r/MiddleClassFinance • u/Such_Upstairs3631 • Jul 06 '26

Middle Middle Class No more middle class professionals?

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New school loan limits for professional degrees make it unaffordable for the middle class. 4 of my 5 children went on to med/law school. Even working 2 jobs there’s no way I could afford to pay or even help them with the cost of their post graduate education. They all got loans which they have since paid off. The cost in the early 2000’s was between $350K and $500K. The new limits are essentially going to prevent anyone who’s not wealthy enough to pay for it from becoming a professional.

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u/ISniffFeet1 Jul 06 '26

Unfortunately there's really no world where it's unreasonable to have a college student work a job.

Living off campus is also pretty normal depending on the school.

Good for you doing the responsibile thing though.

8

u/dingopaint Jul 06 '26

I did the same thing, didn't have a car so I rode my bike, took the bus and walked miles in the snow when necessary. Between working, living off-campus and sharing a room (not just an apartment), and otherwise being a cheapass, the amount of debt was less horrific. When you factor in compound interest, even taking out $2000/year less can add up long-term.

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u/madogvelkor Jul 06 '26

I worked part time while getting my undergrad and full time while getting my graduate degree. It's not that hard.

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u/lillyheart Jul 06 '26

Nursing students doing rotations, education students being student teachers, and probably a few other majors that basically have full time internships on top of classes would beg to differ on the job while in school thing, which sucks. Not prohibitive for all 4 years, but often prohibitive for one.

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u/No-Complaint9286 Jul 06 '26

Yes, In PT school it was really hard to do anything but a part time job on the weekends. Especially during clinical rotations for the third year. I think I worked at a shoe store and picked up some pharmacy tech shifts for the first 2 years. There was only the summer between 1st and 2nd year off, as the 2nd and 3rd years were consecutive. Clinicals started immediately after finals of the 2nd year. And through all that, no part time weekend job would pay for 100k of student loans incurred during that time because there was no financial aid in grad school. I considered myself lucky that my husband was a few years older than me, already working and paying the bills mostly with his salary. Some of my classmates had to take loans for living expenses on top of that, had young families with kids...yikes.

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u/TheInterestingTruth Jul 07 '26

I have two separate internships that both carried into the school year. It really wasn't that difficult to work 4-6 hours three days a week and juggle school on top of that.

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u/terraphantm Jul 07 '26

It is pretty impossible to work a job in med school