The latest at The Wireless shows that it's hard to get by on a student budget. But it shows something else too: students are racking up huge amounts of debt that, in some cases, may be unlikely to produce any real return.
Will Matthews flicks through his inbox looking for the email every student dreads.B.A. in History and Politics.
“I think I owe about $20,000” he says hesitantly. “Maybe a bit more.”
For the past four years, the 21-year-old has avoided looking at how much debt he’s racked up studying history and politics at the University of Auckland.
Now is his final year, Will takes a weary peak at his student loan balance.
“It’s actually $68,000 … ouch.”
They feature a 3rd year student in sociology and media studies expecting to have debt of $40,000 on graduation, a 3rd year performing arts student expecting debt of $52,000 on graduation, and a 4th year student in social work expecting to have $50,000 in debt on graduation - the same as a 3rd year student in psych and sociology.
It would be ... interesting ... to run ROI calculations on these degrees taking into account opportunity costs of years spent in training.
The most worrying thing is this kid managed to live with a $48,000 discrepancy in what he thought he owed vs what was the case. I'd say that ignorance alone is a pretty good heuristic for understanding his ROI.
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