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1. It doesn't take 80k to go to school.
2. Self taught people tend to only read/expose themselves to the things that line up with their preconceived notions. For example, someone questions religion and they are skeptical. Well, they will most likely only read the stuff that says religion is all bad, illogical, etc. Are they going to read the books from people who say their faith changed their lives for the better?
2. In college, no one teaches or forces you to think anything. It's about exposure to different things and different ideas and philosophies. Do you know the work of Nietzsche or Wittgenstein? Have you read the works of Camus, Joyce, Ellison?
Great example. Are you familiar with Hegel and dialectics? If more people understood about dialectics, our national political discourse would be different.
Also, you really can't teach a person how to think.
As for the cost, you're right. 80k is probably on the low side. You have to add 30 years of interest to those loans. Plus, you're losing 4 years of work. If you can make a even 20k per year then that is 80k right there that you're losing.
Also, you really can't teach a person how to think.
As for the cost, you're right. 80k is probably on the low side. You have to add 30 years of interest to those loans. Plus, you're losing 4 years of work. If you can make a even 20k per year then that is 80k right there that you're losing.
Really? This is your counter argument to my post?
1. A combination of community college/4 year state college/free grants/tuition reimbursement, can easily make getting a degree come in under $80k. Loans are not required. I don't understand why people think loans are automatic.
2. People can work and still go to college. Evening and online courses are readily available.
3. It's not about teaching people how to think. It's about teaching them how to read, use their cognitive skills, and how to analyze various facts and information in order to make a rational, sound decision.
The smart thing to do is just don't take out student loans. I used to say, "don't take out student loans if you can help it," but now I'm saying, "just don't take out student loans." Pay for your education some other way or regret it later. I now owe more than I will earn in four years, and interest keeps accruing. It wasn't worth it. Had I been smart about it, I could have found a better way to pay for college than with student loans, but I had so much against me. Really, tuition wasn't the issue. It was room, board, and travel expenses that brought my costs so high. Try supporting yourself for seven years without a decent paying job. It adds up quickly when your regular job isn't enough to pay rent or buy food and you have to use your student aid to cover the costs.
STEM isn't a golden ticket either. A friend of mine just became a physics professor. After four years of post docs. And eight years of graduate school. And an unrelated masters degree.
If June is worthless degree awareness month I nominate July as worthwhile degree awareness month. Gotta catch em all:
Computer Science
Electrical Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Finance
Accounting
I spent about $60,000, maybe a little more, earning my two degrees, a master's and a bachelor's, but interest and penalties piled on, and now I owe about $100K-$150K. If I had it to do over again, I would have definitely tried to swallow my pride, move in with family, and do my research before majoring in a worthless program that didn't even make me employable. I've gotten on IBR, but the payments are still too much for me to afford with my current expenses.
The student loan bubble is very real and very dangerous. I knew about the housing bubble, so I didn't take out a mortgage while I was working, even though I was offered a chance to do so, because I didn't want to drown in debt like my parents did. The Sallie Mae scandal, if I should call it that, though, caught me by surprise. I thought I was making an investment in my future and guaranteeing my employability, but I wasn't. When I started college to become a teacher, teaching was a respected profession that granted job security after about five years of work. When I graduated, tenure was eliminated, policies that don't work had stripped teachers of their self-esteem, and the kids had effectively been given the keys to their schools.
Unless the government takes the program away, your loan balance will be discharged after making 120 payments while working for a non-profit or government agency.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MJJersey
Factor in interest and the time and money you lose by not working.
I worked full-time while I was in school. You also have to factor in lost future wages if you don't go to college. My salary is double of what I was making before I graduated from college and will be close to triple in a few years. My wage growth potential is also a lot higher because wages in the security field are pretty stagnant.
I personally know someone who paid $220,000 for their son's 4-year college education.
So, it can vary dramatically.
Yes, depending on degree. One of the chiropractors in the practice I go to told me he owes $300,000 for his degree.
My student loans were about $36,000, and that was 20 years ago, with me going to community college for the first 2 years and then finishing in an OT program for another 2.5 years. I lived on campus the first year and commuted for the remainder. I know both my colleges' costs have gone up tremendously since then.
Actually, a liberal arts degree teaches you to think for yourself and to critically examine various schools of thought. Glad I could clear that up for you.
I could have gone to a bookstore for 1/10 of the cost for an undergrad degree.
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