Put your money where your mouth is…there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s those with a big mouth and no money to back it up that’s the problem.
I’m with you, I view higher education as one of the biggest scams hoisted upon the country. What is the product? It is something we don’t keep for long - how much does one actual remember from all the classes they took? Much of the course work has little to no practical value - how much of ones college education is actually useful for what one ends up doing for a living? It takes way too long - does one really need to spend eight years sitting in classrooms in order to be a productive member of society? The costs in many cases are completely insane. I know someone who’s daughter is going to a school here in NJ at a cost of $60,000/year! How many middle class family’s can affard that?
I’m not sure I understand your response.
Are you LOL-ing because you agree that no one is told, “Your family’s bank account is X-size, so you can’t come to college here.” ? (Because isn’t that what the thread title says?)
Or are you LOL-ing because you disagree with my question, which suggests that such a thing does not happen?
Oh. And I just looked. It’s your title. Maybe you should clarify what you meant by it.
I dont necessarily think they are out of control for all situations. If a kid graduates from MIT or Johns Hopkins or Harvard, they will bank enough coin to pay back the loans, and have plenty left over.
It is the kids going to the lower tier colleges and universities that get run of the mill degrees in psychology, art history, political science and the like that have a hard time finding a job that pays anything. They have a hard time. College is not and should not be for every one.
My daughters degree in engineering from Va Tech ran close to 80k over the 4 years. Her first offer upon graduation was 80k to start. She also got a raise after 6 months and she gets full medical, dental and vision. I consider the 80k spent on her degree a great return on the investment.
Yes, any college student can take out the guaranteed student loans. But it is capped.
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized
A student can also take out additional loans if parents co-sign (making parents responsible if student defaults.)
Or parents can take out Parent Plus loans.
I don’t advocate the students I help take out any loans. But if they must, they should only take the guaranteed student loans - which is capped at $3500 for freshman year. That can make the difference for a low income student, who gets a FA grant of $60K/year from an elite school and COA is $63K/yr.
This year many of my students are applying to elite schools whose COA are in the high $60k’s and into the $70k’s. Just a few years ago it was low $60k’s to mid $60’s. These are kids with an EFC of 0.
I also make sure they have a few financial safeties on their list which include CC for 2 yrs then a transfer to a 4 year or local State uni and they live at home. But even those have tuition of more than $3500 a year.
It’s been my experience, sadly, that most students and especially their parents (and not just those in lower SES) have no clue about the COA and think their student is smart and the colleges will give them lots of money.
April is an awful month when kids (and their parents) are hit in the face that all the schools they applied to are unaffordable.
I pointed out the same thing in my previous post:
“The title of your thread does not really correspond to the main theme of your post? The title of your thread implies that someone who is poor is essentially in a hopeless state regarding college due to economics. That is simple not the case. Also it is my understanding that someone from a poor family has a number means of getting their tuition covered. Also don’t they have the same ability to take out student loans as say someone from the middle class?”
If our lawmakers had any common sense they would make colleges back all student loans. I mean if they are putting out such a great product make them back it up themselves! All other business have to do that.
So prior to the 1990’s a student could declare bankruptcy and be free of their student loan? When exactly did this change and why?
One of the biggest problems in this is that we as a nation have not had a collective awakening of what scam this aspect of our life and economics has become. By the time one is retired the average NJ homeowner will likely spend anywhere from $300,000-$500,000 on education in their lifetime.
I agree with you here. If one could get a marketable degree in a high demand area for a reasonable cost they should be in good shape when they graduate - like your daughter. Although the school I mentioned in my previous was also an engineering school and that was $60,000 per year, which for that person will be about $250,000 of debt when they graduate.
I’m really not following your post because for one I don’t know what those acronyms mean and I know a number middle class Americans who have over $100,000 of student loan debt. In other words $3,500 x 4 is well under $100,000, where did the rest of the money come from?
What about the students graduating high school who want to be plumbers, carpenters, or any of the many trade vocations? Why is the gut reaction from these people, that everyone is supposed to go into white collar jobs, or be an academic?
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Nothing is stopping a high school kid from getting a job, and,saving up to attend college later on.
Why is the route to college always assumed to be, that an out of work 18 year old kid fresh out of high school, needs to go into debt immediately an attend college, or have their parent or the tax payers, pay their tuition for them?
Unless the parent co-signed for the loans or took out Parent Plus loans, there is no other way a student can amass that amount of debt.
“$57,500 for undergraduates—No more than $23,000 of this amount may be in subsidized loans . $138,500 for graduate or professional students —No more than $65,500 of this amount may be in subsidized loans . The graduate aggregate limit includes all federal loans received for undergraduate study.”
Not Applicable (all graduate and professional students are considered independent)
$20,500 (unsubsidized only)
Subsidized and Unsubsidized Aggregate Loan Limit
$31,000—No more than $23,000 of this amount may be in subsidized loans.
$57,500 for undergraduates—No more than $23,000 of this amount may be in subsidized loans.
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized
EFC
Estimated Financial Contribution. This figure is used with FASFA form parents submit to each school. You cannot get guaranteed loans with out it. The elite private units/colleges have their own financial forms (CSS Profile) that must be submitted in addition to FAFSA.
COA
Cost of attendance. (Room, Board plus Tuition. )
The rest comes from parents co-signing unsubsidized loans for their student or taking out Parent Plus loans. Even if student is considered “independent” it’s capped at $157K
There are different and much higher amounts for graduate and professional school students.
It’s posdible for a student to have that $250k amount if they went to grad school after undergrad. But not for undergrad alone, except for their parents taking or co-signing loans.
Yes, you did. And I agree fully with it.
I’m just asking StarLord to address it directly.
Its not…
Also in there was CC. (Community College.)
There are countless ways for a kid to pay for college. Let’s not forget avenues like the military benefits that pay for college. Or Public Service Loan Forgiveness through the Peace Corps. Or Student Loan forgiveness for teachers.
And somehow we forget about something called “working”.
Of course it is. Plumbers are deplorable, remember.
Things can change between a student’s freshman year and when they graduate,
Petroleum engineers, for instance, couldn’t buy a job several years ago. And there was a huge glut of them graduating.
