Gender Pay Gap in Student Loans

As a senior in high school, I have to ask myself whether or not I want to take on student loans going into college as I'm sure many of you have to too.  However when I was reading an article in the newspaper a few days ago, I was disturbed, but not surprised, to read about how women are more likely to "have a tougher time handling the same amount of student debt as their male peers" (Gail MarksJarvis, Chicago Tribune).  Women have to struggle more than men because lower salaries typically follow women throughout their careers.  Even though its been statistically proved that more women are going to college than men and we earn higher grades on average.  BUT, the year after college women are earning less in jobs than men who graduated at the same time as they did.  Knowing this in advance really sucks because I know that unless I'm going to college on a full-paid scholarship (which probably isn't going to happen!) then I am going to need student loans. 

However there was a catch in the article saying that the reduced amount of pay between men and women can be linked to the career choices that women make.  More women make "choices that sometimes position them in occupations like teaching, which pay less than fields like engineering that tend to attract more men."  So whoopee to me for wanting to major in Geology!  But then it goes on to say, "But about a third of the gap cannot be explained by factors such as a woman's major, career choice or hours worked." (Gail MarksJarvis, Chicago Tribune).  No more whoopee.

Summing up the article to a nice little chunk is to basically say that it all depends.  It all depends on where you go to college (whether it's a more selective college or dumpy college), on what you choose to major in (teaching versus engineering), and how "women should be willing to negotiate for higher pay when taking jobs" (Gail MarksJarvis, Chicago Tribune) in which men tend to do more than women.  So for all the women out there, including myself, be aware of the rule of thumb out there that you shouldn't be taking on monthly loan payments that exceed 8 percent of monthly pay unless you're in a relatively high-paying career with advance potential.