Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Step 1. Choose a practical major
Step 2. Attend a community college for two years and live at home
Step 3. Transfer to a State University and live at home
Step 4. Graduate with little debt, start earning, start saving.
I am paying 70% of the cost and she is borrowing the rest, but I think this is unfair to my daughter.
You may say choose a cheap college elsewhere, but part of the college experience has to do with meeting the right people and networking. That is hard to do at your local very cheap junior college.
My point is that college should not be this expensive. And kids should not jump through hoops to pay for the tuition. That is my point. I would copy the European model.
I'm not talking about a community college either. There are plenty of state universities that don't charge what you are paying; you (or your daughter) chose not to go there.
I graduated from a CC, tried a few state colleges and then graduated from what is now a 50K a year private university (I think it was 35K back then). I had tuition remission, so tuition for my junior and senior year (and a few extra classes I needed) cost me $800. For the life of me, I could not (and do not) understand why someone would pay that kind of money for a college education in most disciplines. My MA from a state univ. cost me $11,000 plus books.
Last edited by joe from dayton; 08-14-2013 at 06:42 PM..
Step 1. Choose a practical major
Step 2. Attend a community college for two years and live at home
Step 3. Transfer to a State University and live at home
Step 4. Graduate with little debt, start earning, start saving.
But even graduates of so called "practical" majors are having a hard time finding employment. For example, new graduate nursing students are facing a brutal job market that is being underreported. Without experience many are facing job searches lasting anywhere from 8 months- 1 year, with their student loans being due after six months. Other similar health care fields such as respiratory therapist, radiology tech, medical assistants, dietitians, all same thing.
And the problem isn't solved by simply obtaining a Master's or Doctorate degree in more advance health care fields such as Physical Therapist, Physician Assistant, Nurse Practioner, or Pharmacy (which is starting to become oversaturated). With those degrees, you may have a great chance at finding employment, but there is NO guarantee of landing a job that pays a reasonable salary to pay back the 100k in debt you obtained. I graduated with a BS Biology and had every intention of going to PA school until I really took a look at the 32k/ year tuition most programs have ballooned their tuition too. Yes when I graduated I would have come out making 75k-85k as a new grad (and I highly suspect that figure is exaggerated from schools), but when you count having to pay back that debt, car loans, rent, food, grocery, daycare for any children etc., its not actually that much.
So the problem with education is that on the lower end you have increasing completion for jobs that makes it hard to obtain employment to pay back those loans. And on the advance level, you have schools price gauging for those advance degrees that lead to employment. So while you may have found a job, you have an impossible debt load that makes it hard to payback those loans.
But even graduates of so called "practical" majors are having a hard time finding employment. For example, new graduate nursing students are facing a brutal job market that is being underreported.
But even graduates of so called "practical" majors are having a hard time finding employment. For example, new graduate nursing students are facing a brutal job market that is being underreported. Without experience many are facing job searches lasting anywhere from 8 months- 1 year, with their student loans being due after six months. Other similar health care fields such as respiratory therapist, radiology tech, medical assistants, dietitians, all same thing.
And the problem isn't solved by simply obtaining a Master's or Doctorate degree in more advance health care fields such as Physical Therapist, Physician Assistant, Nurse Practioner, or Pharmacy (which is starting to become oversaturated). With those degrees, you may have a great chance at finding employment, but there is NO guarantee of landing a job that pays a reasonable salary to pay back the 100k in debt you obtained. I graduated with a BS Biology and had every intention of going to PA school until I really took a look at the 32k/ year tuition most programs have ballooned their tuition too. Yes when I graduated I would have come out making 75k-85k as a new grad (and I highly suspect that figure is exaggerated from schools), but when you count having to pay back that debt, car loans, rent, food, grocery, daycare for any children etc., its not actually that much.
So the problem with education is that on the lower end you have increasing completion for jobs that makes it hard to obtain employment to pay back those loans. And on the advance level, you have schools price gauging for those advance degrees that lead to employment. So while you may have found a job, you have an impossible debt load that makes it hard to payback those loans.
As bad as the nursing grads or the accounting grads or any other "practical" major is having, for the most part they are still doing better than their LA counterparts. So one could argue both sides suck whether you go a "practical" major or you go a LA major, but the practical major sucks a bit less. So which area of study are you going to pick? Again both suck, one does not suck as much
Going purely by the numbers, it dose not look like there is an "excessive" amount of student debt at all. With an average debt of 53K and an average income of around 50K it would stand to reason that most debt is paid off well before the age of thirty. What am I missing ?
"Many Kids do not graduate from college - or ever attend - and live with their parents".
Fair enough?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.