Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Student debt

Hear hear. I keep saying that my career as a software developer could have started seven years earlier if I had gotten a job straight out of high school. I would have been making money instead of spending money for those years, and I would have learned useful industry skills much sooner. I've been a pro now for 32 years, and I've still only ever used one thing I learned in college.

I used my college degree a lot. I majored in agriculture and my last 15 years of working were with a seed company where I put my knowledge of genetics to good use.
I had an advantage, though. The Univ of Idaho is one of the top agricultural schools in the nation but it's still a state school so the prices were quite low (at least they were then). I came out with almost no debt.

35 years ago, computer training was vastly different than now - that was pre 1996 when the IT revolution in the business workplace exploded and if you could say computer you got a job

Every 5 -7 years whatever you learned in college in that field is basically obsolete and you'll need to teach yourself new technology at the workplace.

I told my son that college is probably alot like the non wartime Military - you have to prove you can fight thru the bullshit and at the end of the day reach the goals set for you

Its not so much what you've learned (although Co-op/internships have changed that landscape dramatically) but that you were able to work within a system for 4 or 5 years to earn the degree

I went to the University of Wyoming and came out with $12,000 in debt. Whacked that out in a few years.

We're having talks with our son, who may want to become a teacher like his mom. Expensive private schools won't be an option unless he gets huge scholarships. We're advising him to go to the best school where his bottom line cost (cash + loans) is equitable with his likely post-grad income.

I won't help him get into $50k in debt if he's going to be a teacher.

Not only is RC's statement about as a broad a brush stroke as possible (with as little fact as possible; not saying he's completely wrong, just mostly), but it also shows absolutely no understanding of the different kinds of bankruptcies.

Trump's, btw, were business bankruptcies under Chapter 11 restructuring (i.e., the assets were secured and he personally backed the debts) vs Chapter 7 liquidation.

But, don't let any facts get in the way of this.

Facing this myself. My daughter was just accepted into Duke's fast track nursing school. $91,000 for a 14 month program. Totally insane.

She will be applying elsewhere.

Dayum

which is likely why she was accepted, if you know what I mean,

My branic Son is in the middle of picking a college right now, it's hard to understand these prices until your staring at the numbers on paper.

An average out of state school he was accepted at, in Ohio, at 64,000 a year.

Seriously?

Too many people here are totally missing the point.

Student loans are to reward those that promote the communist philosophies. They aren't there to teach, they are there to propogandize. Democrats have promoted this. It has two goals. One to keep open the colleges who do the best jobs at promoting their communist, feminization of males, racist agenda driven programs.

Then when students are in debt up to their eye balls with no way out, they become MORE dependent on government and not LESS dependent. It's about control.

A president with any balls would do the same thing Governor Perry did in Texas. Have colleges come up with $10.000 degree programs. Far less debt, and the classes they cut out are the ones that carry the most propoganda.

http://www.politifact.com/texas/sta...says-13-texas-universities-have-announc/

Anyone who thinks this is just an accident has no idea of how committed demo craps are to the communist agenda. They are willing to take the time to destroy us from within. Where have I heard that before (Nikita Kruzchev)

If you mean "brainiac" what major is he considering?

Bio-science.

Thanks. That subject area is outside of my experience so I can't offer any suggestions.

College prices have gotten so obnoxious I'm surprised that somebody hasn't came up with a viable alternative at a fraction of the cost.

http://www.politifact.com/texas/sta...says-13-texas-universities-have-announc/

It can be done. All it takes is leadership.

Your link ends with the words "Mostly False." And many of the degrees listed were "organizational behavior" and/or "interdisciplinary studies." There were a few science and technology programs listed but they were in the minority.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the for-profit programs (often named "____ College" or University of ____".) They are not regionally accredited (meaning their credits won't transfer to other colleges or universities,) they often use pretty unscrupulous marketing, and they are typically quite expensive. Basically, they are the interest-only mortgages of the post-secondary education world. These are the schools that now have to include statements about average debt, graduation rates and job-placement in their ads. These schools just used their students as a way to funnel in the government money. I'd venture to guess that much of the student loan debt was incurred by their students. Some of the "trade schools" that many of you have mentioned are of this type. Students (and they are distinct from customers) must be very aware of the agreements they enter into, and the potential consequences.

Nope she went to a Sanders rally.

And I'm not talking about a KFC job fair.

The Col... er... Senator... has been touting this student debt relief non-sense all over for his entire campaign.

That's how you get these kids who are living in their parents' basements until they're 30; you promise to out Santa Santa.

And with their "education" which doesn't teach them how to think, they fall for it.

The real problem is related to the bottomless pot of gold that guaranteed student loans have created for the University system.

Universities have always been an ivory tower, but in the last year I happened to sit through a presentation of the local Universities president on the school's short and long term goals and ambitions. It was full of "alliances with other schools", "world class research", "increasing publications in top tier journals".

Yesterday I sat through a presentation of the local economic development board. It was full of "cooperation with the University's School of Technology (i.e. community college department of the U) welding programs", "expansion of the School of Technology offerings", "fast track programs in the School of Technology to train for local employers". Didn't mention journal publications, research alliances much, for sure.

Disconnect, much?