{"id":455,"date":"2026-03-21T22:58:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T22:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartcollegeadmission.com\/?p=455"},"modified":"2026-03-21T22:58:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T22:58:04","slug":"how-much-debt-is-reasonable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartcollegeadmission.com\/es\/how-much-debt-is-reasonable\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much Debt Is Reasonable?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The average amount of undergraduate debt these days is $37,132. That comes to $393\/month for at least 10 years. The typical undergraduate takes almost 20 years to pay off their undergraduate debt. Imagine a starting salary of $55,000 before taxes. That&#8217;s $4123\/month for rent, car, and health insurance, food, utilities, taxes, and loan payments. Almost 10% of your monthly salary is gone before you ever see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A common rule is not to take out more debt than your anticipated first year salary. So for humanities majors, you may be looking at $50K, Computer Science $75k. Figure out a typical monthly loan payment <span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">using<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nerdwallet.com\/article\/loans\/student-loans\/student-loans-extra-payments\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0this<\/a><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nerdwallet.com\/article\/loans\/student-loans\/student-loans-extra-payments\"> calculator<\/a> and then decide what works for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>So what CAN you do to avoid steep debt?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">Apply to scholarships anyway. All you have to lose is time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Start early! You can start applying as early as 8th grade. Most people wait until they know where they are going and have missed the majority of deadlines\u2014fewer applicants = less competition.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Target schools where you exceed the average stats. Schools with a 3.6 GPA and an 1100 SAT will offer presidential scholarships worth significant money to raise their averages using <strong>your<\/strong> higher numbers. Be a rockstar on campus and get paid for it!\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Look local. Organizations that give scholarships only to local students mean less competition. Ask your high school counselor for leads.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Compare school data using the Common Data Set (CDS) to see typical debt at graduation and average salary ten years out.\u00a0Simply search &#8220;Common Data Set [school name].&#8221; <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Stop associating name recognition with the quality of education. Stretch your comfort zone. The entire Midwest is especially ripe with opportunities. Excellent education for more significant scholarships\/less debt = life-changing. Or more money for grad school?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The average amount of undergraduate debt these days is $37,132. That comes to $393\/month for at least 10 years. The typical undergraduate takes almost 20 years to pay off their undergraduate debt. Imagine a starting salary of $55,000 before taxes. That&#8217;s $4123\/month for rent, car, and health insurance, food, utilities, taxes, and loan payments. Almost [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[13,29,11],"class_list":["post-455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paying-for-college","tag-affording-college","tag-college-debt","tag-financial-aid"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How Much Debt Is Reasonable? - Smart College Admission<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartcollegeadmission.com\/es\/how-much-debt-is-reasonable\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Much Debt Is Reasonable? - Smart College Admission\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The average amount of undergraduate debt these days is $37,132. 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