Dreams vs. Debt: Older College Students' Big Dilemma

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717 (Photo credit: faungg)

Sometimes good things are worth waiting for. What if they?re expensive though?

For many reasons, including an economy in flux, people over 40 are flocking back to college campuses. In 2000 there were 857,000 undergraduates 40 and older, by 2010, they numbered 1.3 million, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. With no guarantee of a reward of a great job and student loan debt that can be $40,000-$50,000 and more, is the payoff worth the investment?

Sweeter the second time?

The second time around the college bend was better for Sharron Walls. ? I left college in my 20s with one year remaining. Went back in 2001 at age 45 (after five years as a stay-at-home mom), lost 60 credits due to a change of major, took three classes a semester and finished when I was 50. I loved it!? she says.

She initially financed her back-to-school effort with a $5,000 inheritance, then worked at campus positions that either paid for tuition and fees or gave a stipend.

?I graduated debt-free, unlike my previous experience, when it took me nine years to pay off college loans.?

Walls, a communications coordinator for the Georgia Health Sciences University says she never would have started that position she would have never reached in my previous profession. ?I?m currently up for another position that could potentially double my pay. Either way, I?m better off,? says Wall.

Nancy Irwin went back to get her doctorate in psychology. The $50,000 in debt she took on was a challenge. ?I paid it back slowly over a number of years. I actually spread it out over several credit cards.? However, she made over $100,000 in her first year. She is a practicing therapist, clinical hypnotist, and in line to get her psychologist?s license.

Theresa Thaxton owes $20,000 and the tab is still running. ?I went back to school in my forties. Although I do not yet have a job, I think my decision was worth it because I was very successful in school. I will have to find a way to pay off my debt but for now I am just enjoying my new educational status in life. She obtained her degree in communication studies and now is graduate school studying education. ?I plan on obtaining my PhD when I finish my master?s degree,? says Thaxton who says that part of her motivation was going back to school to earn good money and also emotional, ?I had flunked out of college earlier in life and I wanted to make amends for that.?

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