[Mike75]

Originally Posted by akm5231

First, a little information:
My parents make about $70,000 a year. My dad is a high school science teacher and my mother is a teacher's aid.
They have no debt, own their house, don't spend ridiculously, etc.
My older sister attends a community college, which is obviously relatively inexpensive.
However, my twin sister and I both go to Penn State University Park which is about $24,000 a year. We get financial aid though, so it ends up being about $18,000 a year for room/board/meal/tuition.
My parents had no college savings for us, so we're both paying entirely with loans. That means I'll be about $72,000 in student loan debt when I graduate.
I am hoping to live off campus my junior and senior year to save about $4,000 a year, so it might be about $64,000 in the end.
I should probably mention that my major is graphic design (though I may change to advertising) and my sister's is journalism- we both chose PSU because we thought that, for the degrees we wanted, a state school wouldn't have quite as many alumni connections.

My question is, am I making an entirely stupid decision here? Is this amount of debt unheard of? How much does someone have to make a year to be able to pay that back? I think about this constantly and just figured it was time I got some answers.

No, I don't think you are making a big mistake. You are saving the money wherever possible, which is very good. Just concentrate on your studies for now. Sto worrying abouty our future. Getting good grades in classes is very important.