Engineering grad with $35K in loans calls college a scam before even graduating
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 5, 2026.
It only takes one good job, and you haven't even graduated yet. Give it a minute. Congratulations on your degree! That's something that can never be repossessed.
An engineering grad calls $35,000 in loans a scam, and the thread's answer is that the debt is cheap while the missing internships are the real problem. Degree ROI hinges on work experience, and a soft tech hiring window still leaves the degree a sound investment.
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A post on r/povertyfinance from user HunterDue220 struck a nerve: a 28-year-old finishing a computer engineering degree in December, carrying $35,000 in student loans and no internship experience, voiced regret about the entire investment before collecting the diploma.
The thread's most-upvoted response, from ornery-fizz, pushed back firmly: the degree cannot be repossessed, and the graduate has not yet tested the market. Several other commenters echoed the point that $35,000 for an engineering credential is, by most measures, a relatively modest debt load for the field.
The sharpest criticism in the thread targeted the absence of internships and hands-on experience. Multiple commenters argued that skipping work experience while enrolled is the actual liability, and that the remaining months before graduation could still be used to close that gap or build relevant skills.
The broader backdrop matters here: the tech hiring market has been soft, making January graduation timing feel especially exposed. Even so, the consensus in the thread held that a computer engineering degree remains a sound long-term position, with the missing internships representing a fixable problem rather than a fatal one.