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Teak , you make a great point. I don`t get why people on here could care less about the rise of tuition. I personaly know people who are not for it. I guess some people like having that extra finacial debt. Just more to pay off, yeh....
I don't think that anyone suggests tuition should never go up, but 10% a year, year-on-year? Other than Wall Street, whose wages increase like that?
10% yearly tuition hike is a national average. If you look at individual schools, you will find some that only went up by 2 to 3%, some between 9 and 11%, some 0%, and California's whopping 32% (even at the 32% increase, UC students are looking to pay just over $10,000 in tuition next year, a small price considering that the UCs are some of the best colleges in the country). If you look at the increases since 1940, you will see that tuition roughly follows inflation, with the two highest peaks being in 2003 and 2009.
While I think that everyone should have the ability to attend college if they want to, I don't think that college is for everyone, and it is definitely not a birthright. There are more teenagers graduating from high school (roughly 3 million in 2009, up from 2 million in 2000), and more and more high school seniors are applying to colleges then ever before. Not to mention all of the adults returning to school due to the economic downturn. More students means that colleges need to add more classrooms, labs, parking spaces, faculty, dorms, etc. All of that costs money. If less people went to college, tuition and fees would neutralize to a more realistic price.
Also, most states have cut funding to higher education over the last few years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cl723
Teak , you make a great point. I don`t get why people on here could care less about the rise of tuition. I personaly know people who are not for it. I guess some people like having that extra finacial debt. Just more to pay off, yeh....
Many posters on CD do think that college is a scam, racket, how-ever-you-want-to-put-it, so don't worry, you are not alone. I won't speak for anyone else, but I will say that I do mind the raise in tuition and I do mind having student loan debt. However, I am not too stressed out over it because it is a choice that I made, I realize that I have other options in life but I want to go into a field that requires a college degree; a career that I have always been fascinated with since a child and one that I figure I better get into now before I become too old and lose the opportunity.
There is also something else; I have no other debt. Maybe others-plenty of others-are adding more debt onto their plates, but I am not. I do not have a mortgage, property taxes, children, car payment, car insurance, out-landish credit card debt (I have two cards, though), etc. Granted, any of this could change in the future, but for the time being, even with my student loans, I am still less in debt than the average American. And no, I am not some 20 year old, either.
So, for me, while I would rather not have student loans, the idea of paying them off is not really a big deal since I will have a degree and ability to work in the field of my dreams. As of this moment, it appears to be worth it. Besides, the cap is 10% of discretionary income, and if payments are made on time each month, the loans are forgiving at 20 years.
10% yearly tuition hike is a national average. If you look at individual schools, you will find some that only went up by 2 to 3%, some between 9 and 11%, some 0%, and California's whopping 32% (even at the 32% increase, UC students are looking to pay just over $10,000 in tuition next year, a small price considering that the UCs are some of the best colleges in the country). If you look at the increases since 1940, you will see that tuition roughly follows inflation, with the two highest peaks being in 2003 and 2009.
While I think that everyone should have the ability to attend college if they want to, I don't think that college is for everyone, and it is definitely not a birthright. There are more teenagers graduating from high school (roughly 3 million in 2009, up from 2 million in 2000), and more and more high school seniors are applying to colleges then ever before. Not to mention all of the adults returning to school due to the economic downturn. More students means that colleges need to add more classrooms, labs, parking spaces, faculty, dorms, etc. All of that costs money. If less people went to college, tuition and fees would neutralize to a more realistic price.
Also, most states have cut funding to higher education over the last few years.
Many posters on CD do think that college is a scam, racket, how-ever-you-want-to-put-it, so don't worry, you are not alone. I won't speak for anyone else, but I will say that I do mind the raise in tuition and I do mind having student loan debt. However, I am not too stressed out over it because it is a choice that I made, I realize that I have other options in life but I want to go into a field that requires a college degree; a career that I have always been fascinated with since a child and one that I figure I better get into now before I become too old and lose the opportunity.
There is also something else; I have no other debt. Maybe others-plenty of others-are adding more debt onto their plates, but I am not. I do not have a mortgage, property taxes, children, car payment, car insurance, out-landish credit card debt (I have two cards, though), etc. Granted, any of this could change in the future, but for the time being, even with my student loans, I am still less in debt than the average American. And no, I am not some 20 year old, either.
So, for me, while I would rather not have student loans, the idea of paying them off is not really a big deal since I will have a degree and ability to work in the field of my dreams. As of this moment, it appears to be worth it. Besides, the cap is 10% of discretionary income, and if payments are made on time each month, the loans are forgiving at 20 years.
Lol I think there is something that the "anti-collegers" often avoid admitting is that, yes, those with only a high school diploma or high school dropouts may have higher rates of employment, but did you ever look at WHERE they are employed? You simply can't get a decent job with only a high school degree, let alone without one, so those people are the ones pumping your gas or serving you coffee at McDonalds. People with a college degree might be unemployed because they are spending their time looking for a decent-paying position which, I'll admit, is rare these days, but they know they don't necessarily have to settle for minimum wage. Those without a college degree know they have no shot at a good job so of course they'll be employed, they'll take whatever they can get, and that is NOT a good message to be sending to young people.
Teak , you make a great point. I don`t get why people on here could care less about the rise of tuition. I personaly know people who are not for it. I guess some people like having that extra finacial debt. Just more to pay off, yeh....
Its not that people don't care, its the attitude expressed by OP. OP implies that they are the only one to have ever experienced the hardship of tuition increases, or at least the first generation of college students to experience it. Worse, OP admits it never occurred to them until now that such a thing as tuition increases existed. Its self-absorbed.
No doubt in a few years, OP will be writing posts in wonderment and outrage that there's this thing called inflation.
I think college has turned out to be an OUTRAGEOUS SCAM for this generation.
Some degrees pay off, and there are grants, scholarships, cheaper options like community colleges, etc. But that's not the majority.
The majority are told, go to college! Aim high. Do your best. Reach for your potential. Reaching for your potential is not community college. It's either a middle of the road 4 year school, or an elite school (with an elite price tag).
You're told, you'll be successful! There will jobs. I was told this in the 90's in highschool. Oh, don't worry. You'll easily be able to do everything you want. You can easily pay back your loans. College, college, college, college.
It's turned into a sick chant in this country, and not enough attention is paid to the underside of it. The job situation for most people since the 90's has been very tenuous. It's not "success", as claimed by so many highschool teachers, counselors, etc, who remember a different era in the 60's to 80's. It's buyer beware, but at the same time, they've done a weak job of truely informing students about their best options. And not this incessent college drum beat.
-It's an awfully strange coincidence that the 07-09 recession, wiped out all the job creation since 2000. And a lot of the jobs created from 95 to 2000 were part time, with little or no benefits, starbucks type jobs. Where's this "success", for the average person. The success is being on the other side of the trade. Collecting an automatic $400-800 a month in student loan payments. That's success in a half hollow economy. Let naive, and uninformed students navigate their way through a rocky and unpredictable economy. Let them go half asleep in class, and get them to sign up for a 4 year degree, that they may or may not need.
-And keep raising those prices up every inch. Whether it's 4% or 10%, it's uncertainty for this generation. Future uncertainty that is being pushed out. Let the underlings be uncertain (until their 25 or 30, it doesn't matter). And let the cushy let gen x'ers, baby boomers ride the scam until their 65 or older.
Lol I think there is something that the "anti-collegers" often avoid admitting is that, yes, those with only a high school diploma or high school dropouts may have higher rates of employment, but did you ever look at WHERE they are employed? You simply can't get a decent job with only a high school degree, let alone without one, so those people are the ones pumping your gas or serving you coffee at McDonalds. People with a college degree might be unemployed because they are spending their time looking for a decent-paying position which, I'll admit, is rare these days, but they know they don't necessarily have to settle for minimum wage. Those without a college degree know they have no shot at a good job so of course they'll be employed, they'll take whatever they can get, and that is NOT a good message to be sending to young people.
It is not true that people with less education have higher employment rates. This table shows UE rates from Feb. 2010:
If you don't like it, don't go to college. No one has a gun to your head forcing you to attend college. The way I look at it, if you and everyone that doesn't like the tuition increases doesn't go to school there will be more aid money available for those that WANT a college degree so go ahead, get your minimum wage job and leave the better paying jobs for those that are motivated to go to college. I am sure it will all even out in the end with what you make at McDonald's vs what a college student makes minus student loans.
If you don't like it, don't go to college. No one has a gun to your head forcing you to attend college. The way I look at it, if you and everyone that doesn't like the tuition increases doesn't go to school there will be more aid money available for those that WANT a college degree so go ahead, get your minimum wage job and leave the better paying jobs for those that are motivated to go to college. I am sure it will all even out in the end with what you make at McDonald's vs what a college student makes minus student loans.
You mean one of those corporate cult jobs? Why would anyone want to work in that atmosphere.
Quote:
Originally Posted by socstudent
Lol I think there is something that the "anti-collegers" often avoid admitting is that, yes, those with only a high school diploma or high school dropouts may have higher rates of employment, but did you ever look at WHERE they are employed? You simply can't get a decent job with only a high school degree, let alone without one, so those people are the ones pumping your gas or serving you coffee at McDonalds. People with a college degree might be unemployed because they are spending their time looking for a decent-paying position which, I'll admit, is rare these days, but they know they don't necessarily have to settle for minimum wage. Those without a college degree know they have no shot at a good job so of course they'll be employed, they'll take whatever they can get, and that is NOT a good message to be sending to young people.
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