One of the odd things about borrowing money when you go to college is that you borrow the money when you don’t have enough income to pay taxes. When it comes time to pay back the money, however, you’ll have to pay a tax on every borrowed dime. So Uncle Sam makes out quite nicely when your education “pays off.”
OK, maybe you missed that little tax item. So let’s take a more detailed view.
If you are a college or professional school student, it’s likely that you are single. The personal exemption amount for 2016 on a single filer is $4,050. The standard deduction is $6,300. That totals $10,350. You can earn that much before you have a federal income tax bracket. After that you can earn another $9,275 and still only pay federal income taxes at 10 percent.
Things are different when you graduate and start your working career. With an average starting salary of $50,651 last year, a typical college grad, still single, broke into the 25 percent tax bracket, which starts at a taxable $37,651. If they earn more than the average amount, as most hope, they will be well into the 25 percent tax bracket.
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