[noisy_boy]

I'm Indian and sometimes pieces like this are a very strong reminder of how bad the student loan situation is in US. I went to a central university (i.e. funded by the central/federal government of India) and basically paid less than INR 1000 per year in tution fees and what not (I was a day scholar so no hostel expenses but they were low as well). For three years of full time university education, that is less than USD 50. I don't have a foreign university degree to compare quality of education with but I certainly got FAR better education than I paid for.

[ahomescu1]

Public universities are funded by government, which in turn is funded by taxes. The choice here isn't between "university for a loan" versus "university for free"; the latter choice is actually "university in exchange for an extra 3-5% of taxes for the rest of your life" (I'm guessing that percentage, it might be higher or lower). You have to look at it as "do I want to pay a loan for the next 10 years" versus "do I want to pay 5% more of my salary for the rest of my life". There are up- and down-sides to both options.

[xtracto]

>"do I want to pay 5% more of my salary for the rest of my life". There are up- and down-sides to both options.

The main difference is that, if I do not have a job for 3 years, I don't get drowned on interests.

[ahomescu1]

Why would you get drowned in interest? You would have to make regular payments as usual, which is something you know from the beginning, and are supposed to plan for.

Also, if this is a problem, you could try to ask for a clause against this when you sign the loan contract (if you lose your job, you stop having to make payments until you get a job again). Not sure they'd go for it, but it's worth asking for (I think many student loans come from the government anyway, they might accept this clause).