Trillion dollars in student loan debt. Young people can't afford a house, family.
- Thread starter wilburbear
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If you guys are talking about named schools, then there was never a time when you could get a "summer" job and pay for a years tuition(unless you got a high paying job at Ford) For instance...in the 1930s tuition at a "named" school was about $400 per year for undergraduate. Min wage was around 25 cents in the 1930s, or about $10 per week. That means one would have to work almost a year to pay for 1 year of a top named brand school like Wharton or Yale.
There's plenty of blame to go around on this issue....
-Politicians, particularly the Democrats love to buy votes by "providing affordable student loans". See President Obama's recent tour across the country blanketing college campuses. This has led to massive increases in tuition and an "arms race" by most schools to build the best buildings, high-end dorms, etc. It's a natural reaction really. Make credit readily available, and a bubble forms. See the housing from 2000 on.
-The kids and parents have plenty of blame too. If you are stupid enough to saddle yourself (or allow your child) with $100k in debt to obtain an art history degree..... well, you're just asking for a hard, real life lesson in economics. If you go beyond $30k in debt, you had better have a degree that can be monetized rather easily in order to pay it back.
-Then you have the professors, who are constantly taking world-wide trips, which are supposed to be educational but are thinly cloaked all-expense vacations instead. Not to mention they all have TA's, in addition to working very laid back hours.
-Politicians, particularly the Democrats love to buy votes by "providing affordable student loans". See President Obama's recent tour across the country blanketing college campuses. This has led to massive increases in tuition and an "arms race" by most schools to build the best buildings, high-end dorms, etc. It's a natural reaction really. Make credit readily available, and a bubble forms. See the housing from 2000 on.
-The kids and parents have plenty of blame too. If you are stupid enough to saddle yourself (or allow your child) with $100k in debt to obtain an art history degree..... well, you're just asking for a hard, real life lesson in economics. If you go beyond $30k in debt, you had better have a degree that can be monetized rather easily in order to pay it back.
-Then you have the professors, who are constantly taking world-wide trips, which are supposed to be educational but are thinly cloaked all-expense vacations instead. Not to mention they all have TA's, in addition to working very laid back hours.
Current college student here. Going to a UC like poster a bit above me. He/she already explained one really good way to go to college for cheap. There are numerous other ways. Most state schools still have a combination of reasonable tuition rates and decently comprehensive financial aid programs. If you have the money to pay, you pay full sticker price (at state schools probably a bit expensive but not terribly so). If you don't have the money to pay, the real cost of going to school is lowered greatly. I grew up in a lower-middle class household, lived and spent frugally while in college (protip #1: not all text books are necessary, #2: older editions are sufficient 99% of the time #3: the internet has lots of free stuff if you know where to look, #4: don't buy shit you don't need), took college courses in high school to get college units, and I will be graduating at the end of this academic year as a third year. I will graduate with minimal debt. This would of likely been zero debt if I didn't choose to study abroad for a semester, but I think it's worth 50 bucks a month for 10 years. Of course, this was with very significant parental help, but even so, all things considered my family and I did not pay much for me to go to school.
UC schools have been under enormous pressure with tuition hikes and budget cuts, so it is likely that other state schools would have been even cheaper. Additionally, there are numerous private schools that are more than happy to compensate a talented student with scholarship funds in order to boost its admissions profile. Furthermore, there are numerous private schools that cover 100% of financial need, although these are generally the very selective ones. The point is, it is still very possible to go to college for cheap. You do have many more options, of course, if you have an impressive application.
The information on these cheap roads to college is easily obtainable on the internet. I am of the school of thought that anyone paying $200,000 for a bachelor's degree out of pocket is a bit misguided. Further, anyone going into $200,000 in DEBT for a bachelor's degree is a damned fool.
And don't give me this "young teenager" BS, 18 is plenty old to do some google searches and figure out your best option. It is these very misguided people who are fueling the ever rising tuition hikes. It's simple supply and demand. Tuition prices continue to go up at a rate vastly greater than the rate of inflation. And yet, demand to go to these schools keeps going up along with it. We have UPWARD sloping demand! Something is wrong. The most expensive colleges continue to get more and more selective. Of course they keep increasing prices, their customers don't seem to CARE about the price! It's only good business sense. And after all, higher education is big business.
UC schools have been under enormous pressure with tuition hikes and budget cuts, so it is likely that other state schools would have been even cheaper. Additionally, there are numerous private schools that are more than happy to compensate a talented student with scholarship funds in order to boost its admissions profile. Furthermore, there are numerous private schools that cover 100% of financial need, although these are generally the very selective ones. The point is, it is still very possible to go to college for cheap. You do have many more options, of course, if you have an impressive application.
The information on these cheap roads to college is easily obtainable on the internet. I am of the school of thought that anyone paying $200,000 for a bachelor's degree out of pocket is a bit misguided. Further, anyone going into $200,000 in DEBT for a bachelor's degree is a damned fool.
And don't give me this "young teenager" BS, 18 is plenty old to do some google searches and figure out your best option. It is these very misguided people who are fueling the ever rising tuition hikes. It's simple supply and demand. Tuition prices continue to go up at a rate vastly greater than the rate of inflation. And yet, demand to go to these schools keeps going up along with it. We have UPWARD sloping demand! Something is wrong. The most expensive colleges continue to get more and more selective. Of course they keep increasing prices, their customers don't seem to CARE about the price! It's only good business sense. And after all, higher education is big business.
-Then you have the professors, who are constantly taking world-wide trips, which are supposed to be educational but are thinly cloaked all-expense vacations instead. Not to mention they all have TA's, in addition to working very laid back hours. [/B][/QUOTE]
The problem I had with the University of California system, from which I graduated, was that after about a year attending there I found out that Professors' mandate was to focus on publishing books and papers not teaching students, that's what TA's did. At the California state system the focus is on actual teaching. And yet Cal State is much cheaper than UC.
The problem I had with the University of California system, from which I graduated, was that after about a year attending there I found out that Professors' mandate was to focus on publishing books and papers not teaching students, that's what TA's did. At the California state system the focus is on actual teaching. And yet Cal State is much cheaper than UC.
There is no difference between leftist keynesians and rightist keynesians.
The difference is between keynesian and libertarian. For some reason Ron paul libertarian is a member of keynesian party. LMAO
Spot on. Most states require state schools, even the best in the state, to accept a comm college student if they have the appropriate GPA in certain majors. High schools will allow you to magnet to a comm college to pick up credits there. Also summer semester are usually cheaper and easier then the fall winter ones.
If you did some good planning you could crush out a UVA or Michigan with only being there for 2 years or less.
That's exactly what it is...it expanded in lockstep with the credit bubble, particularly from the 80's onward...now that the credit bubble burst (even though the damn thing is being re-inflated by transfering from private to public)...nonetheless, we are definitely seeing more distortions in the economy from the demands of student debt service..i.e. a future drag on car sales, homesales and every other form of consumption.
Government Motors better depend on a whole helluva lot more public sector purchases if it wants to avoid bk many times over in the years ahead.