So Much For Going to College In The US.....Without going in debt.

I don't know man, maybe first job out of school that will be a big advantage, but once you have a job or two on the resume I think that advantage fades a lot

Also may depend on where you are applying, like my girl graduated from smith and then worked at Harvard, when she applies to a college to work they get wet, but I don't think it carries as much weight in the business world

College is over rated and I think most people should not go to school right after high school, but most people do just to please parents etc

People aren't ready to know what to study until they have lived in the real world for awhile, in my opinion.

 

State Universities are heavily subsidized by the government and the 3k degree is usually a better degree than some Gucci 'garbage' university that is uncompetitive.

Just more of the liberal the government needs to take care of me garabge.

Another thing if you are bright you take some classes at a county college, and get a good suit -employeers will help you out with tutition assistance.

Going part time and applying your skills on the job is the best way to learn and bring out your resume.

Btw, what the hell is Howard University. I got my degree from Rutgers University and that was good enough. I wasn't even sober and managed to average between 3.6-3.8 a semester.

Agreed. It's not the degree but what you learned that gives you the advantage.

 

very interesting and grass root points you pointed out....very true that we have made life so much complex and demanding that we don't live up to our own expectations and thus misery surrounds....we need to have more un-complex and simple life style.

 

I read your post (twice) and I can't see where you actually addressed what I said.. I made 2 points....

1) Not all degrees are made equal and a more expensive degree WILL give you a pretty big advantage over a $3k degree.

2) Your chances of getting a fair and equal college education is gone thanks to big business and higher society using their influence.

Fact: Even your Rutgers degree would get you hired over a $3k degree.

Fact: The higher education business is booming with BILLIONS of dollars at stake.

Let's assume your assertion that the 3k degree is actually a better degree were true. It's not... but anyway..... It only serves to prove my point. Even if your assertion were true it means that the multi-billion dollar college racket is geared towards giving you less for more money. Just like any other business.... unfortunately this isn't just any other business. This is our nation's higher education system. That's the point..... Greed, corruption, and mismanagement are ruining it just like big business guts the soul out of any other industry for profit.

 

Doesn't mean squat.. I'll take my UW degree over any State College, private or otherwise.. You over paid!

No , they are not.. Some charge way too much for what you get.. Some of those that rank on that overpriced list spend more time protesting reality, kicking the USMC out of town (or trying to) or pushing their view point rather than actually teaching.

No, the ones charging the most are actually more concerned with creating droids and yes men that cannot think for themselves.

College is cheap... My wife went to a private Art College.. The best in the country in fact and spent $20,000 per year, not including supplies (and this was 15 years ago)... No dorm, no food, no books.. etc.. All that was EXTRA!

I went to the state university for art as well.. $3k/semester including all supplies, books, etc... Oh, and a food card and the dorm.

When my wife would come see my school, she was more impressed with what we had, what we did, and the teaching staff we had.

We both got a good education.. She just got ripped off IMO.

You get what you pay for applies both ways.. Sometimes over paying is just as bad not pay enough!

Just take a look where some our presidents went to school...

 

I took the $3k degree and here's the thing: Since I had no debt when I graduated, I was able to get a house soon after graduation and I could afford to take a job that pays peanuts.

I don't like working for peanuts necessarily, but its in financial aid so I feel good about helping other students find money for tuition. Of course, in the long run, peanuts aren't good enough so not being in debt also means I can afford to take more time off work to build my websites...

I was getting accepted to ivy-league schools but other than Yale I would have had to pay close to full price ($40,000+ a year? No way!). Now I have my public university degree and I try to help people who are buried under a mountain of debt...they have to go chasing high pressure 60-hr a week sales & finance jobs just to make ends meet. Of course, the quality of education is what YOU put into it. Read books that aren't required, spend time talking to your professors about the subject after class - you don't have to pay x0,000 a year to do those things.

 

Just make sure you take out the loans in dollars and get payed in another currency if possible (or better yet bullion). Before you know it, you're out of debt

 

Your're not catching the point that the 3k degree is subsidized by both State and Federal funds and you are only paying a fraction of the real cost.

State Universities are more competitive than most private colleges. The private college route was for people that couldn't get into Rutgers University. 50% of students don't graduate and the taypayer is supposed to pick-up a $30,000 a year tab for a college that requires a 800 SAT

In 2007–08 18,942 students applied to Princeton University (Ivy League) and 1,838 were accepted. You can see from the numbers that the students using public money are not going to top schools and 50% don't even graduaute.

A took a class at Princeton and it was more or like Rutgers. The students were really competitive and more focused on career goals.

The US deficit is out of control because everyone feels that they have an entitlement.

 

Ah, so too is that Howard University degree.. That's what's really friggin sad! Howard pissed way 234 million tax payer dollars last year alone..

So you can pay a fraction of the cost at State and get a great education, or pay 3 to 10 times that while the university still collects state funds; this way you screw the tax payer, and yourself.

Grants should be conditional.. You don't graduate or maintain a certain GPA and you are out and have to pay the money back, in full, over and above what you may have already paid.

How do the numbers above show that? Did you leave something out? Can you elaborate. I don't see how this illustrates your contention.

Nearly 60%... Get rid of that, forget about the deficit.. No more debt.

 

Sure. An Ivy League school only has room to enroll 1800 students a year. Even, if you have the $40,000 to attend your chances of getting in are slim.

For the average person spending more money going to a private college is not going to improve their education over going to a state university.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

One has to wonder though, are the people going to an Ivy League school really any smarter? I mean who pays 10 times more for the same education? Seems math skills or basic economics is not something that is encouraged in the Ivy League..

 

I think if you go to a high rated school and make the most out of your time there (network, join professional groups, take on campus leadership roles etc) the investment can pay off with big job offers straight out of college.

I mean, look at the wealthy Harvard and Yale alumni that have dumped billions into their schools' endowments. Now a lot of people can go to these schools for almost nothing just because previous grads made so much money! Something must be right about that business model

 

The Ivy League Schools are worth it especially the graduate studies. A friend of mine was a researcher/instructor at the grad school at Princeton and they had a lot of really good instructors. I got to met a lot of the reachers/instructors at parties and these guys were sharp.

Another one of my drinking buddies from Germany was offered a full graduate scholarship at both Hunter and University of Pennslyvania. University of Pennslyvania is Ivy League and has the Wharton School of Business. This guy had no idea that University of Pennslyvania was Ivy League. He called me and I told him to study in Philadelphia because it's ghetto and a lot cheaper. So it got his free Ivy League degree.

But the Ivy Legaue is a red herring. Even if you have the money the chances of getting accepted are slim. Of the 1800 slots available at Princeton many are set aside for children of alumni, academic scholarships, sports scholarships and international students.

I see from your post that Howard pissed way 234 million tax payer dollars last year alone..

That's crazy and why the US is going down the tubes. As soon as someone tries to cut the waste, they scream "George Bush is cutting education" Nixon had the courage to clean up the mess and by 1972 the US was going strong. But the American haters couldn't stand it and brought him down.

I'd rather have my tax dollars spent on something useful like killing terrorists.

 

I agree. Do keep in mind thought that GWB was the first and only president to demand that there be checks and balances on monies given to educational institutions.. You do not produce results, you do not get any money... Many have scoffed at that ideal.

For the record, GWB has probably spent more on education than any previous president.

The thing with Howard though is, it is an endowment based university that gets federal funds. There are reasons too numerous to explore or discuss here as to why they are even still in operation. To their credit they were extremely instrumental during the Civil Rights movement. However, as of late, one has to question what is going on with all the federal research grants, and federal money that they have been given...

They have produced some rather prolific and important public figures over the years.

The difficult thing to understand is why it costs $20,000.00 per year to go to a charter school, with a large endowment, that also gets a 50% match of that endowment in federal funds.

 

Or chasing wild geese.

 

College is so expensive because of all the easy credit. My parents don't make shit yet still make enough that tuition costs are less than my EFC. My parents don't have any money and I wouldn't accept it if they did.

So what does this mean?

I get to either pay cash (what I am going to do) or borrow from personal student loans at 12-14% per year. Thanks to the system, I've paid taxes, paid into the system but I get fucked for being financially responsible. Next time I'll ask the government for $40k a year for some random private school, maybe I'll get it.

 

Thank you. So few people get this.

If colleges had to charge what people could afford, and there was demand for education, prices would come down.

But as with anything subsidized, the price goes up, because there are more dollars chasing the same supply of services or goods.

 

Not really, there is another component and that is the return that people get when they leave college with a college education in the marketplace and right now that return is 10 times what they spend on education if it was 2 times then people would think twice about going to school

 

And how has this changed from 30 years ago? Did the University graduates of 1975 have less opportunities in the workforce and less earning potential?

 

No University graduates didn't have less opportunities 30 years ago, the earnings of college graduates has greatly outpaced no college educated workers, creating a gap between wages which we are seeing now,

What has changed is our economy and what we value, 30 years ago it was how much widgets you could produce, now its what widgets did you think/create/design to produce hence the ipod generation premium, ipods are designed and engineered in California but produced in China