College and Student Debt

I'm very opinionated and I rarely go along with the herd in my logic. If what I have to say rankles, I apologize in advance.

First, to answer your question - no, it's not worth it. If you have  the grades for financial aid or you have  the financial means to pay for college, or to combine or both with working while you're in school, then college is manageable. You should focus on a degree that will provide an excellent ROI, like engineering.

Regardless of that, you should never finance ANYTHING that you will not have equity in. If you can't sell it in order to eliminate the debt, or, better, to profit, then you shouldn't consider taking on debt to acquire it. Some folks say that your degree creates equity, but it is actually your labor that creates that. 

Second - this is the part that might rankle - you need to spend the next two years working your ass off and living at home with your Dad and pay off your student debt. Do not go out into the world with that anvil hanging over your head.

You have the debt already, so tackle it and when, you're done, you'll have your degree, your work, and will be able to either move into an apartment of your own or save up to buy a house.

Like you, I grew up in a family living paycheck to paycheck. Today, I'm a college drop out and make more money as a self-taught software engineer than I could have made teaching with the philosophy degree I abandoned. I can't complain about the direction my life has taken or the lifestyle my wife and I live, but if I'd had a little more direction in my mid-20s, I'd be very well off today.

One more thing - take your CPA. It will be as much as 10% higher salary. You're thinking that it won't make that much of a difference now, but you have to realize that the 10% difference in salary today can be worth as much as 350,000 over the course of your career, possibly more, depending on your location and job market. $350,000 is a really nice house and two cars in its driveway.

When it comes to getting the CPA and to paying off the debt, put the work in now, reap the benefits for the rest of your life.

Win the lottery... problem solved

Its just that easy.... unless you have luck like me of course

A credit card isn't bad if you're disciplined. My wife and I make all of our purchases (and as many bill payments as possible) on credit cards.

First of all, that lets you float the money for 30 days without interest, in case of an emergency. Second, with an excellent cash back card, you can get thousands of dollars a year back, just for paying for things you'd already pay for.

The key is to pay off your balance before the billing rolls over, so you never have an interest charge.