Posted on 05/31/2006 1:52:09 PM PDT by Graybeard58
I owe, I owe
So, it's off to work I go....
the sad truth is - for many young people now, many college degrees make no sense. job and wage growth is all concentrated in the service sectors, and you don't need much in the way of college to hold those jobs. people who work in the trades, whose jobs cannot be offshored, can do very well. A Mercedes Benz mechanic can make 85K a year. One son of an older friend of mine, makes north of $80K - as a conceirge at a Manhattan hotel.
what will stop it - is people have to stop going to college. when they match the jobs they will hold, with whether they really need college or not.
"...The same thing happens with US health care."
Absolutely true. Third party payment can be counted on to drive prices out of control. Trend levels in HC and tuition have been close for years, for the same reason.
Somehow, I can't work up a helluva a lot of sympathy over thei "Plight"! I finished undergraduate school 42 years ago owing (according to BLS CPI calculations for "constant dollar equivalent) almost $30,000. It took me about 6 years to pay it off (of course I didn't live that "high on the hog" while in college or thereafter!
My Daughters borrowed for college as well and managed to pay off their loans in about 5-6 years as well!
It is all a matter of financial priorities (not whining)!!!
"You do realize that those equations are based on the assumption that you have saved or can borrow and repay yourself, right? No one expects you to be able to pay the full costs out-of-pocket without savings in a single year...."
Of course. Unfortunately, accumulating such savings with a family of 6 in CA isn't easy, especially if the second parent doesn't have a full-time career in order to raise the kids. (Not whining, just facts.) At half the cost, (assuming financial aid pays the other half) we're talking about (for a private university) saving close to half a million dollars, spread over 4 children.
The other thing that is peculiar to the whole college financing situation is that if you are able to do the prudent thing and save for college -- or if your child accumulates savings in their name -- you are actually penalized when it comes to your EFC (Expected Family Contribution) calculations, and expected to personally pay a higher portion of the tuition yourself, while Student B down the block who didn't save anything is handed more "free money."
College tuition/financial aid is just a weird system that needs to come back down to earth in more ways than one, IMHO.
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