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In reply to the discussion: It's not like people are forced to take student loans. [View all]lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)43. When I was in fifth grade, I knew that I could buy my friend's bike for $30 and resell it for $40.
I knew that my ROI (although I didn't know the term yet) was $10.
If high school hasn't prepared a young adult to say, "What do I get in return for my money?", or in fact to recognize that a loan is in fact not free money, then they are unprepared to decide to purchase additional education.
"If I go to college I can earn X. If I don't, I can earn Y. If the cost of college is Z, then X-Z must be > Y or college is for suckas."
Sure, shit happens and market conditions change. But if one's chosen graduate degree program is english literature, it's hard to believe that they applied that rudimentary logic.
If mom and dad are buying? Hey, knock yourself out. But if you're paying for it yourself (e.g. loans) then you must be prepared with that simple logical ability or you aren't qualified to make the decision.
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people might go to work so they can buy food, afford a place to live, maybe even go on vacation
fishwax
May 2012
#58
Not really "free." Education in such countries is paid for through taxes as is health care
CTyankee
May 2012
#24
In countries where it is free they often restrict it based on highschool performance
4th law of robotics
May 2012
#77
That's what I don't get about people who argue everyone will become professional students.
white_wolf
May 2012
#111
Yes, but those first two and possibly the third are whole unknowns when a young person arrives.
RadiationTherapy
May 2012
#8
The School Administration paid 6 figures and charged with growing the campus and the coffers?
RadiationTherapy
May 2012
#32
"that calculus" = "the results of your ROI calculation" sorry for the ambiguity.
lumberjack_jeff
May 2012
#19
When I was in fifth grade, I knew that I could buy my friend's bike for $30 and resell it for $40.
lumberjack_jeff
May 2012
#43
Fine. But don't expect me to be inclined to absorb the costs of your choices.
lumberjack_jeff
May 2012
#52
What's the logical conclusion of holding people blameless for the loans they agreed to?
lumberjack_jeff
May 2012
#67
"What I strongly disagree with is the notion that "education" is so valuable for its own sake..."
white_wolf
May 2012
#122
You're right. I fell into the convention of treating "college" and "education" as synonymous.
lumberjack_jeff
May 2012
#125
There are loads of careers that had outstanding growth projections in 2008, that are flattened now
riderinthestorm
May 2012
#16
No, it a game of chance with no rules and fewer facts from which to work.
Egalitarian Thug
May 2012
#37
I'm pretty confident that my dentist can afford his student loans. n/t
lumberjack_jeff
May 2012
#115
College is the price you pay for the privilege of working cleanly, indoors.
lumberjack_jeff
May 2012
#30
Costs for 2012 at the University of Illinois, a public state school for in-state undergrads is $30k
riderinthestorm
May 2012
#26
If the investment required to become a nurse can't be recouped in salary, why become a nurse?
lumberjack_jeff
May 2012
#28
No, I'm objecting to the assertion that college is somehow separable from economics.
lumberjack_jeff
May 2012
#65
Macro: Colleges serve a useful purpose because they provide the social capacity to do things.
lumberjack_jeff
May 2012
#127
So wrong. Dance, music, art, literature? None of those pay enough but are incredibly important to
riderinthestorm
May 2012
#130
Yes, my "sweeping condemnation of anyone who doesn't work in a trade" is also a clarion cry
lumberjack_jeff
May 2012
#131
So nobody should be a doctor, nurse, road or bridge engineer, geologist, computer designer,
riderinthestorm
May 2012
#73
"People who enjoy what they do are typically the biggest innovators, the ones who truly create"
lumberjack_jeff
May 2012
#134
Maybe he "learned how to think" just from walking into the admissions office.
lumberjack_jeff
May 2012
#137
Not to mention that colleges often don't provide basic information about the cost and amounts of the
yellowcanine
May 2012
#23
I find it suspicious you did not take an opportunity to list these "ways to make good money".
RadiationTherapy
May 2012
#48
I do not understand the thought processes of those who are happy with the current situation.
stevenleser
May 2012
#61
The education that everyone needs to be a citizen = secondary education
lumberjack_jeff
May 2012
#149
After high school I was a scholarship earning physics/chemistry major.
RadiationTherapy
May 2012
#87
well everyone is different. At 18 college was perfect for me. For some its not.
grantcart
May 2012
#100
Ever since Washington cancelled the Pell Grants VISA and MasterCard have been happy.
Octafish
May 2012
#104