My rant on SCHOOL DEBT

The anonymous reply to my last post reminds me of one of my other favorite rants.  College Debt.  Ugh.

My nephew wanted to go to the Illinois Institue of Art to study art.  (Yes, the boys in the family are unusually artistically inclined.)  If he would have gone, by the time he finished his Bachelor’s Degree he would have been ***$100,000*** in debt.  Call me crazy, but that just isn’t acceptable to me.  I know he felt betrayed when everyone told him he’d be silly to spend that kind of money for an art degree.

My take on on the whole situation is that is he truly wanted to study art, he would have had no problem attending the local state university (which had also accepted him) while living at home.  Zero debt (grandpa offered to pay tuition).  Art Degree.  Same outcome, but without the weight of an outrageous debt hanging around his neck.  He chose to go to work rather than attend any college.

From an early age, we’ve brainwashed…  errr….  shared with our children that it is important to try to finish college without acquiring any debt.  They are also aware that our income is not going to finance an all-expense paid trip to an Ivy League school or even the big state university, for that matter.  We expect them to work and possibly live at home, if that’s what it takes.  If they are truly committed to a vocation requiring a degree they will have no trouble seeking it within these parameters.

Larry Burkett is a man I greatly admire.  He became an electrician first and then worked to finance his own education.  Eventually, he founded Christian Financial Concepts (which later merged into Crown Financial Ministries) and spent his life teaching people about good money management.

One topic I heard him speak about more than once was about the number of young people who felt called into the ministry or into missions, but were not able to go right after college because of the debt they carried.  For whatever reason, that was etched in my brain and I vowed to do whatever it takes to make sure my children don’t find themselves in that position.

We’re attempting to live this philosophy out in our own lives, as well.  It wouldn’t go very far for us to preach at them not to go into debt in school while piling up a ton of our own.  Yes, we’ve made some mistakes in the past, but we are paying down our debt and not taking on any new.  This decision causes much of our frustration around this homestead.  Tractor,  FENCE, truck, livestock, tiller, FENCE, barns… they all cost money and we aren’t willing to borrow any right now to buy these things.  We also want to keep enough money in our savings for emergencies.  So, our improvements only creep along and I find myself getting a little crazy because they aren’t getting done as fast as I’d like.

But I know all of this will pay dividends in the future.  I just need to hang on and not give up!