Is there a right amount to borrow?

The idea of taking out loans to help pay for your college education can feel very intimidating. After all, whatever amount you borrow, you’ll have to start paying it back very soon after you graduate. So how do you figure out what would be a reasonable amount to borrow?

Although no one can ever be completely precise about these sort of things, one well-accepted “rule of thumb” is this:
Don’t borrow any more in student loans – over the total of the four years you spend in college—than you expect to make in your first year’s salary as a professional.

That might be a good way to estimate the total amount, but it leaves open a really difficult question: How can anyone know what they’ll make in their first year on the job – especially if it’s more than 4 years from now?

Truth be told, you can’t know for sure. You can’t even be sure you’ll get a job in your chosen field. But you can give yourself a sense of what different jobs might pay as a starting salary.

The table here was created to give you a picture of how much you might expect to make in your first year at a wide range of different jobs.

Take a look over it and see what it tells you about the limits you might want to place on the amount you borrow in student loans. And remember, if you look at other salary sites online, you’ll want to be sure it lists starting salaries, not median or average salary.