College is just too expensive nowadays!

JTE83

When I went to my budget in state college, Univ of IL at Urbana Champaign - the 6th best college in the nation for Mechanical Engineering, tuition was cheap - $7500 a year! Now I hear it's $25,000 a year! I can't afford to put 2 kids through college! Man, I gotta save lots and put some of the burden on them to do so! With the high costs of college, sometimes I think the pool of good graduates is shrinking! Anyone have data on this?

How much was you college tuition? Or how much is it now for your preferred college? How big is your student loan debt and what kinda interest rate do they charge?

alienator

What a festering jackass you are. What kind of kind thoughtless turd asks strangers how much their college debt is?

Kids? Do you think any woman is going to want to fuck you, let alone bear your kids? Right.

College rankings. There's a hoot. They really must mean something because JTE83 read some. Uh-huh. Where is this clearing house of college rankings, eh? How exactly is it determined how a college ranks, eh? I mean, if there is some standard for, say, mechanical engineering, doesn't letting you graduate demonstrate just what a shit hole your alma mater is?

Have you always been a clueless, self-absorbed twat? Have you ever ventured so far as to pick up a newspaper or summat so you could learn about the real world?

Really, as you are, now, what worth are you to the world? All you're really doing is consuming oxygen that someone in need could actually use

All your prancing about in women's clothes, in front of complete strangers; all your bragging about how much you spend on this and that; all of the insipid questions you pose for which you have no ability to even think of possible answers; all of that time you spent sucking down government aid money while living off your mommy's tit; all of that time you spent beating your mom as practice for assaulting innocent strangers......all of it shows that you offer zero to society as it exists today. Hell, self respecting men of the South Pacific wouldn't even have you as their little fafaine, let alone as the dirt underneath their shoes. And if someone won't even stoop to having you as the dirt underneath their shoes, well, then you really aren't worth shit, are you?

sogood

I suspect it's time to sell a few of those CF/DA/Record/Red bikes.

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TheDarkLord

If he gets the full value that he boasts here, he can fund a years worth of tuition (without taking into account living expenses) with it.

limerickman

In the U.K. there has been a lot of coverage of this issue :

Before the credit crunch, banks/financial institutions were offering students loans to maintain "their lifestyle".
In other words they could borrow money today for discretionary spending, and start repaying the money owed when they graduated and got a job.

Other loans for course fees were also offered/course material were offered too.

A lot of university graduates do leave university in debt.
Some have debts as high as £10k.

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.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets" - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

kdelong

Here in the US it is the credit card companies that have invaded the college campuses. They issue cards to anyone with a college ID card. Many of these newly independent students spend to their heart's desire until the first bill comes. I know of three students who each have over $10,000 in credit card debt on top of their student loans. They work their tails off just to make the minimum payments on each loan and will still be in debt well after graduation. While many credit card companies are above board and only issue cards to someone who has already demonstrated fiscal responsibility, there are some who want to get their hooks into our children as early as possible so as to hang on and suck on their income for as long as possible. I know, the students have only themselves to blame, but their should be some sort of regulation on student credit cards, maybe like a rather low limit on the card until they graduate.

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JTE83

Any student who can't handle a credit card responsibly is an idiot! I got my first one in college too and I didn't spend myself in debt. Alway paid in full and never carried a balance.

I was lucky, my parents paid my entire college bill + gave me allowance!

I think there might be less college graduates in the future because of the extremely high cost!

kdelong

There are quite a few new on-line colleges and community colleges springing up that will take some of the pressure off. The only thing that you really need to check is to ensure that these colleges are accredited. I have an aquaintance who received a 4-year degree in one year using the CLEP Program. I don't know all the specifics except that it is, or was, a testing program where you could study a subject on your own and then take a test. If you passed the test you received credit for the course. She says that it is accredited through the New York Board of Regents.

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alienator

Education loans, in the US, is not an issue. Well, there isn't a shortage of loans available to students. Undergraduates can borrow up to around $40k in guaranteed loans over the course of their undergraduate career. Graduate students have no upper limit on guaranteed loans over the course of their graduate career, but they are limited in the amount for each year. The interest rates on these loans are smallish, but a large segment of the student population requires a healthy set of loans to pay for a degree.

The real problem in financing US college education is the dearth of other significant financial aid and the its effect on middle class students. Government grants and loan caps have not increased with the cost of living, so it's quite easy for a middle class undergraduate to max out on loans before his or her degree is even done. The lack of grants and the minimal value of grants forces middle class students into greater loans.

At the same time, support of public universities in the US is embarrassingly underwhelming. Of course, that's not surprising at all since the vast majority of Americans lack the ability or the will to view anything in the long term. As such, education, in the US, is not seen as the solution to anything. That's likely why the US is falling behind in scientific discovery while other nations pull ahead. We are really good, though, at producing hand guns, smart bombs, and SUVs. The next decade is likely to see China, Europe (ESA), and at least Japan become equal to the US in space activities and capabilities, and some of those programs might well surpass US abilities. Such has already happened in aerospace as well as other fields. In the US, little value is placed on studying math, engineering, or science. It's much more important to study business management or marketing because the gods know you just can't have to many grads in those fields. Other countries are increasing the numbers of science, math, and engineering graduates, while the US shortfall in these fields increases. The only interest the US has in technical matters is in how they might improve our ability to wage war or to build really boss cars.

There is a huge disconnect in American society wherein Americans just don't associate good education with a healthy society. Despite the fact that figures show that highly educated societies are more prosperous, happy, healthy, and have lower crime rates, Americans just can't wrap their World's Only Remaining Superpower brains around the idea that investing, as a society, in education might actually be good.

We're reaping what we've sown.

alienator

Online colleges and universities are making access to higher education easier, but the vast majority of online offerings have zero to do with science, math, and engineering, so in that light, online colleges and universities are to higher education what Twinkies are to the fight against hunger.

Bro Deal

10K pounds = $20K

I think around 30% of undergrads graduate with $25K in debt in the U.S.. Go for something like law and leave with $150K in debt when combined with your undergrad costs.

__________________
"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Bro Deal

I think it is. The easy availability of loans has created an industry to take advantage of it. Costs have also increased costs at existing universities because the students don't immediately feel the increased costs when it is deferred until after graduation.

At the low end most of the private schools that advertise on cable TV are pretty much scams designed to stick their students with debt while providing largely useless training and schooling. Even at the high end crappy law schools churn out 40K grads every year to compete for 10K jobs while deceiving them about the amount of money they will make.

I don't know what the solution is, but, much like U.S. healthcare, the free market does not operate very well in the U.S. higher education system.

__________________
"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

JTE83

Foreign countries are sometimes worse. Phillippine Eng graduates end up being factory workers! Fast food joints require workers with some college!

My italian roomate said you need a Master's or PHD to become employable, a BS degree is not enough in Italy!

saintsfan342000

Dude you are an asshole...a straight-up, certified, documented, card-carrying twat. Go see a therapist.

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