If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website.

If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.

Main content

Benefits and drawbacks of college loans

College loans can be a big help, but they're a big responsibility too. They're like investing in yourself, but you gotta be smart about it. Know how much you owe, what your monthly payments will be, and how it fits into your budget. Remember, loans are for school, not spring break fun!

Want to join the conversation?

  • blobby green style avatar for user James Youknowwho
    where do you get the factors to decide whether its worth the money for a college degree? Education is about knowledge, and knowledge is pretty accessible online (aka khan academy) for free. Networking with alumni and sweet college parties seem to be the only reason to pay tuition. Is it worth it for the (Average) person?
    I'm considering grad school, MBA. I don't think it financially worth it.
    (7 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • aqualine ultimate style avatar for user Brittany S
    Does anyone here actually have student loans, and if so, what's it like having them? Because I've heard stories, especially my mom's, where the student loans crushed their dreams that they worked for four years to accomplish. So I'm very biased against them. But seriously, what's it like having loans?
    (3 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • aqualine ultimate style avatar for user beeemkcl
      It depends on how large your loans are and how much you are earning yearly and how much your cost of living is.

      You sacrifice during school to earn good grades and otherwise learn stuff. Going to college you sacrifice perhaps free time, you sacrifice earnings, etc.

      But once out of college, if your loans are manageable, then over the long run, you're much better off going to college. Earning low to mid 6-figures in your 30s and low-to-high 6-figures in your 40s, 50s, etc. and maybe eventually earning 7-figures (including investments, etc.) is far preferable to earning low to mid 5-figures your entire life.
      (2 votes)
  • leafers seed style avatar for user seymourmath
    At , the Phillips Andover Academy speaker mentions the $26,000 and $29,000 figures for students debt. Is it true that college loans are the only loans that can't be discharged or used as a figure in the declaration of bankruptcy?y?

    Wouldn't it be better for the nation to alter this policy?
    (3 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • leafers seed style avatar for user Alecia Petridis
    what happen if students get backlog for 1 year when she/he take loans?
    (2 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • leafers ultimate style avatar for user Ankit Sharma
    I think this is only for US Citizens :/
    (2 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • mr pants pink style avatar for user mguzman36
    Is it bad to have more than one school loan?
    (1 vote)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • aqualine tree style avatar for user David Alexander
      You put together a package of loans that gets you through. You may have many of them by the time you finish college. Whenever there is an option to get next year's money at a lower rate than last year's money, take the lower interest option rather than "stick with the first one you did for simplicity's sake". You may want things to be simple, but paying higher interest to keep it that way is not smart.
      (1 vote)

Video transcript

- The great majority of students have debt when they graduate from college. The average for a student going to a public school is about $26,000 of debt. For a private school it's around $29,000 of debt. - Taking out loans to pay for your education is a highly, highly, personal decision making process. And it gets complicated because I think families tend to advise students and sometimes that advice is very helpful and other times it's kind of antagonistic because it just adds another pressure that you have to keep in mind. And sometimes the pressure is to take out loans because no one has money right now, or in other times it's we're not taking out any loans because we have no money to pay it back. Which might mean that if you're not going to take out loans, you need to pay everything right now. Which means you might have to work a whole lot more, somehow, in order to pay for your education. And so my biggest advice is to think very practically about can you actually pay back those loans? - Always have an understanding of what is your overall indebtedness. I see students get into trouble because they just keep taking out loans every year and then it's a big surprise for them at the end of four years how much they owe. So you should know how much you've borrowed, you should know what that means in terms of monthly payments when you graduate. What's the dollar amount that you're going to be responsible for? And have an understanding of basic budgeting. What does that mean in terms of what will your lifestyle need to be when you graduate. So don't just take out those loans blindly. Know what the monthly payment obligation is going to be, what that means for you once you're out in the world of work. Unfortunately, we can't avoid those student loans forever. So it means taking out loans for reasons that will keep you in school. Taking out a loan because you want to do a really fun spring break probably isn't a good idea. - So especially the work that I've done, and I was a low income student, you have to think of loans in the context of going to colleges and investment in yourself. Yes it's debt, but it's also an investment and if you realize that a student with a college degree makes a million more dollars over the span of their lifetime than a student with a high school degree, $26,000 of debt to a return of over a million extra dollars is a pretty good investment in yourself. So it takes a bit of a mindset adjustment. It's a scary amount when you're a low income student, and think "Oh my gosh $20,000 in debt," but that's why it's also really critical for you to pick a school that really is going to help you be successful and graduate. Taking out loan also helps you build up credit, which is a good thing, and get a credit score, but in general, again, most students are going to have loan and they need to kind of think about the school they're going to go to to pay back that loan, but also again it's an investment in themselves.