Memo

[Jon Smith]

Free college? I never got free college... My granddad payed for my college. College must be payed for some how, to pay the professors, fund research, etc. And how would it be payed for? Probably us taxpayers. I have to pay thousands in taxes every year. I feel that if my taxes pay someone's college, they better do well and put their degree to good use and be successful. If they don't, it's a complete waste.
There are so many people living off our taxes nowadays. Especially college failures who have already had $100,000+ put towards their classes, all for nothing. Talk about flushing money down the toilet...
“Transform your teen into a fucking baby.”

[Jon Smith]

...well there's this grumpy Canadian sailor who appears to be a bit put out with children of undue privilege.

There is a lot of fucked up bullshit happening in the world... Who wouldn't feel grumpy about it?

[Fred588]

Free college? I never got free college... My granddad payed for my college. College must be payed for some how, to pay the professors, fund research, etc. And how would it be payed for? Probably us taxpayers. I have to pay thousands in taxes every year. I feel that if my taxes pay someone's college, they better do well and put their degree to good use and be successful. If they don't, it's a complete waste.
There are so many people living off our taxes nowadays. Especially college failures who have already had $100,000+ put towards their classes, all for nothing. Talk about flushing money down the toilet...

Having spent my entire adult life in universities, as student, graduate student, and faculty, I can provide a few facts, at lest insofar as all but one of the schools I have been affiliated with are concerned. First, nearly ALL assistance money provided by government entities and the overwhelming amount of it provided by private scholarships, are today contingent on the student continuing to do reasonably well. That is, scholarships and grants are awarded on a semester by semester or year by year basis with renewal contingent on maintaining an acceptable grade point average, often a B average, in courses that advance the student toward graduation. Many of the programs, though far from all, have other strings attached, such as that after graduation the student MUST accept employment of certain types. For example, many states will provide assistance for students willing to seek certification as public school teachers but require the student to take a teaching job in that state. If not the "grant" then becomes a loan that must be repaid.

Much of the problem comes from schools that will accept students who lack the preparation and then ignore standards in such a way that the student may graduate but lack the knowledge a degree should document. This results in students who cannot find employment. In nearly ALL such cases the assistance is in the form of a loan, not a grant, and must be repaid. As such loans are nearly always government guaranteed, in the end the taxpayer will take the loss when the loan cannot be repaid. Many of the schools that play this game are for-profit entities, as some recent settlements document.

[Mynock]

Many of the schools that play this game are for-profit entities.......

THIS. The market will charge what the market will bear. If the average student only has $20,000 to spend on college then the cost is $20,000. If someone is willing to give the average student a loan for $100,000 then all of a sudden the cost conveniently goes up to $120,000......and once they have that money they don't care if the student defaults, because it's someone else's problem.
On the other hand students also need to get real too.....plenty of ways to go to school on a budget. I went to a local community college and lived with my parents rent free (the stipulation on the rent free part being that I maintained my grades), worked part time to pay for a car. Came out 2 years later with an A.A.S. in drafting/design with less than 10k in debt.

[Tim Kelly]

Ohhhhh......so it's about student loans, right?

[Jon Smith]

Ohhhhh......so it's about student loans, right?

Not entirely. Students getting free money for college, and students never paying off their loans. These bullshit lans, can ruin a person's life if they can't keep up with the interest while the system tries to squeeze every last fucking dime out of them.
I guess I was lucky, I never had to deal with loans.

[Duncan Edwards]

I guess I was lucky, I never had to deal with loans.

Or smart. I never did either because I busted my ass to pay my own way. Twice. The second time I worked a full time day job, a part time night job, and went to school in between. After 18 months of that I slept for two straight days. At least that's what my wife tells me because I have no memory of it.

Our society has not failed in providing a thing. It has failed to teach that debt is not inevitable and serious effort is required to reach your goals. Those who think education and everything else should be free will never get the real value of it.

[Mynock]

It's a question of that dreaded personal responsibility thing again.......at the end of the day YOU signed on the dotted line, YOU took out the loan, and therefore YOU are responsible for repaying it. Did the terms suck? Maybe. Was the interest rate too high? Maybe......but you signed the paper.

[Duncan Edwards]

It's a question of that dreaded personal responsibility thing again.......at the end of the day YOU signed on the dotted line, YOU took out the loan, and therefore YOU are responsible for repaying it. Did the terms suck? Maybe. Was the interest rate too high? Maybe......but you signed the paper.

s
I think the thing most often overlooked is the return on investment. Spending a hundred grand on a master's degree in soclal work might be nice but if all the jobs pay only $40,000 a year you are going to be working a long, long, time to pay this thing off in a job that has nothing to do with what you studied.

My first time through college I was a history major and an art minor. That way I'd have something to fall back on in case the history thing failed to work out. After a few more years of working in camera stores I realized I was going to have to get a real career and went back to school in pursuit of something more practical. That worked out much better for me.

[Jon Smith]

s
I think the thing most often overlooked is the return on investment. Spending a hundred grand on a master's degree in soclal work might be nice but if all the jobs pay only $40,000 a year you are going to be working a long, long, time to pay this thing off in a job that has nothing to do with what you studied.

My first time through college I was a history major and an art minor. That way I'd have something to fall back on in case the history thing failed to work out. After a few more years of working in camera stores I realized I was going to have to get a real career and went back to school in pursuit of something more practical. That worked out much better for me.

There's a thing called passion.
For me, ever since I was a kid, (I'm an aspie by the way) I was very interested in the works of systems, mechanical, physical, and electrical. Like house plumbing, electricity, and especially computers and car engines. I was always drawing blueprints of my ideas, and if I got to build them, they always worked great. I enjoyed doing that more than most things. People never seemed to understand me or my explanation of things. Usually I would hear that they didn't know what I was talking about, or that I was a genius. I was also very smart with anything related to math or science. But as far as history and language arts went, I was retarded. I hated history and reading/writing (unless it was about physics or engineering). The only history that I was interested in was about Nikola Tesla or Albert Einstein type people. The worst grade I ever got in school was a C- in U.S. history.
I work as a computer engineer and I am very happy and successful doing this job. I make about $80,000 a year before taxes and expenses (and every once in awhile I get a really good raise). If it weren't for following my passion, I wouldn't be where I am today. The potential for success is astronomically larger if you follow your passion.