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One In Five Households Burdened By Student Debt, A Record

The Prof said:
One in five households burdened by student debt, a record - latimes

another wing of obama's majority coalition

too many of our kids are pursuing worthless degrees

Half of college grads can't find full-time jobs - CBS News
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I completely agree. These kids are being led down the primrose path. Look at the cost of higher education in this country. It is completely out of line. Ridiculous that students are mortgaging the next ten-twenty years of their lives for a degree. Go to a community college for a two-year; then pursue the other two with your part-time jobs and bitsy loans. Parents/their kids are nutz.
 
On average college graduates make more money. On the other hand, they lose 4 working years of their life, have to pay for tuition, room and board while not working a full time job, and end up with student loan payments. Does the extra income make up for the loss of 4 years and the expenses incurred while going to school? Not for everyone.

Of course, that's not exactly a message we broadcast to the kids. We show them bar charts showing higher income figures to convince them they should all go on to further education. Which results in more people getting college degrees than we really need for the jobs - many jobs don't really require that type of education. I mean, if we ever get to the point where 100% of people obtain college degrees we're going to have the janitorial staff be college educated.
 
There is the added dynamic that most people spend most of their lives within 100 miles of their hometown. If you live in an area where $100K piece of paper isn't going to give you a $100K step up then it may not be worth it unless you are determined to go where the jobs in your field are.
 
vvx said:
On average college graduates make more money. On the other hand, they lose 4 working years of their life, have to pay for tuition, room and board while not working a full time job, and end up with student loan payments. Does the extra income make up for the loss of 4 years and the expenses incurred while going to school? Not for everyone.

Of course, that's not exactly a message we broadcast to the kids. We show them bar charts showing higher income figures to convince them they should all go on to further education. Which results in more people getting college degrees than we really need for the jobs - many jobs don't really require that type of education. I mean, if we ever get to the point where 100% of people obtain college degrees we're going to have the janitorial staff be college educated.
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Not true. There are a ton of people like myself who commute to school and are working part-time while going to college.
 
College in America was never meant to leave kids with a lifetime of insurmountable debt. Fire all of the liberal college professors and let them try to exist in the real world. Hire real-life professors that teach professions rather than indoctrination of liberal nonsense. Is there really any point in continuing the minority/women's studies nonsense? Any point beyond creating jobs for freaks?
 
If you are only working a part-time though you are still giving up income you could have made as a full-time employee during the time you are in school. That is a pretty standard analysis of the cost-benefit of a college degree.
 
Mr.Nick said:
You got lucky, I got a bunch of communist Mao and Che Guevara sympathizers. Actually I had points taken from me on an essay for referring to Che Guevara by his real name "Ernesto Lynch" can you believe that?

But I suppose not all were bad, sure they may have been overly progressive but they respected intellectual freedom.

I guess college was great as far as a social experience, but I can't say there were many professors I cared for, but like I said - some were honest enough to respect opposing views while most others were completely intolerant. I will say the more tolerant ones were at the community college level, but then when I transferred to the University of Illinois things just became too wicked.
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Yeah, I definitely had a lucky experience but I don't think it's bad at most universities yet. What I have a problem with though are professors teaching a one sided curriculum that focuses too much on politics(especially failed ideologies) because the institutions are supposed to be places where ideas are exchanged freely.
 
mike2810 said:
I blame the parents for the debt. Even before you have a kid, people need to be planning for the future. It costs to raise a kid. Even trade schools have a cost. Find a way to put a little away each month and live below your means.

IMO, to many people have lived pay check to pay check because they wanted a new car every other year, the big flat screen tv, the latest cell phone/smart phone, etc. This has resulted in borrowing large amounts to put the kid through school.
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You really don't understand what's been happening these past few years.

When I was 16, my parents had a college fund large enough to cover all 4 years for me at a private university.

By the time I turned 18, it would barely even cover 4 years at a public university.

And today, if that college fund still existed (it doesn't, for various reasons), 2 years at a public CC would use up almost half of it. There'd be no hope for it covering my last 2 years at a 4-year university.
 
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SmokeAndMirrors said:
You really don't understand what's been happening these past few years.

When I was 16, my parents had a college fund large enough to cover all 4 years for me at a private university.

By the time I turned 18, it would barely even cover 4 years at a public university.

And today, if that college fund still existed (it doesn't, for various reasons), 2 years at a public CC would use up almost half of it. There'd be no hope for it covering my last 2 years at a 4-year university.
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Phenomenal point. The marketplace for post-secondary education determines the outcome more than parents do.

The university I had chosen increased its tuition (in comparison to other schools, it is quite modest) due to wanting to go division 1 in all of their sports, and a number of building projects.
 
Mr. Invisible said:
You really don't know what you are talking about. Most people are in debt because they cannot afford college even with their parents help and thus have to borrow money to finance their education.
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Your entitled to your opinion.
So how many parents started saving before having kids? How many teenagers spend the money they make at a fast food place rather than saving a good part of it?
I will give the point that many college have raised rates more than they should. Can you honestly say that teenagers are saving for school. My bet they work at McD's to pay for the smart phone. They work at McD's because they got to have the new Jorden sneakers.

Granted I finished my 7 1/2 years of college in the mid 70's. It has gotten more expensive. Yet many today want things now rather than preparing for the future. Like many are not preparing for retirement.
 
mike2810 said:
Your entitled to your opinion.
So how many parents started saving before having kids? How many teenagers spend the money they make at a fast food place rather than saving a good part of it?
I will give the point that many college have raised rates more than they should. Can you honestly say that teenagers are saving for school. My bet they work at McD's to pay for the smart phone. They work at McD's because they got to have the new Jorden sneakers.

Granted I finished my 7 1/2 years of college in the mid 70's. It has gotten more expensive. Yet many today want things now rather than preparing for the future. Like many are not preparing for retirement.
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You don't know anything about this generation's issues with getting an education. You're just spouting off the same tired, baseless "lazy kids!" rhetoric without knowing about the reality.

Actually I know quite a lot of people who are working full time while trying to go to school. As soon as they get their paycheck, they pay their tuition or loans, and they're broke again. They don't have money for things like food.

Most of their parents saved college funds for them. It's just that now those funds are almost worthless due to how dramatically tuition has increased in the last few years.

And that's assuming they didn't have any personal crisis of their own during the recession, like prolonged un/under-employment. If they did, then that fund probably got spent in order to keep a roof of their heads, and those of their children.
 
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mike2810 said:
Your entitled to your opinion.
So how many parents started saving before having kids? How many teenagers spend the money they make at a fast food place rather than saving a good part of it?
I will give the point that many college have raised rates more than they should. Can you honestly say that teenagers are saving for school. My bet they work at McD's to pay for the smart phone. They work at McD's because they got to have the new Jorden sneakers.

Granted I finished my 7 1/2 years of college in the mid 70's. It has gotten more expensive. Yet many today want things now rather than preparing for the future. Like many are not preparing for retirement.
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You can't calculate the increases we have been seeing. Berkeley increased their tuition 30% from one year to the next. Don't blame it on us. Please don't act so patronizing when you don't know what you are talking about. Our degrees are also taking much longer (frequently 5+ years for a BA) to complete due to the enormous amount of necessity to fund education through work.
 
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