Now that Hatch is a Certified

Now that Hatch is a Certified Financial Planner, he is keenly aware of the dangers young adults face when borrowing money with little understanding of what it really means.

“In my experience, most college students have little to no awareness of what their budget will be upon graduation,” says Hatch. In that respect, it’s very hard for them to make well-informed decisions without some context.

Only when the other bills start rolling in – the rent, utilities, car payments, and grocery bills – do graduates realize what they have done — and the opportunities they may have to pass up because of their huge student debt obligation. But by then, it’s far too late.Big Boss vote

Aaron Hatch, founder of Woven Capital

Aaron Hatch, founder of Woven Capital was only 19 years old when he took out his first round of student loans to attend a private liberal arts college 2,000 miles away.

Like Farrington, Hatch says his biggest regret was that he had no idea what his monthly payments would be once he graduated. But more than that, he wished he understood the opportunity cost of having a monthly student loan payment in relation to his other “future bills” and monthly obligations.

Borrowing money for college is the easy part.

Borrowing money for college is the easy part. Read through a few pamphlets of paperwork, sign your name a few times, and voila – you’re the proud owner of a student loan.

The problem is, few borrowers actually have any idea what their monthly payment might be in the future – at least, they don’t know until they get the bill in the mail.

Robert Farrington of The College Investor explains how his student loan story played out: “I still remember getting my student loans – I received an email from the financial aid office saying I was approved, and then I clicked the link. I chose “I Accept” about three times, and boom – $20,500 in student loans instantly,” says Farrington.

“I had no idea what my monthly payment would be or what it would take to pay these off. I just went about my day,” he says.

It wasn’t until years later that he found out how much he would actually owe each month, and what that really meant.

When Hansen went back to earn her master’s degree in business, s

says she wishes she’d been made aware of the myriad other ways to finance school when she attended college. Throughout high school, she says, she was taught that student loans were always “good debt,” and that repayment wouldn’t be a problem once she got a job.

“I didn’t realize there are scholarships, companies that provide tuition reimbursement, self-financing, joining the military, and even working directly for a university,” notes Whitney.

When Hansen went back to earn her master’s degree in business, she got a job at the university where she studied and received a heavily discounted tuition package as a result. “My entire MBA cost me $472,” she says.

To many people, this amount is nothing more than an outrageous number to balk at – an anomaly shared on the nightly news.

To many people, this amount is nothing more than an outrageous number to balk at – an anomaly shared on the nightly news.

But for others, their share represents so much more. Fear. Shame. Frustration. A lifetime sentence of debt.

And for most, it represents regret – and a whole lot of it.

For the graduating class of 2016, the average debt load of indebted students surged over $37,000 for the first time. And nationwide, the delinquency rate on student loans is well over 11%.

Few students understand the ramifications of borrowing too much money for school, and even fewer grasp what their loans will mean to their lives five, 10, or even 20 years from now. But once they sign on that dotted line, we all know it’s usually far too late to determine if student loans are worth it.