Originally Posted by
freezingflyboy
As long as you don't like to eat, go anywhere and can sleep on your parents couch....then you're correct. However, last time I checked my mortgage company doesn't accept "but I love my job" as payment. Neither does my credit card company or my retirement fund. I'll say it again, paying back $800/month in loans when you only net $1200/month is TOUGH. Don't take my word for it. Try to live on $400/month. Unless you have a trust fund or a well payed spouse I think you will find it nearly impossible.
I would submit that its better to have a job you hate but make enough to live comfortably, enjoy your time off and send your kids to college than it is to love your job, not see your family and live under crushing debt. Work to live, don't live to work.
Well ofcourse, I'm not advocating that you do this if you have a family depending on you, or if you already have a mortgage and such. This is definitely a better idea if you do live at home and don't mind eating ramen for 3 years. Personally, if I was 20 years old and had a willing co-signer, I would do it in a heartbeat. At 20, I ate ramen noodles all the time anyway, and I lived with 3 other people and paid $250/mo in rent, and drove a 15 year old honda civic that was ofcourse paid for. I could EASILY live off of $1200/month. Now, not so much. I have 3 kids, a new minivan, a mortgage, student loans, and a stay at home wife until August. Going to ATP now would be suicide. But if you still live off of peanuts, which most teenagers-23 year olds do, I say go for it!!