Placing the Blame as Students Are Buried in Debt

[the1]

Absofuckinglutely! I have a master's in Computational Finance from a University that claims to offer a program that competes with a Tier I school. The entrance requirements were about the same so maybe the program does rank up there. Aside from that point, I probably use 2% of what I learned but I had no problem getting a job when I sent my resume and credentials in the mail. This was back in the day when you actually had to put a stamp on the envelope.

100k in religious studies. Well...I guess law school is definitely an option. Someone give this girl another 150k

Quote from wilburbear:

I got an MBA from a top 25 school. I use 5 or 10% of this knowledge in my daily work. I'll bet others would say the same thing.

College is not worth the price. It only certifies that you've jumped through the right hoops.

How many trillions of man hours and trillions of dollars have been wasted in education? Do the educators really care? No.

 

[Misthos]

I'll play devil's advocate.

There was a time that a BA, in whatever field, was useful for most people - not as much today. Subject matter was not as important as the skills gained. That is, reading critically, and writing effectively.

I have known many successful individuals with philosphy, history, or poli sci degrees doing something that had nothing to do with their field. Actually, I remember reading studies in the 1990s that showed people with BAs made more than those with BSs.

Some of the top generals in the military have degrees in philosophy. Many hedge fund managers did not take business courses initially. Not every job requires a narrow skill set from the get go such as computer science or engineering. There are jobs out there that just need you to be persuasive. These are jobs that one "grows" into after some initial training. It can be sales, marketing, advertising, copyrighting, editing, teaching, etc...

My view of the future is that regardless of what you study, there are not going to be as many jobs out there as there used to be. There are many unemployed engineers and software developers -but we like to focus on the women's studies person and say ha! that's where the problem lies.

Either way, Big Education is big business and it too will have to adapt with the times. And more important, people's views of higher eductaion will have to adapt as well. There's always a time lag for that. I feel bad for the upcoming graduates that entered college just before the crisis. They'll pay peak college costs and get the least in return.

 

[TGregg]

Quote from SomeYoungGuy:

We can sit here and say Oh what an aweful financial decision, and it obviously was and she realizes that now, but who are we to tell her what she can and can't do with her life?

If she sat back and said "Yeah, I owe 100k and it was worth it" or even "OK, I screwed up, but I'll own up to my mistake" that'd be one thing. Who could find fault with making a mistake then taking responsibility? But what is happening is some douchebag liberal weenie is saying that it's not her fault she's in this position, it's more the fault of the bank and college.

It's about the decline of personal responsibility in this country. If some nut job stabs himself in the heart, the manufacturer of the knife bears zero responsibility. Yet we are moving closer and closer to saying the knife maker bears most of it.

 

[SomeYoungGuy]

Quote from TGregg:

If she sat back and said "Yeah, I owe 100k and it was worth it" or even "OK, I screwed up, but I'll own up to my mistake" that'd be one thing. Who could find fault with making a mistake then taking responsibility? But what is happening is some douchebag liberal weenie is saying that it's not her fault she's in this position, it's more the fault of the bank and college.

It's about the decline of personal responsibility in this country. If some nut job stabs himself in the heart, the manufacturer of the knife bears zero responsibility. Yet we are moving closer and closer to saying the knife maker bears most of it.

I completely agree. The end of personal responsibility will be the downfall of the US, and most likely the rest of western civilization.

 

[Trader666]

+1

She needs to be protected from herself.

Quote from TGregg:

Now that we've seen this chick claim she was taken advantage of, clearly she needs governmental supervision for all her major activities. If she's too stupid to figure out her loan, then she's also unqualified to figure out where to live, what job to take and whether she should buy a house. And let's get her tubes tied. Don't want her passing on the moron genes and she's just too stooopid to be allowed near kids, let alone be allowed to raise `em.

 

[Lojanica]

Quote from SomeYoungGuy:

Thank God we still live in a country where it is possible to control your own destiny.

Good for her. She studied something she was really interested in.

Absolutely. She should use her skills and pray she wins the lottery.

 

[1prometheus]

the egalitarians got it dead wrong once again:

They figured if "everyone" went to college, "everyone" could boost their income at once.

Of course, by putting all these low IQ individuals in college, ALL they have succeeded in doing is devaluing a college education. With grade curving and grade inflation, even a 4.0 means next to nothing at many schools.

I live near a large state school. It is scary! I would say 90% of the student body has no business being in college. You can see it in the dumb, glossy eyed look they have, and the fact that a large percent of the student body is obese. It looks like a 3rd world country. I bet 90% of them are taking remedial classes in basic math and similar.

Anyone interested in a book that offers solutions to this mess, I strongly recommend "real education" by Charles Murray of Bell Curve fame.

 

[Hardo]

Very good arguments by everyone here. I agree it has become much more difficult to even get jobs in fields where you have a degree that pertains to it let alone getting a job with a degree in religious and women's studies. It used to be all you had to do is get a degree in whatever you wanted and then go get hired because you had a degree.

I will agree that the education system has become very watered down, they let basically anyone with a pulse into college these days as long as they can pay for it. In turn, everyone can pay for it because of all the government programs be it grants or loans as well as private loans from all the big banks.

I will admit that I used student loans to pay for college and it would have been much more difficult to get through school in four years without them. But I was realistic when I picked a school and took out loans. I could have went to a more prestigious schools on the East coast or smaller private ones closer to home but I didn't think that the price tag was worth it. I couldn't justify coming out of college with a 100k in debt over my head unless I was a 100% sure that I was going to do something to pay it off in a timely manner. I am very happy with my degree from what most people consider a good state university and I was less than 20k in debt when I was done.

 

[maxpi]

Quote from TGregg:



It's about the decline of personal responsibility in this country. If some nut job stabs himself in the heart, the manufacturer of the knife bears zero responsibility. Yet we are moving closer and closer to saying the knife maker bears most of it.

C'mon, knife makers have deep pockets, crazy people are usually broke.. it's the American way brother

Change from within the system = 100 Trillion in unfunded mandates and sue the shit out of the private sector...

 

[Trader7793]

The US govt needs to stop subsidizing these student loans above say $25k and also allow student loan debt above $30k to be discharged in bankruptcy court. Those measures would quickly dry up all this money that students are borrowing. This would keep students from getting themselves into this ridiculous amount of debt and spending the rest of their lives as slaves to firms like Sallie Mae. This would eventually force universities to begin to reign in cost and lower tuitions. As students are allowed to borrow more and more, universities increase tuition more and more. If a student wants to borrow $20k to get a degree in religious studies, then that is probably acceptable...over 10 years the student could probably pay that back, but borrowing much more than that is a receipt for disaster. The govt needs to stop being an "enabler" for this nonsense.