| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | |
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1 | Timestamp | Undergrad Debt | Grad Debt | Total Current Debt | Field | Year of Degree Completion | Why did you take out the loans | What is your plan for repayment | Institution | Are you employed in the academy? | I have more to say about the employed in the academy question | How much of your debt was offset (or paid for) by parents, grandparents, or other family and loved ones? | Are you employed in the academy? | ||||||||
2 | Undergrad Debt | $60,000 | $60,000 | 2001 | Theatre | Lived on an artist budget, used assistantship but it only paid about $13,000 per year. After degree, wife did not have full-time job, no inheritance since my mother went into a nursing home and the estate is being claimed in payment. Had to go into deferment twice so my wife could buy homes. She had several affairs divorced me and cleaned me out. | I send an extra thousand besides the $600 monthly payment when I can scrape it together. I don't see any possibility of ever paying it off. All my friends are retiring and I'm still paying off the debt racked up during the deferments. I have considered suicide because the situation seems so hopeless. | LSU | Theatre at a community college | None | |||||||||||
3 | $16,000 | $12,000 | $28,000 | 2013 | I was not fully funded. I used savings to pay out-of-state tuition during first year of grad school, and then I luckily recieved assistantships while taking classes before prelims. I took out loans 3 years while ABD to cover tuition+fees, living expenses, (and especially) health insurance when I could not find assistantships on campus. Worked consistently through grad school with jobs on and off campus, including while teaching/working assistantships. | Making standard loan payments and living frugally during first few years of full-time employment. | R1, Public. Big Ten "Public Ivy" | Yes. In related area; not as a professor. | One semester of in-state tuition while ABD and some miscellaneous expenses like airline tickets. | ||||||||||||
4 | $45,000 | $70,000 | $115,000 | 2014 | Instructional Systems Technology | I have a family and the stipend is not nearly enough to cover living expenses, much less insurance for my young family. | I'll pay it down eventually or just live with it. | Public, R1 | yes | I paid off my undergrad debt entirely within four years of graduation. | |||||||||||
5 | $0 | $54,000 | 32000 | Political Science | 1994 | No funding first year, only half funding 3rd year | I have been paying for 20 years (with several years of deferral) | Columbia University | Yes | None | |||||||||||
6 | $0 | $15,000 | $15,000 | Comparative Literature (PhD) | 2007 | Parents paid most of undergrad; I had a Stafford loan. I received full funding and a stipend in my PhD program. | Paid it off in about 5 years after completing PhD | R1 (Ivy) | Associate Professor | ||||||||||||
7 | $5,000 | $43,000 | $48,000 | a social science | 2011 MSc, Expected 2016 PhD | Started BA in my late 20s, no savings due to years of minimum wage jobs and my family is not well off so nothing to draw on there. Stundent loans, line of credit, credit card for BA; MSc funded ~20K/a for 2 of 3 years but still had to pay full tuition and fees out of stipend leaving me ~15K to live on, 3rd year of MSc virtually no regular income (dept avg is 3.5-4 yrs for a masters due to exploitation), relied on CC/LoC for shortfalls; presently in fully funded PhD | Pay off CC and LoC during PhD as able; student loan payments/interest are on hold during PhD, will look for work worldwide after PhD. | Alberta | Yes, fully funded PhD program in Europe | Nil, parents without means to make major contributions. | |||||||||||
8 | $100,000 | $0 | $100,000 | Accounting | 2006 | I had "full funding" - tuition paid plus a guaranteed job as a GA or fellowship recipient - during my entire time as a PhD student. But $18,000 a year doesn't allow a single mother to raise her infant daughter...my monthly take-home didn't even cover rent and day care. So I took out loans. Being a single mom meant it took longer to earn my PhD (six years)...so more loans. | I earn enough to make my monthly payments; this is one reason I've stayed tenure-track despite the fact that I despise research. | University of Iowa | Yes | $0 | |||||||||||
9 | 0(PhD) $11,000(MBA) | $0 | $11,000 | Accounting | 2011 | To pay tuition for the MBA (Accounting Concentration). PhD program paid me $30K per year and tuition waiver; I am single no kids so no need to borrow. | I pay the minimum monthly payment of $86 per month because the interest rate is only 1.85%. I could easily pay it off because Assistant Profs in accounitng make 6 figs | R1, Public | Yes - Tenure Track Assistant Professor | $0 | |||||||||||
10 | $33,000 | $2,500 | $35,500 | Adult Education | 2002 | PhD was free--no debt. MA debt was mostly housing, meals, etc. My fees were low: $2500 a year for 2 years | Paid it off in almost exactly 10 years. | R1, Public, Canada (top 40 in world) | Yes | 2500.00 undergrad debt paid by Dad so I could get my undergrad transcripts released to apply for grad school--thanks Dad! | |||||||||||
11 | $24,000 | $0 | $24,000 | Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications | 2013 | I was underemployed at the time and couldn't make ends meet otherwise. | Working full time and making standard loan payments, supplemented by whatever extra I can afford. Plan to pay it off in less than five years. | R1, Public | Yes | ||||||||||||
12 | $50,000 | $0 | $50,000 | american | TA salary and fee remission not enough to support my two children. | 13 years after my Ph.D., I am still living like a college student because almost my entire paycheck goes to rent, food, and debt. I was unsuccessful in obtaining a tenure track job and eventually quit adjuncting because of poverty wages. I work for a university, but in a different capacity and earn just a bit more than I did adjuncting. I have made a dent in my debt. I think I owe something like $36K now, but it hurts too much to actually look at the statements so I don't know for sure. I'll never get it paid off. | R1, Public | ||||||||||||||
13 | $0 (PhD), $0 (Masters) | $0 | #VALUE! | American Culture Studies | Institution (Grad) | ||||||||||||||||
14 | $90,000 | $0 | $90,000 | American Lit | 2013 | I received some fellowships, but that that only covered about 50% of tuition. I had some RA positions and worked in an undergraduate writing center, but that wasn't enough to cover the rest of tuition or cost of living for the 6 years it took to finish my PhD. | I have a non-teaching adjunct admin position that pays pretty well - I can make my loan payments and live comfortably. I'm also an adjunct teaching at a couple of other schools. I'm looking for TT jobs or full-time admin jobs in student services or academic affairs. | ||||||||||||||
15 | $12,500 | $0 | $12,500 | American Lit (English | 2001-2009 | To cover living expenses during the summer, when the stipend was insufficient for the expensive city in which I lived. I also had to enroll in an additional semester at the very end of my program, when my funding ran out. One of my committee members, who hadn't read any drafts or anything, decided at the last minute that he would not support my defense because the diss was too far outside of the field for his taste. This was one week before my defense. So I had to cancel the defense and enroll in an additional semester--but by then my funding had run out, so I had to pay for it myself. | I pay ca. $137/month on the fed. gov't payment plan. This was difficult at first, but I did land a t-t job and so paying it off was not a problem. However, I recently left my t-t job due to health reasons and a partner living in another city (also an academic), so now he and I are together but I have joined the ranks of the contingent. | R1 public -- top program in English--you can probably guess! I had very good funding throughout; however, it was inadequate during the summers and for emergencies like that last semester that I had to pay for. | |||||||||||||
16 | $90,000 | $25,000 | $115,000 | American Lit (English) | 2014 | My stipend was only between $9k and $13k. Had to pay the rent and cover other living expenses. | I'm defending this spring. I've applied to 100+ TT jobs and will likely end up taking a VAP job at my current institution (with pay in the mid-30s) next year. Also looking in to alt-ac employment. Income-based repayment. | R1 public. | Yes . . . for now. | My partner will help to pay it back. | |||||||||||
17 | $12,500 | $0 | $12,500 | American Lit (English) | 2001-2009 | To cover expenses during the summer when my stipend was insufficient. To pay for final semester of tuition when one committee member--who hadn't read any drafts or anything--finally read my diss and decided, one week before my defense, that he wouldn't support it (because it was too outside of the field). Thus, I had to enroll in (and pay for) another semester even though I had no more funding. And also battle the psychology of his rejection. | I pay ca. $137/month on a fed gov't payment plan... This was difficult at first, but then I did get a t-t job, which I subsequently had to resign b/c of my health and separation from my partner, also an academic. Now we live in the same city, but I am contingent. Still paying the debt but may have to go into deferment if I don't get summer work. | R1 (a top program in English, public--you can probably guess!) I generally had very good funding but it was insufficient during the summer and at the very end of my program. | |||||||||||||
18 | $0 now | $0 | $0 | American Studies | 1999 | I worked full-time as an undergraduate, commuted to school, but I had a partial scholarship. For grad school, I had a fellowship, but $6,000 in fees per year. I worked 3-4 TA positions per semester, RA positions all year, adjuncted at several schools. Made it through with no debt. | I never had any debt. | R1, Private | |||||||||||||
19 | $0 | $60,000 | $60,000 | American Studies | 2006 | I planned to go to medical school in undergrad. My father was out of work for some time during my undergrad, so I had to take out unsubsidized loans to remain in school, loans which, by definition, continued to accrue interest throughout graduate school despite being in deferment. | I will pay $435, as I have been for many years, month after month after month until I die. | R1, public | |||||||||||||
20 | $55,000 | American Studies | 2009 | I made $11,000 my first year as a TA. I took out $10,000 each year to supplement my income to the point of liveable (in a major metropolitan area, so $21,000/year isn't a crazy amount). I got scared after three years and stopped taking out loans. Instead, I took on extra jobs to bump my salary to $17,000/year and lived hand-to-mouth. The rest was from my undergraduate at a private liberal arts school ($17,000 + interest on unsubsidized loan, thanks to my need being assessed based on my parents' salaries). | I pay $325/month until I'm 60. This keeps me stuck in a job I hate. | R1, Top Five program for my field | Sort of. I'm ed admin for a for-profit university. I pretty much hate myself for going to work every day. | NONE. I wouldn't dream off asking for help unless we were going to lose our home or go bankrupt. | |||||||||||||
21 | $72,000 | $36,000 | $108,000 | American Studies | 2010 | Undergrad: family had too much $ to qualify for need-based grants, but not enough to pay for 4-year college for all the kids. My working-class upbringing said that the way to do better than my parents was to go to a "good" school (not, for instance, start in community college and transfer to a 4-year). Grad: my tuition was covered, but teaching and TA stipends were between $10k and $14k, which wasn't nearly enough to live in the city, pay university fees, travel to conferences, etc. | Underemployed and struggling to survive/eat as an adjunct, I defaulted, then started a plan with the collections agency to pay $5/month for a year. When the year is up and I'm in good standing again, I'll start paying the government the minimum amount allowed until I find a decent job or die. Well, either way, I'll be paying til I die. | R1 public PhD | Yes. I've moved around the country in a series of temporary, precarious, contractual teaching positions at prestigious institutions that pay a poverty wage. | $0 | |||||||||||
22 | $129,000 | $0 | $129,000 | American Studies | 2011 | With a $14,000 per year grad assistant stipend, there was no other way to live above the poverty line in addition to paying for travel to conferences or see family or pay for unexpected finances | A full-time TT never came. Consolidated with the Dept. of Ed on the IBR plan. Will make minimum payments based on my income (or lack thereof) doing who knows what for 30 years and will simply have to wait until my balance is forgiven in order to bring myself out of subsistence living. | R1 Public for Ph.D.; Public MA | No jobs + no humanities funding (or respect) + corporatization of the academy = poor career choice. If you're in graduate school, you're morgaging your future. You might as well go to DeVry. | ||||||||||||
23 | $110,000 | $8,000 | $118,000 | American Studies | 2012 | I had no money. It kept me at poverty line living even with a TA-ship. It didn't help that MSU axed American Studies in 2010. | Mentors told me not to worry about loans since I was a shoe in for a tenure track position. Now, I pay a portion while my father digs into his retirement to bail me out. | R1, P | This process has made me hate the academic complex. I regret ever going to college. I have left academia since it felt like students were being pimped especially in the humanities. As an adunct, I could not afford to pay my minimum payments on my student loans. Higher education just perpetuates class stratification. | ||||||||||||
24 | $55,000 | $0 | $55,000 | American Studies | 2012 | cost of living higher than grad school stipend covered | Income based repayment | R1, Private | No | $15,000 | |||||||||||
25 | $17,000 | $0 | $17,000 | American Studies | 2012 | No summer funding, cost of moving and setting up a new life. | Fulltime job? Paying it off still seems within my reach. But, after 8 years of not having a full salary and no savings, i am about to start applying for "real" jobs. I have, of course, accrued credit card debt while living on a postdoc salary. Moving costs add up. | R1, Public | |||||||||||||
26 | $37,000 | $21,000 | $58,000 | American Studies | 2013 | Took out $21K for grad school. I was fully funded, but needed help getting through summers & transitions. For example, about $7K of my debt is credit card debt that crept up on me as I navigated the crazy transition from dissertation defense to postdoc: Finished the PhD in May and didn't get paid for my 1st month of the postdoc till October. Meanwhile, part-time, low-wage work was all I could find on short notice. My undergrad degree was also fully grant funded, but I lived in a really expensive town during undergrad and I didn't know anything about how to make financial decisions -- so I took out ~$33K, which has grown to $37K during grad school. Wish I'd had more guidance. | I spend 21% of my take-home pay on debt payments and I'm always looking for extra work so I can pay down the loans more aggressively. I owe $5K to a private foundation at 0% interest. I owe $45K to the federal government. I also have $9K in credit card debt at 0% + I owe my brother $4K.It's tough to juggle all these. I look forward to the day I can finish paying a few of them so it's less to manage. | R1 Public | yes - postdoc. It pays enough to just barely pay the bills, make my debt payments, and put a tiny bit into my retirement portfolio. | none | |||||||||||
27 | $30,000 | $15,000 | $45,000 | American Studies | 2013 | Took out $30,000 in graduate loans because in the first year of graduate school I did not have any funding source, like GTA/GRA. I did receive a GTA for the following years -- peers who did not struggled to progress toward their degree | I will pay $300 a month for 20-25 years. Thank goodness I and my partner have jobs that both pay $50,000+ | R1, Public, top 10 in the discipline | yes - administrator | My partner had a full time while I attended graduate school, and that salary greatly helped me. In fact, there is no way I could have attended graduate school if I was single. | |||||||||||
28 | $5,000 | $5,000 | $10,000 | American studies | 2013 | Most of undergrad was paid for with grants and employment, until my senior year. Grad program was a fully-funded, but barely covered living expenses | |||||||||||||||
29 | $37,000 | $21,000 | $58,000 | American Studies | 2013 | Took out $21K for grad school. I was fully funded, but needed help getting through summers & transitions. For example, about $7K of my debt is credit card debt that crept up on me as I navigated the crazy transition from dissertation defense to postdoc: Finished the PhD in May and didn't get paid for my 1st month of the postdoc till October. Meanwhile, part-time, low-wage work was all I could find on short notice. My undergrad degree was also fully grant funded, but I lived in a really expensive town during undergrad and I didn't know anything about how to make financial decisions -- so I took out ~$33K, which has grown to $37K during grad school. Wish I'd had more guidance. | I spend 21% of my take-home pay on debt payments and I'm always looking for extra work so I can pay down the loans more aggressively. I owe $5K to a private foundation at 0% interest. I owe $45K to the federal government. I also have $9K in credit card debt at 0% + I owe my brother $4K.It's tough to juggle all these. I look forward to the day I can finish paying a few of them so it's less to manage. | R1 Public | yes - postdoc. It pays enough to just barely pay the bills, make my debt payments, and put a tiny bit into my retirement portfolio. | none | |||||||||||
30 | $80,000 | $0 | $80,000 | American studies | 2014 | Masters-living expenses, PhD -living expenses, books, conference travel | Find one of those elusive things called a job... And never retire, quit or get fired. | Masters- public, PhD R1 public | Yes | $0 | |||||||||||
31 | $80,000 (45k for MA + 35k for PhD) | $0 | $80,000 | American Studies | 2015 (expected) | Not enough $ in stipend to pay cost of living, fees, etc. (PhD); MA assistantship barely covered rent, needed $ for bills, fees, living expenses, travel. | R1, Private (PhD); R1, Public (MA) | Parents paid for undergraduate tuition, but worked to support my cost of living, etc. | |||||||||||||
32 | $0 (right now) | $11,000 (started at $16K, paid off $5000) | $16,000 | American studies | 2016 (expected | Had half scholarship for undergrad, parents helped with some, and I took out loans for the rest. Not bad considered that many of my peers took out 4 times more. Assistantships have gotten me through a M.A. and first two years of Ph.D., but that gravy train will run out at the end of the semester. I'll take on part time or full time work while I write. I'm married with one child, but my husband has a good job to support us. | I paid off $5000 in 2 1/2 years, so if my paycheck allows, I'd like to pay twice that towards each month when I get a full time job. My debt is manageable. | R1, Public, USA | |||||||||||||
33 | $0 | $3,000 | $3,000 | American Studies | kicked out 2013 for "failure to make academic progress" | Doubled up on TAships, adjuncting, outside freelance research and tutoring work to keep out of serious debt, just taking out one Stafford loan in a tight semester. But all the outside work to support myself meant no progress on my own research. Attained professional success outside of the academy, went back and completed dissertation, but got the boot last year for being too slow. | Paid off in full, because I had near-miraculous success in another unrelated field. | R1 private in an expensive east coast city, ostensibly a top five program in field (snort) | Sort of. Teaching a bit on adjunct basis, but mainly supporting self with the other thing | None, but would have had much deeper debt if I hadn't had a partner who was splitting rent/expenses/getting fellowships and a stipend from a better school | |||||||||||
34 | $16,000 | $16,000 | American Studies | undergrad: didn't know better, wanted to go to school in a particular city; my MA program was funded but took out some money for living expenses on top of part-time job; PhD was fully funded | started repaying last year, not sure if I qualify for public service forgiveness, since I consolidated a government loan with | Ivy | |||||||||||||||
35 | $0 | $0 | $0 | American Studies | I had a stipend and I worked part time in graduate school so I did not have to take money out. I had a sizeable grant for undergrad and some merit scholarships. Family chipped in and paid off the rest of my undergrad debt as the most amazing BA graduation gift ever. | R1, Private (Ivy) | |||||||||||||||
36 | $100,000 | $20,000 | $120,000 | American Studies (MA), then PhD program in Education | 2011 (I left without completing PhD) | I worked in college, and in grad school was "fully funded." But we had gaps between pay and living expenses, especially after having 2 children (1 planned, 1 unplanned) and struggling to make ends meet every summer. I finally quit because I couldn't justify continued debt with little progress in grad school, especially for a degree that was highly unlikely to result in a job. | PSLF, but it's crippling us every month until then, no room for savings at all. | University of Iowa | No, #postac to the core and disillusioned beyond belief. | None. | |||||||||||
37 | 18500 loans, ~15,000 credit cards | $20,000 | #VALUE! | American Studies/HIstory | 2009 | Undergrad: was part of my financial aid package; my parents had parent loans and I had student loans. I worked for 6 years between undergrad and grad school and by the time I began grad school I had paid the undergrad down to 7,000. Grad school: I had "good funding" comparatively speaking but lived in an expensive city. I also was very sick one year and couldn't work that summer and right after that was the year that I took out the student loans. I used them to pay off about 10,000 in credit card debt incurred for the costs of research trips, professionalization (conferences and clothing), and day to day living. I then used the rest to pay for ongoing research and professionalization. The other ~5,000 in credit card debt developed slowly afterwards through research and day to day costs as well. | I secured a TT job and received a small family inheritance all at the same time, and used the inheritance to pay off remaining credit card debt and to get onto more stable ground financially. I still have the student loans and my income is the main one for my household (me and my partner who moved with me for the TT job but has not found work with pay comparable to before). My partner also has student loans of about $20k so together we have chosen to pay them at their lowest rate because combined it would be quite a bit per month (with the current plan we pay $350 combined instead of $500-600 combined). Her mom wants to sell her house and would give her money to pay off her portion of student loans. If that can happen it would help us a lot for the long term when the payments go back up. It is really obvious to me that my relative financial stability is all about inherited wealth. That means inequality. | ||||||||||||||
38 | 10000 | 88000 | $98,000 | Animal Science (BS), Biotech (MS) | 2007, 2010 | I needed the money to get through school since a lot of what my parents saved was lost in investments that went south very quickly. | Little by little. Thankfully I found a good job and I am able to make the payments, but it's going to take awhile | ||||||||||||||
39 | $32,000 | $0 | $32,000 | Anthopology | I took about 25K for tuition and living expenses for myself and my child while attending a public university graduate program. I didn't graduate but then transferred to a private program in the same field with full funding. I wound up taking out 7K in loans during my time there to pay for some of my child's expenses, but for one single person the funding would have been sufficient. | A job, and possibly a public service loan forgiveness program. I still have a couple years to go before graduation. | Public; Private (R1) | ||||||||||||||
40 | $35,000 | $50,000 | $85,000 | Anthroplogy/Archaeology | 6 including MA | Single parent. Even with large awards and funding, it wasn't enough to pay the rent | Not certain, still need to pay the rent and the loan payments are huge. Might need to see about a longer term | Public | |||||||||||||
41 | $0 | Anthropological genetics | 2000 | NA | NA | Penn State & U of Utah | No | 0 | |||||||||||||
42 | $2,200 | $0 | $2,200 | Anthropology | 1992 | Used the money to purchase clothes and pay tuition and food. Had full scholarship in grad school and TA position that paid about $530 a month. I had no luxuries, ate lots of ramen, no car, no fun. | Paid it off while attending grad school. | Arizona State | no | None | |||||||||||
43 | $5,000 | $2,000 | $7,000 | Anthropology | 1997 | Minor additional expenses. I lived super cheap. It is inconceivable that someone thinks combining having children and a PhD in the humanities or social sciences is feasible, which is where many people seem to be crashing. You have to strip down and hurry. I could have lived quite nicely on some of the stipends listed above; I wonder what on earth they spent it on. | Paid off my loans early. | U. Chicago | yes | $0, and this is a ridiculous question to ask adults. | |||||||||||
44 | $12,000 | $40,000 | $52,000 | Anthropology | 2001 | Needed money for college and grad school. Had no funding first year of grad school other than a work-study job (i.e., barely any pay at all). Then TA position for rest of grad school at R1 university so was ok. | Got job. Began paying monthly. Had spouse with good job who helped. | R1, public, US | |||||||||||||
45 | $800 | $0 | $800 | Anthropology | 2001 | There was a one-month gap between the end of grad school and the start of my post-doc | I paid it back within two months | R1 (Big Ten) | Associate Professor | I was very lucky to have parents who could pay for my college education (although they also scrimped and saved for decades to do so, while my friends' parents bought cable TV and similar non-necessities). Grad school was fully my responsibility, and I received a 5-year package with a $15k/yr stipend, on which I learned how to live. I would never have gone without it. My family is not rich, and I am a first-generation college student. | |||||||||||
46 | $0 | $0 | $0 | Anthropology | 2002 | No debt, because I had assistantships and my parents helped out. | N/A | R1, public | |||||||||||||
47 | $70,000 | $30,000 | $100,000 | Anthropology | 2003 | My parents had no money to contribute because of various financial disasters we experienced. I got partial funding at both a liberal arts college and a large state university. I lived on a combination of student loans and various jobs for those 12 years (4 undergrad, 8 grad). Comes out to $8,333 a year in loans for the entire period, more or less. When I TA'ed I got $4000 a term on top of that. I didn't receive any dissertation write-up grants or major fellowships in graduate school. | I'm now tenured at a small liberal arts college. I pay a little over $400 a month at 3.15% fixed interest, but I may never pay all of it off. | ||||||||||||||
48 | $65,000 | $0 | $65,000 | Anthropology | 2004 | I maxed out how many quarters I could T.A. and didn't receive more funding, so I took out loans to live (rent, food, everything). Some was a supplemental to previous years when I was a T.A. and had partial funding. I was at the end of my degree and needed the money to finish the last couple of years. | I have a 25 or 30 year loan at 4% interest fixed. My husband (who paid off his loans before marrying me) and I are slowly chipping away at it. It's down to $50 or 55 K now after 10 years. | R1, public, University of California | |||||||||||||
49 | $0 | $0 | $0 | Anthropology | 2005 | N/a | N/A | R1, public | |||||||||||||
50 | $0 | $0 | $0 | Anthropology | 2005 | N/A | N/A | R1, public, US | |||||||||||||
51 | $20,000 | $12,000 | $32,000 | Anthropology | 2007 | To cover tuition for MA; My PhD was fully funded. | Paid | Ivy | Yes, 3rd year TT after 4 years of lecturing | Most of it. I got lots of cash for gifts for my wedding, which I used. The rest was paid off because my husband had a well-paying job for a few years. | |||||||||||
52 | $30,000 | $30,000 | Anthropology | 2007 | My tuition and all school related costs were covered by scholarships and fellowships for all 3 degrees. However, I borrowed as an undergrad when I had no money (and family was working poor) to afford living expenses. This enabled me to focus only on classes for the first three years and get out on time and summa cum laude, which led to full fellowship including stipends in grad school. Overall, I was pretty happy with it, considering I had literally no family financial help. | I got it consolidated at very low interest. It will be paid off in about another 20 years. It is a very low monthly payment so I can't complain. I could have paid it off from consulting income this year, but honestly, I would like to finally do something other than work and pay bills. The payment and interest rates are so low it is not worth paying off quickly. I have no credit card debt or anything, so I don't feel strapped. | R1 Public | Yes, in a TT job | None | ||||||||||||
53 | $110,000 | $5,000 | $115,000 | Anthropology | 2008 | I had grad assistances but at $900/month couldn't cover living expenses. I did research in US for dissertation which greatly limited amount of funding I was eligible for, eventually got NSF but still needed money to live off while doing research. | Income based repayment. Will probably pay off the rest of my life as I am 5.5 years out and no TT job. Have been doing one year visiting jobs for the past five years. | RI, Public | Yes, for the next year probably. And then probably getting out. | $0! | |||||||||||
54 | $38,000 | $37,000 | $75,000 | Anthropology | 2009 | No funding in undergrad, funding in grad not sufficient to live on | slowly, painfully for the next millennium | R1, public | |||||||||||||
55 | $60,000 | $12,000 | $72,000 | Anthropology | 2009 | For undergrad tuition, I was helped some, but not completley, by parents (who have loans of their own for it). Although I was "fully" funded for graduate school, tuition waiver and stipend did not cover fees or meet (my pretty low) living expenses. | Slowly but surely. Partner has much smaller amount of debt. | R1, Public | |||||||||||||
56 | $30,000 | $0 | $30,000 | Anthropology | 2009 | "Full funding" in my department meant the first three years guaranteed for coursework, but we were on our own after that.I had to start taking out loans starting in the third year, even though I was supposed to be guaranteed full funding, because some administrative procedure changed that the department administrator didn't think it was her job to tell me about, and I didn't get some required paperwork in on time. Aquired a fellowship for fieldwork, but it was not enough to cover the full cost of fieldwork with living expenses, then there was another year to cover for writing up. I was also working part & full time during this time, but for very low pay. Also, I used to be an idiot about money. | Federal consolidation with IBR and public service forgiveness. If I stay in a public service position for 5 more years, I'll get it forgiven. The monthly payments are not that big, so I'm not concerned about my student loan debt. More concerned about being able to afford a home and family on my current salary. | R1 Private | Yes, but in administrative role, in which I earn more than an adjunct but less than a starting assistant prof. I would like to get out of academia for good. My current institution is attempting to enhance its prestige by incresing PhD grads & adding PhD programs, which I think is completely unethical. I do not want to be part of a corrupt system anymore. | None; I have been supporting myself since age 18. | |||||||||||
57 | $0 | $0 | $0 | Anthropology | 2009 | Merit scholarship at a State University for undergrad. Well-funded grad program and NSF GRFP paid for 6 years. Then my husband got a job, and we had backup family money. I was very fortunate. | n/a | R1, private university | |||||||||||||
58 | $10,000 | $35,000 | $45,000 | Anthropology | 2010 | Pay for a private undergrad institution. Americorps helped me pay off a lot of this debt. | My family helped pay off my undergrad loans. | Public, R1 | Yes, TT job at public Univ. | A large amount of my grad student costs were partially covered by family money given to my wife. That limited the grad loans. | |||||||||||
59 | $0 | $40,000 | $40,000 | Anthropology | 2010 | Undergrad, private school, expensive city. 25k/year loans. Entered funded graduate program. Paid interest on 75k of undergrad loans. Deferred principle for 8 years of grad program + 1st year employment. Over 8% interest rate. Some credit card debt along the way. | Have been paying $1500/month since I began TT job in 2010. From 100k down to 40k. So tired of sending 1/3 of take home pay to loan agency. | R1 private | |||||||||||||
60 | $30,000 | $30,000 | Anthropology | 2010 | Had full funding for 6 years. For 4 years, during my ABD stage, I lectured 3 semesters. Dissertation write-up funds were rare (I did get 1 year from school); and because I was a foreign student, I couldn't work outside the university for pay (it's illegal). I made numerous 0% credit cards--cause that was the only source that would lend to int'l students. When I left the US, I borrowed money from my family to pay off the CC debt. | I've been paying off monthly. More than half is paid off. | Ivy | Yes, Assistant Professor | All debt in USDollars were paid off when I finally had to ask my family for help (cause I didn't want to leave the US with CC debt!). I'm now paying it back to them. | ||||||||||||
61 | $0 | $0 | $0 | Anthropology | 2010 | Undergrad was paid for by my working, my mom's contributions, and a small amount of inheritance ($16k). Had a fellowship for my two-year MA program. Had funding for PhD. During grad school, living with my husband helped, as he is in a field that pays more (i.e., paid summer internships). | N/A | R1 public | Yes -- TT professor at a public R2 | Undergrad tuition (most, by mother); MA/PhD living expenses (large portion of those, by husband in another field) | |||||||||||
62 | $0 | $0 | $0 | Anthropology | 2010 | Undergrad (where fun goes to die in an expensive fashion) was funded by parents, scholarships and work. Graduate school was a "full ride" (Fellowship for several years and guaranteed TAships). Of course, those TA ships paid about $1000 a month for 9 months. I was able to get out without debt by taking on contract jobs in my field, driving a fish truck, working odd jobs, growing and selling produce at a farmer's market, occasional help from the folks, and with government assistante (TANF or foodstamps). I lived in absolute shithole hovels most of the 7 years I was in graduate school and was incredibly frugal. I rarely ate out or went out, I didnt buy any new clothes or music or other nicities, I never had entertainment money. It was incredibly hard to do this with no debt, and I know that I am the exception to the rule at my school. Not only did I have the best available fellowship, but lots of direct support from my advisor. | nope | Public (R1) | Yes | Could not have done this without help from my parents and strong-willed budgeting from my wife. | |||||||||||
63 | PHD $15000, MA $0 | $25,000 | #VALUE! | Anthropology | 2011 | I had full funding in graduate school for 7 years. I told myself that I would not go to grad school unless I could do it without taking on more debt. However, I ended up marrying another graduate student (also with full funding). We lived very frugally and got by in a major city, barely, but then I had two kids. Our graduate stipends were no longer enough to get by. Since we were living paycheck to paycheck we could not afford childcare we both went through grad school without any childcare. We did not have funding for my last few summers and I was usually able to pick up a teaching job to tie us through the summer but I couldn't always get one and took out $5000 here and there and it eventually added up to $15,000. Both of us come from middle class families (both of us are 1st generation college students), so neither of us had parents who could help us out. Since I have not gotten a tenure-track job yet, we had to move for a 1 year position which put us in another $10,000 worth of debt--but this is not school debt so I didn't include it! Also doesn't include my husband's debt. | If I get a job this year, all extra money will go to paying down debt. We will never have iphones, new furniture, vacations, or anything else that normal people have. If not, I have no idea. | Undergrad: Ivy; Grad: RI private | |||||||||||||
64 | $40,000 | $10,000 | $50,000 | Anthropology | 2011 | funded for first several years. When funding ran out, I took out loans to pay for childcare and uninsured medical expenses. | still in deferral. I don't make enough currently to even think about paying them off. | R! public | |||||||||||||
65 | $2,000 | $0 | $2,000 | Anthropology | 2011 | Parents paid for undergrad; had combination of assistantships and research funding during coursework and fieldwork; supplemented very limited funding during diss writing with numerous service industry jobs. | Paid $50 a month for 1 year and then used a tax return to pay off the rest | Public R1 | Alt-Ac | $0 | |||||||||||
66 | $2,000 | $0 | $2,000 | Anthropology | 2011 | To buy a new computer | Paid $50 a month for 1 year and then used a tax return to pay off the rest | Public R1 | Alt-Ac | $0 | |||||||||||
67 | $0 | $0 | $0 | Anthropology | 2011 | In my home country undergraduate education was free, and I made sure I only applied to graduate programs in the US that provided full funding, as I couldn't count on a Western income and being able to repay the loans. My graduate funding was a combination of institutional fellowship monies and TAships. | N/A | R1 Private | |||||||||||||
68 | $0 | $0 | $0 | Anthropology | 2011 | R1, private | yes, lecturer | none | |||||||||||||
69 | 75000 (MA then PhD) | $0 | #VALUE! | Anthropology | 2012 | living expenses | Income based repayment and Federal Loan Forgiveness Program (consolidated all loans and am working for a college which is a non profit; making constant payments for 10 years and then having the rest forgiven under the program) | R1, Private | |||||||||||||
70 | $40,000 | 0 (parents paid for undergraduate in full) | #VALUE! | Anthropology | 2012 | In the first semester of my MA, I didn't have an assistantship. I took out a loan to pay tuition. Second semester, I taught Spanish for a tuition waiver and a $1,000/month stipend. After that, I TAed for my own department, with a $500/month stipend and a tuition waiver. It wasn't enough to pay the bills, so I took out loans. I also did various intensive summer language programs that were fully funded, but didn't cover expenses back home. All but one semester of my graduate education was "fully funded," but not quite enough to cover everything. After eight years, loans added up to about 40k. Yikes. | N/A I used money from a deceased parent's life insurance policy to pay it off. | R1, Public | |||||||||||||
71 | $80,000 | $25,000 | $105,000 | Anthropology | 2012 | Undergrad: first gen student, worked concurrent PT jobs to pick up what loans wouldn't cover; Masters- loans and PT work; PhD- mostly funded but some loans to cover fieldwork and conferences | I have a FT non-TT job and a PT adjunct job. I can't make even half the payment on these loans that the lenders want, so I am on a IBR plan. I am embarrassed to have to live so frugally when I have the highest degree in my field and it hurts to know that in 25 years, I will have to have the loan discharged. I did my research on what someone in this field would make and the BLS statistics are 40% higher than my salary. I hate that every day I have to sell higher education to students- more, more, more degrees and "good debt" knowing they will end up like me. | R2 Public | |||||||||||||
72 | $90,000 | $0 | $90,000 | Anthropology | 2012 | For tuition and to pay rent | Currently in income based repayment, which means not paying much at all. Still hoping to land decent job and pay off some before I die | Michigan State University | No | ||||||||||||
73 | $2,600 | $0 | $2,600 | Anthropology | 2012 | $9000 taken for first year of grad school, out of state tuition. All the rest of my savings had all been depleted. Luckily TAships and fellowships accounted for the rest of grad school. | Working a market research job (which pays 2.5 times my public university part-time lecturer job) while doing adjunct teaching. Hopefully done paying off in a few months. | R1 | Yes, part-time adjunct lecturer, looking for other opportunities outside academia but happy to go either way depending on how the cards lay. | 0 | |||||||||||
74 | $0 | $0 | $0 | Anthropology | 2012 | I got free undergrad because my parent worked at my undergrad institution. Grad school was fully funded (otherwise I wouldn't have gone). My husband and I did have about 50K in loans to pay off from his schooling, but in addition to my stipend, we had his income as a teacher. Dual income really helps in this world. | R1, public | ||||||||||||||
75 | $0 | $0 | $0 | Anthropology | 2012 | No need | R1, public | ||||||||||||||
76 | $110,000 | $14,000 | $124,000 | Anthropology | 2013 | Though I had "full funding" and funded three years of my program through prestigious external grants and fellowship, the cost of living in my area was impossibly high and the job market for my spouse was extremely bleak. Also, early research expenses were never fully funded. However, most of my graduate debt (which is about 40k in credit cards and 70k in federal loans), happened after I got a severe chronic illness, lost a position because of it, and was left unfunded and having to buy COBRA health insurance for ten months. During that time, despite five hospitalizations, I adjuncted as much as possible. I used every available opportunity to earn money throughout my years in graduate school, and put money towards debt whenever possible, but it's still never going to be manageable. | If I can ever earn enough money to begin paying it, I am hoping for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to help where possible. For the credit card debt, we will probably have to go bankrupt. Also, despite now being prepared to enter a program for a lucrative career, my husband has decided to eskew that so we do not take on more debt. Hopefully my marriage makes it through the problem of my choices foreclosing his dreams and potential. | Public, NJ | Soft money research department, contingent on grants, >50k/year | About 10k. | |||||||||||
77 | $107,000 | $3,000 | $110,000 | Anthropology | 2013 | Full ride for undergrad. No fellowship/funding first year of grad school (out-of-state tuition) and was primary care giver to terminally ill parent (who was on public assistance) for 8 of the 10 years it took me to finish PhD. | Public, R1 | ||||||||||||||
78 | $50,000 | $0 | $50,000 | Anthropology | 2013 | Because $11,000 a year as a teaching assistant wasn't enough to live on (and attend conferences, etc.). Bulk of the debt was what I lived on while writing up -- I was determined to not get distracted by teaching and never get around to finishing. | I'm very fortunate that in lieu of an inheritance my mother is helping me to slowly pay it off. | R1, Public | Yes | ||||||||||||
79 | $33 | $49,000 | $49,033 | Anthropology | 2013 | Am a first generation student and underrepresented minority. First in my family to attend college. Was a runaway and eventually became a ward of the court when I was 15. Lived in group home until I was 21. Education was mostly unfunded (a few Pell grants, some small scholarships, a few tuition waivers, and eventually a teaching fellowship). Lived off of my loans to pay for undergraduate, graduate school, and for doctoral field research AND adjuncted part time to send money home to my parents. Also used loans to help family members pay bills and prevent them from becoming homeless. | Am currently a postdoctoral research fellow hoping to apply for a grant that will waive some of my student loan debt. | R1 Public | |||||||||||||
80 | $18,500 (loans) + ~$10,000 (credit card debt) | $10,000 | $38,500 | Anthropology | 2013 | Loans to supplement first year of grad school, during which I had outside funding but not departmental support (got picked up 2nd year, but still funded much of my program through outside fellowships), then the credit card debt to cover expenses when ABD and teaching in a visiting position at a university that steadily eroded contingent faculty benefits during financial crisis | Undergrad loans paid off long before I went to grad school, grad school loans mostly paid off, credit card debt partly paid down but still a problem | R1, private (Ivy) | Alt--Ac job that is luckily well-remunerated | ||||||||||||
81 | $24,000 | $0 | $24,000 | Anthropology | 2013 | TAship insufficient to cover not-so-spartan cost of living. Took out $4,000/yr times six years; extra $333/month mostly spent on eating out and beer. Scholarship and part-time work covered undergrad and terminal MS. | $1,000/month for two years. | Public R1 (Big Ten) | Yes, asst. prof. | Not needed. | |||||||||||
82 | $0 | $16,000 | $16,000 | Anthropology | 2013 | Undergraduate private school did not provide much in terms of in-house funding or fellowships, so I took out lots of loans. I received full funding in graduate school which meant working as a teaching assistant every semester instead of having time off to write and study. my cohort peers who had non-teaching fellowships are ahead of me in publications and TT offers. | Getting assistant from family to pay off remaining undergraduate debt and get by in some basic living expenses while working as NTT faculty in (highly expensive) Boston area | R1 Private in Boston area | |||||||||||||
83 | $0 | $7,000 | $7,000 | Anthropology | 2013 | tuition and education-related expenses; to pay off c/c debt | regular monthly payments. | R1, public with grad student union | |||||||||||||
84 | $0 | $0 | $0 | Anthropology | 2013 | n/a. I had scholarships and lived at home during undergrad. For grad school (MA + PhD) I had scholarships and TA-ship. | n/a | R1, Public, Canada | |||||||||||||
85 | $0 | $0 | $0 | Anthropology | 2013 | Scholarships, fellowships, GA position, other part time employment while in school | N/A | RI, Public | |||||||||||||
86 | $0 | $0 | $0 | Anthropology | 2013 | I tutored, worked 5 jobs, never bought drinks or ate on campus. I had several craiglist tutor jobs up. I also was a Research Assistant to an administrator, and got 3 fellowships. I played the game and it was okay for the tuition payoff. I have several friends who owe over 100K and are very bitter. I want to say I was lucky but I worked my ass off! | 0 Debt | State flagship BA, MA Liberal Arts, PHD State | adjuncting still but I am looking for any job in college | I never got money from my parents but they taught me to be smart about debt. For example when I had a 20K debt for my MA- I shifted it to credit union debt and cut my interest in half. My mom helped me with groceries sometimes. | |||||||||||
87 | $0 | $0 | $0 | Anthropology | 2013 | I tutored, worked 5 jobs, never bought drinks or ate on campus. I had several craiglist tutor jobs up. I also had a 6 years of Research Assistant to an administrator in which I published a lot. I got 3 years fellowships. I played the game and it was okay for the tuition payoff. I don't regret it but do not recommend it for anyone unless you are rich and want to get a "vanity PhD." I have several friends who owe over 100K and are very bitter and they have a right to be. I want to say I was lucky but I worked my ass off! There were over 14 of us when we started and only 4 graduated. There are 3 more that have over 100K debt and are still in the program. They let some of the people "hang themselves with their own rope" by not funding them and those people withered away. The older grad students were left to fend for themselves and also died on the vine. I also saw just plain bad decision making like some grad students living by themselves when they should have got a roommate or buying a new mac computer every 2 years and attending every conference on credit card debt. | 0 Debt but my husband owes 50K so I will end up helping him with his- ugh | State flagship BA, MA Liberal Arts, PHD State | adjuncting still but I am looking for any job in college | I never got money from my parents but they taught me to be smart about debt. For example when I had a 20K debt for my MA- I shifted it to credit union debt and cut my interest in half. My mom helped me with groceries sometimes. | |||||||||||
88 | $0 | $0 | $0 | Anthropology | 2013 | I tutored, worked 5 jobs, never bought drinks or ate on campus. I had several craiglist tutor jobs up. I also was a Research Assistant to an administrator, and got 3 fellowships. I played the game and it was okay for the tuition payoff. I want to say I was lucky but I worked my ass off! I saw a lot of injustice and bad decision making in grad school by students and professors. Some students were ill prepared and the dept let them "hang themselves"with debt with no funding. They eventually dropped out with a huge amount of debt with no degree. The dept also accepted older students that did not fair well. I also saw students live alone when they should have gotten a roommate but they did not know at 21 about debt and now at 30 they owe over 100K. I think you should get a "vanity PhD" only if you are bored and rich. For the rest of us especially first generation students- it was not feasible. In retrospect I should have been a nurse as they are treated and paid better than adjuncts. | 0 Debt | State flagship BA, MA Liberal Arts, PHD State | adjuncting still but I am looking for any job in college | I never got money from my parents but they taught me to be smart about debt. For example when I had a 20K debt for my MA- I shifted it to credit union debt and cut my interest in half. My mom helped me with groceries sometimes. | |||||||||||
89 | 100K | Anthropology | 2014 | Tuition was covered by my TAships but still needed living expenses | Hopefully I will find a job soon | R1, Public, Texas | Yes, but also looking in Non-Profits | 20K | |||||||||||||
90 | >$100000 | $0 | >$100000 | Anthropology | 2014 | Funded research travel during summers and complemented low-paying GTA positions during the year (MA) and paid for living expenses (PhD). | Pay the minimum for the next 25 years or 10 years (full payment). | Columbia U | Graduating spring 2014; Adjuncting now; On the market for tt | Family paid for all undergrad and gave help when faced with prospect of taking out more loans. | |||||||||||
91 | 0 Ph.D. 30,000 MA | $15,000 | $45,000 | Anthropology | 2014 | My parents couldn't afford the tuition for my second and third years of undergrad. I needed loans to pay tuition and living expenses during my MA program (small tuition scholarship first year only, tuition about $1k/unit, program based in most expensive city in USA) | Paying interest now; will consolidate loans while working for nonprofit after graduation | Duke | Yes - doctoral candidate (graduate this year) | Parents covering undergrad debt; inherited $20,000 to pay off part of MA debt (originally50k). PhD debt is 0 because my institution pays a living wage | |||||||||||
92 | $13,000 | $0 | $13,000 | Anthropology | 2014 | Because tuition is so high, scholarships always arrive after tuition deadlines, and I need an emergency fund to fill in the gaps. also because it's so hard to get work permission as an international student. I was able to make it through my BA and MA on scholarships and employment. | Pay back unused portions immediately once I graduate and have secure employment with a health care plan. The rest I will pay back in reasonable installments. | R1 (current), foreign (BA and MA) | |||||||||||||
93 | $11,500 | $0 | $11,500 | Anthropology | 2014 | Tuition and a living supplement for the year a moved to be with my long-distance (now) ex-husband; have been fully funded every other year | $120 p/m for the next ten years, | ||||||||||||||
94 | $6,000 | $0 | $6,000 | Anthropology | 2014 | Living expenses | R1, Public | ||||||||||||||
95 | $0 | $0 | $0 | Anthropology | 2014 | Undergraduate scholarship for a large percentage of tuition, parents paid the rest. Full scholarship and stipend from PhD-granting institution, plus outside grants for fieldwork. Living within my stipend is challenging, but I do not spend what I don't have. | N/A | Private | |||||||||||||
96 | $0 | $0 | $0 | Anthropology | 2014 | 0 Debt I want to add how the professors are very culpable in their graduate students debt in that they tell them NOT to work. Thank god I secretly worked and never told them. | State flagship BA, MA Liberal Arts, PHD State | adjuncting still but I am looking for any job in college | I never got money from my parents but they taught me to be smart about debt. For example when I had a 20K debt for my MA- I shifted it to credit union debt and cut my interest in half. My mom helped me with groceries sometimes. | ||||||||||||
97 | $50,000 | anthropology | 2014 | to cover summers while not TA-ing and to have in case funding got sketchy - it got sketchy in year 3 | Returned to my old job and trying to write my dissertation 3 days per week | yes | none. | ||||||||||||||
98 | $2,000 (loan), $8,000 (credit card) | $0 | #VALUE! | Anthropology | 2015 | I have been funding grad school with a combo of grants and TAships, but when I came back after doing fieldwork I needed extra money. I had been gone for two years and didn't have basic things like kitchen utensils and socks and underwear without holes. Since these "luxury goods" were outside what I can usually afford on my pay, which is just rent and food and the really basic things, I had to put these items on my credit card. This process of reestablishing your modern Western personhood after extended field research is an often-overlooked expense. | Make payments. | R1, public | |||||||||||||
99 | $25,000 | $5,000 | $30,000 | Anthropology | 2015 | It started when I'd need to pay up front for conferences and fieldwork before getting reimbursed but spent more than the reimbursement. Then emergencies like health care and car problems needed to be covered. My husband was unemployed after separating from six years' enlistement in the Air Force but stuck in this city because of my grad program. We've also taken a few thousand in loans the last couple of years to give ourselves a raise because being 31 feels worse than being 21 and living on $20k/year. | |||||||||||||||
100 | $7,000 | $0 | $7,000 | Anthropology | 2015 | Parents paid for undergrad (thankfully). Took out money to cover grad tuition before tuition waiver covered 100%. Stopped taking out money when subsidized loans for grad students were eliminated. Chose the grad program that offered me largest funding package relative to cost of living, lived sparsely, to accumulate as little debt as possible (live in low COL area). Grad institution has great union and excellent health insurance, otherwise I would undoubtedly owe more. | Hoping to pay off within a few years of graduation. I'm thankful to have had good financial advice and to have been fortunate enough to not owe a great deal. | R1, public |