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In reply to the discussion: It's not like people are forced to take student loans. [View all]
FloridaJudy
(9,465 posts)62. Unless they belong to the 1%
Most people work while pursuing degrees these days. I didn't while I got my first degree, but that was back in the 60's, when scholarships and work study programs were plentiful, tuition was reasonable, and a pair of school teachers could afford to put a kid through college. Since then, I've gotten 2 more, and I worked while getting both.
My own son worked his way through CC and the University, and is now planning to work while attending law school. No one gets a free ride these days. They're just lucky if they don't graduate with a mountain of debt in addition to exhaustion.
One of the perks of my last job was that they would pay tuition for a class every semester. Dozens of my co-workers now have degrees that they couldn't have afforded otherwise. It was a government job, but both employer and employees won. They got a more educated work force, and we had a chance to advance our careers. That's how it should work.
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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