I attended and paid for most of my private faith-based college tuition in cash. We got married part way through college, and DH and I paid for our own wedding and honeymoon, which meant taking out about 7k in student loans to eke out the last 2 semesters and graduate.
What boggled my mind was how many students took out all the student loans offered to them...regardless of the amount they needed for tuition. They literally lived off of the rest of the loans instead of working or saving. They weren't getting highly marketable degrees -- they were getting MINISTRY degrees. AKA...never going to make lots of money. Jobs that (should you actually graduate with your complete degree) won't qualify you for a heck of a lot of highly skilled jobs, likely won't have fantastic benefits, and will often be highly volatile.
I knew the path I had chosen, and I don't regret my degree. I paid for most of it in cash and DH and I paid off those 7k in loans within a couple years of graduation.
These idiots were taking private college classes at 6k a semester (counting room and board), taking the max loan allowed (often an additional 3-4k on top of it each semester), and playing stupid about the choices they were making. They didn't work, seldom had great work ethic or motivation, and several that I knew would fail at least one class a semester. Students were walking away with a faith-based ministry degree after 6 years of being unemployed students, and they had anywhere from 70k to 90k in student loans!! An absolute recipe for disaster......
Now I'm interested in Joel Osteen's back story.
Did the doctrine of wealth play into any of the decisions of these classmates? I mean it's fashionable in popular culture, but did anybody actually take out a loan with the intention of getting rich off of televangelism or some similar populist tripe? There are people who do make a fabulous living in the ministry (much like in underwater basket weaving), but they're in the extreme minority. It's kind of like taking a loan out for a theatre arts degree thinking: "yeah, I'll go to Hollywood and become an A-list actor". It happens once in a while but it's not a predictable result of leveraging oneself to the hilt.
Did you by chance get to talk to any of these classmates and learn the reasoning behind their decision making?
Depended. Some had a general idea that student loans were a neccesity, and that getting a degree was the most important thing... A few seemed to have a genuine desire to help and serve and simply went about the college avenue without a lot of common sense. A few were the type who had relatives in the ministry, so it was a "thing" or expectation, but almost all of those particular students dropped out after a year or two, meaning lots of student loans with no degree. There are always a few who seem to ride the "popularity" train, seeming to think that the money will just come to them. Sometimes the loans are in parents names so as long as the parents will sign, they take the loans. I even knew students whose parents actually didn't want them to work in college, so the loans were to make up for that insistence!
The worst though were the stereotypically "M.R.S." students. AKA, only there to theoretically find a good preacher husband. That almost NEVER worked out in their favor...
I obviously am quite aware that the ministry field of education (particularly as it became more liberal arts driven as opposed to strictly preaching and teaching) is filled with many many foolish and sometimes outright hypocritical individuals. My attempt has always been to be neither of those stereotypes.