In addition to a degree and a fancy cap/gown combination, the average college student leaves with $25,000 in debt against their name. That’s a staggeringly high figure that’s growing with each graduating classes.
This is a big problem for the economy. The housing markets and auto industries are worried that we won’t be able to buy a home or a car anytime soon. Recent graduates don’t have the means to take entrepreneurial risks, while student loan delinquencies are up.
I know this is wishful thinking, but imagine if you didn’t have any debt and were free to spend that money on anything you want. It’s something I find myself daydreaming about more often than I should. It’s an exercise that gets me nowhere in terms of paying down my debt, but at least it’s a lot of fun. Here are a few of the things I could buy with $25,000.
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1. A down Payment for a House
The average down payment for a house is around $58,000. With 20 percent being the typical threshold, my debt would be enough to cover a $300,000 home. I don’t need anything that nice, and my college debts would be enough for a modest $125,000 home. It would ideally be in a quiet and hard-to-reach part of the country where I never have to think of student loans.
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2. Rent
So maybe my student loan isn’t enough for a down payment on a magnificent home. It is, however, enough to pay for a modest New York City apartment for about a year.
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3. A New Car
Instead of driving around the same hand-me-down car I’ve hard since high school, I could buy something that doesn’t break down every other month. In a way, a new car would pay for itself over time compared to what I’m driving.
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4. Student Books for 20 Years
One of the reasons to blame for those pesky student loans is the ridiculous price of books. With my current debt, I could afford all the textbooks I need for 20 years of classes - average book prices are $1,200 a year. Thinking about that gives me nightmares.
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5. A Luxury Box to the NBA Finals - Almost
I’d be a few thousand dollars short, but I can come close to buying a luxury box to an NBA finals game for my friends and me. Maybe they can chip in and cover the difference?
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6. A Lamborghini…Bicycle
$25,000 is enough for a modest new car, yet it isn’t enough for anything too sporty. That’s where Lamborghini’s $25,000 bicycle comes in. This isn’t a motorcycle. It’s just a bicycle that you pedal the old-fashioned way that happens to be designed by the Italian sports car company.
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7. Five Zero-Gravity Flights
My college degree might not fulfill my dream of being an astronaut, but my student debt could at least make me feel like one. For $4,500 a pop, I can experience zero-gravity for 25 seconds on a cosmonaut-themed flight in Russia.
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8. A Business
The typical small business costs around $30,000 to start up. The idea of being my own boss sounds especially good, as right now I feel like my student debt owns me.
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9. 3,576 Hamburgers from Five Guys
That’s a lot of burgers.
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10. A Bunker for the End of the World
You never know when an end-of-the-world shelter can come in handy. Prices vary, but I’d probably take a DIY approach and buy my own backhoe to build my end-of-the-world bunker shelter, just to ensure it’s deep enough to survival the Donald Trump presidency.
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11. Set It Aside for Retirement
This is a boring yet practical thing to do. Thanks to ridiculously high student loans, graduates of all ages are falling far behind when it comes to saving for retirement.
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12. A Pool
I might not have a house or any land to put it on, but the idea of a swimming pool has always been appealing. The typical pool costs $22,000, so I’d buy a diving board and plenty of inflatable pool toys with the leftover money.
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13. 6,024 Grande Café Lattes from Starbucks
I think I drank this many while in college, so doing it all again is inevitable.
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14. Skydive Training
Forget my college degree. Instead, I should have become a trained skydiver. It only would have cost about $2,500.
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15. Travel the World
The money I owe could have lasted a long time in certain parts of the world. At the very least, $25,000 is enough to travel for a year. I’m sure I could make it last even longer than that.
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16. Healthcare Costs for a Year
College might seem expensive, but it can’t really compare to medical costs. A family of four has around $25,000 in medical costs each year. Fortunately, employers usually cover a big chunk of that with employee health insurance.
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17. A Gym Membership for Life
I could work out in an inexpensive $20-a-month gym for 52 years. There’s no way I wouldn’t be fit after that.
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18. A Wedding…Almost
The fact that my student loans aren’t quite enough for the average wedding almost makes college seem like a bargain.
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19. Credit Card Debt for 1.5 Households
With the average credit card debt at $16,000 per household, my student loans could help out one and a half families.
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20. A Hobbit Village
A hobbit home inspired by The Lord of the Rings is less than $5,000. I could create a small village with my debt. Why, you may ask? Why not, is all I have to say in response.
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21. Groceries for a Long Time
A single person spends around $300 a month on groceries. I’d be able to eat well for seven years.
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22. 16 Cruises
Why not live a little? Cruises cost around $1,800 on average, so I could sail the seven seas and leave all my problems on land.
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23. 250 Rescue Cats
Although I’m not sure my landlord would appreciate it as 250 cats definitely goes against the rental policy.
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24. Six Horses
Having more than 200 cats is totally impractical. Owning six horses at around $4,000 each is so much more realistic.
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25. Almost Half of the Debt That Will Come from Grad School
The average undergrad might owe $25,000 a year, but graduate students owe around $58,000. I can get a head start in paying off a Master’s degree with my current debt. What could possibly go wrong?
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