what kind a loan do you have that's at 2%?

at some point lender is to borrower what master is to slave

[LUconn]

Sallie Mae. Consolidating reduced the rate and then she threw me a further reduction for, get this, making my payments consistently. Considering a lot of people have their repayment deferred and deferred and deferred, I kinda wonder who the master and the slave is.


Now, as much as I don't think it's a big deal for students, it's a pretty huge deal for the lenders who are not going to get significant portions of this money back.

[bballfan84]

I used to be among the thinkers that to be successful you HAD to have a college degree. This of course was normally followed up with a nice sizeable student loan. However after being in the real world for 5 years I realized that going to college isnt a must (I was fortunate not to have student debt)..specially when thinking about student debt. I think one of the main factors in being successful, aside from a career that requires very specific degrees (Lawyers..doctors etc), is good business common sense and connections. It is something to think about rather than just diving into 100k worth of student debt. Learning about standard deviation has proven to be pretty irrelevant along with many other subjects learned in college.

[From the class of 09]

What the crap is this. You old timers get to pay your low 2-3% while us young guns make payments at 6.8%.

http://loanconsolidation.ed.gov/credit_ ... dl-sub.pdf

[LUconn]

I'm only 5 years older than you. I had no idea that I was in such an exclusive window of cheap money. Suckers.

[jmdickens]

I don't wish my student loan debt on anyone. I push most of my students to go to community college for two years before going to a four year school. My debt from school is ridiculous.

THIS ^

Same here SJ and im underemployed and it sucks. I went 3 years of paying 750 a month in student loans and I always did it and paid my other bills. well after the divorce and everything else and now not being fully employed makes it so hard and I just deferred for the first time. I tell everyone that community college is the way to go and then an in-state school if they are paying for the bill. However, I do tell them to pray about it because God could be calling them to a place like LU. Maybe a 40 day fast will change my heart, view and approach and expectations and I can figure things out.

[jinxy]

choosing a good major is a wise start, unless of course you are called to ministry, then there's not a whole lot of choices money wise.

Also, establishing contacts while you are in undergrad by working in the summer, even if it's crap jobs. That's what got my foot in the door, they you have to make hey from there.

[BJWilliams]

choosing a good major is a wise start, unless of course you are called to ministry, then there's not a whole lot of choices money wise.

Also, establishing contacts while you are in undergrad by working in the summer, even if it's crap jobs. That's what got my foot in the door, they you have to make hey from there.

QFT. I kinda wish I had made a few more contacts while I was in undergrad and that might have helped me to have a stronger foundation in my field

[Purple Haize]

We need to offer more educational opportunities in TRADES. Welder, carpenters plumbers etc. more engineers less General Studies and Philosophy majors.

[rogers3]

... less General Studies and Philosophy majors.

You better watch out, buddy!

[Purple Haize]

... less General Studies and Philosophy majors.

You better watch out, buddy!

Ha. I know what degree I have framed in my office!

[jmdickens]

We need to offer more educational opportunities in TRADES. Welder, carpenters plumbers etc. more engineers less General Studies and Philosophy majors.

I agree with getting rid of ^^^^ but the trade dept is better served through hands on experience and getting paid to do it.

I am about 2500 hours short of a journeyman's license and I double majored in college. Ehh, Maybe should have just went into a trade.

[flamesfan30]

you guys are kidding with the shot at philosophy, right?

learning to think critically is one of the most valuable skills you can learn in college, and applicable anywhere, and philosphy is one of the few majors that actually teaches that here (along with government, and possibly a few others) if we want to be taken seriously as a educational institution, we shouldn't get rid of the most intellectual major the school offers.

also, trades are valuable, yes and the school has moved to add them.

that being said, general studies is just an excuse to be indecisive.