Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Student loans

No....it's just a really affordable place to go to school.

Those deserving receive scholarships. Those undeserving receive cash in form of "student loans", repayment not required.
Same as everything else, housing, food, utilities, healthcare, they pay for nothing.. gimmedats.

When I started university in 1980 we had what was called a registration fee (tuition) of $62.50/quarter. When I graduated in 1985 it was $280/quarter so from ~$190 to ~$900/year. The killer was room and board as the central coast of California was not cheap. My youngest son graduated from Texas A&M four years ago and his tuition was $7K/semester so $14k/year.

Awww you poor old thing (emphasis on old).

I'm just stating facts. Your generation was handed everything, and in turn f ucked it up. The downfall of this country started wth you.

That seems pretty affordable for today's world.


COL for him pretty decent in Texas?

Anytime someone can fùck over uncle Sam, I'm all for it. If these people can bail on their loans from US, I'm not mad.

Should loans be forgiven? No.
Should students be loaned $150K for a BA in Basket Weaving with a minor in Trans-womens studies? No.
Are the Boomers the sole blame? No. BUT, they steered the ship.

Now, lets zoom out, try to pretend we're 17 year old senior in high school (will be hard for most).

Your parents are Gen-X / early Millennials. Better than average chance they were raised by the schools - cuz Gramma and Grampa found that to be more convenient than actively participating in their education.

Mommy and Daddy expect you to attend college after high school

Mommy and Daddy are not in a financial position to pay out of pocket (poor planning, circumstance, however)...but they make too much for you to get on the Sharkiesha tuition plan.

Your teachers have instilled in you that college is the ONLY path to financial success since you were in elementary school

Your high school teachers kicked that into overdrive. A degree, any degree = financial success.

Round about your sophomore year you start getting speeches about "College Planning". By first semester of your Junior year they expect you to have a program of study picked out. They encourage you to go with something you are passionate about - at 16/17 (art majors anyone?). Barring passion you look at 6 year old earnings statistics and pick something high paying....Medicine, Engineering, Law. You're not sure what a Mechanical Engineer actually does, but you got a B+ in physics and you're in pre-Calc, so its probably a great fit. You've never been down the hallway of the shop wing in your high school. If it even has a program anymore.

Your female guidance counsellor's heirarchy of Universities is Prestige Private/Well Known Out of Staters/Your Prestige state school (UW, UofM, etc...)/Small Private/Small State schools. If YOU seek out advice about a Technical College she MIGHT toss you a pamplet. Apprenticeship? GTFO of my office, those are for the dirty kids.

You send out your applications, sort through the aftermath, choose a school. Spend the last few months of your senior year telling everyone you're going to major in 13th Century Aboriginal Folklore at Macalester in the fall.

You and mom sit down at some point and fill out FAFSA apps, find out they'll give you $34,000 per semester on an unsubsidized loan at 7.9% - which is awesome, your tuition is only $30,850 a semester so you're golden. Sign something about not being able to rid yourself of the loan through bankruptcy (thanks Docs) but if you die they'll let it slide. Mom was a great mentor in this process because she's upside down on a loan for a used Range Rover and only has about $17K riding in credit cards.

You get to school and a few paths can unfold for you.

You can bang out a degree in 4 years and go live your life.

You get through your first semester of Engineering and decides this ain't it and **POOF** you're a business major now - you wasted money on any credits you took that weren't gen ed requirements and now you're on the 5 year plan.

You get through 2 years, life happens, you leave without a degree - all good, just start those monthly payments on that $94K.

You got that coveted degree in Social Work. Your advisor informs you the state is really going to be looking for a Master's to get into any kind of leadership position. You hop into a Master's program **BONUS** graduate level credit hours are about 1/4 to 1/3 again more expensive than under grad credits! Cuz they're more specialer.





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Now, these kids made their decisions, they signed on the line, they owe.

I can empathize a bit with the butthurt they have once the veil is removed however. 17 years old pressured into a *pretty big* life decision after 12 years of indoctrination, advised by 45 year old functional retards and ivory tower "mentors", welcomed with open arms into predatory Academia, subsidized by good Ol' Uncle Sam.

Currently working as a customer service rep to Xcel Energy with a $194K BS in Psych making $21.85 / hour with a $1500 a month 2 bedroom and a roommate....


System is fucked from top to bottom and that is a fact.

I didn’t go to college I went to work

College should also be done like trade school. Get straight to the fùcking point of the degree. An embalmer, dr, nurse, etc... doesn't need a bunch of pre requisite bullshìt classes before getting to what they actually want to learn about. Then they wouldn't require half of what's expected of them "credit wise." That would saves some time and money alone.

I dont get a say in what my tax dollars are spent on. As long as they're kept in this country, I honestly don't mind them paying for a better society.

Yeah, but if the college doesn't require that nurse to take 4 credit hours of fine arts credits, 3 credits of humanities, and a 3 credit lit course in addtion to 4-6 hours of English then how are they going to justify the salaries of the Deans of the Schools or Art, Humanities, or English?!

Lets not forget the 4 credits of Physical Education - need to pay a few grand to take an online Walking course or Racket sports course that meets twice a week from 4 - 6 PM. Special teams coach at the state school needs something to do the rest of the year...

This was actually a really good read because this is exactly what I'm going through with my 17yo daughter who has absolutely no idea what she wants to do for the rest of her life and I get it, because I can remember being her age and then one day it's like somebody gives you a list and tells you that you have a fairly short window of time to pick a career field that you want to do for THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. It's overwhelming. Luckily when I was that age I fell into the trades. She picked nursing and I'm fairly certain it's only because that's what most of her friends chose to do.

Going to college right after high-school...especially when you don't have a plan...is kinda dumb.

This thread provides some interesting snapshots of how it was/is done, the costs and the yields. Have there been dramatic changes in the reasons, means and costs since higher ed choices made in the 1950s. Why?

What were the primary drivers of such choices, and the costs, 70 years ago as compared to the contemporary? Have there been changes in the fundamental reasons for becoming more learned? Are the definitions and outcomes/rewards of "learned" different.

Not that the $$ side is unimportant (for it is), but in the more broad context, the current stupidity and scuffling about costs seems a mark of poorly educated society.

That’s a really good summation of what takes place in households all across the USA every year. Dumbazzes raising kids.

I tried to talk my kids into being welders, electricians, or plumbers. They chose college.

At least they did formulate some sort of plan and didn’t just go for the PE or arts degree.

That's why I didn't go. Even being a stupid kid out of high school I could see the useless waste of money it would have been for me. I even had a free ride at that had I went.

My degree number is 214! Just cost me 5 years....in a better time than now USA!

Part of the problem is waisting money on degrees that don’t translate into income. Communication degrees, musical or vocal performance are a couple that come to mind. Great if you want to go officer in the service like others have posted pretty worthless for earning a living. My son has a couple roommates who were performance majors selling cell phones and working in retail. They still owe stupid money on student loans.

Some here want to blame boomers but this boomer told his children you better major in something that translates into income. Oldest did the music education (good for k through 12) at a state school and owed practically nothing. Working, his board of ed supplemented his masters degree a little. He went to an other state university and paid as he went. Took 3 years owes nothing. Youngest went for free (my wife works for a private university, free tuition to her and the kid). He majored in fire investigation (think insurance work) then put himself through para-medic school and got a fire department job. 2 classes and he has a masters that he paid for as he went (private university). No student loans for either of them.

Criminal justice will help getting a police job, fire science not so much. If the fire service is your goal para -medicine will get you hired and a lot cheaper than a 4 year degree and you can earn some decent money working for an ambulance company.

I never went to college. I always worked on weekends and after work in high school . I worked construction , so by I was about 20 years old, I knew how to build a house. Through the years I got better at building and learned new trades . At 18, I really did not know what I wanted to do. My dad talked me into construction because he was in it at that time of my life. Very interesting reading the posts on this thread. Education in all forms is beneficial .

Back in the early 80's my supervisor, who had 5 sons and could well afford to educate them, borrowed absolutely to the limit at 4% and invested it all. Free money in his books, and he did well.

I did near 10 years of college (at state sponsored colleges), but the GI bill (5 yrs) coupled with school and summer work got me a BS and half of an MS. My remaining graduate school run was a funded project. That being, I left college with a little money in the bank. After graduating, I paid enough in taxes in the next 4 years to fully fund my entire college career. Such is not for everyone, but if one's desired job demands it, that education will quickly be rewarded.

Our local hospital is dishing out just over 100K a year for new RN's. Neighbor's daughter just came back and purchased a small home and new pickup right after signing up. Our MD's are starting at 250K and only work half time (4 on 4 off). They do fill in work nearby on their off time, making even bigger bucks. We're considered a rural environment, so MD's that come here with debt can have it fully forgiven if they put in two years. Most, but not all, have their house listed within a day of hitting the 2-year mark and head for Metropolis.

When our son first registered, we could afford to pay, but still had to be routed through the financial aid office. That person was amazed at the amount of $$$ available to hand out and mentioned how kids would roll in requesting dollars and in the same sentence wax eloquently on how well their Cabo spring break had gone. Mostly, I don't think today's generation knows how to cut back and live cheaply in a garage apartment. Must haves today include a rig, cable, internet, a phone, computer, printer, scanner, TV, and 1 or two nights out on the town every week. I thought I was going big for a Texas Instruments calculator, and it wouldn't even do square roots. Had to find an engineer with an HP for that.

Our kid dropped out after 1 quarter, and bless his heart, that let me retire 2 years before I had planned. He struggled doing entry level stuff up into his 30's and has just managed to get to a living wage recently.

In my book though, if you borrow, you pay.

I am paying on a parent plus loan for one of my kids. My part was 8k for one semester. It is on autopay at 86 dollars a month. She is now in her last week of Marine Corps basic training so I don't care about the loan in the very least.