Northwestern Student Graduates with $350K Debt
This grad has a lot to pay back. She graduated not only with a MBA, but a JD.
Kellogg MBA Graduated With $350K Debt
For Kellogg MBA Cacky Calderon, far more is at stake than money when it comes to paying off her staggering student debt. And staggering it is: Calderon earned an MBA and a law degree simultaneously from Northwestern University, where the Kellogg School of Management and law school are among the most highly selective schools in the country.
She was paying tuition of around $70,000 a year, and came out of school with $350,000 in student loans–more than triple the average debt burden of a Kellogg MBA. And the sooner she’s out of debt, the sooner she can launch her startup, an enterprise rooted in profound personal loss, and focused on improving the lives of cancer victims and their loved ones.
After graduating last year, Calderon has been paying down her debt with all she can save, plus her bonuses from TripAdvisor, where she’s a product manager. “I just put every penny into paying back these loans as fast as possible,” says Calderon, 31, who had spent four and one-half years at Amazon after receiving a bachelor’s degree in economics and marketing at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School in 2005.