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I have a BA in liberal arts from a Top 50 University. My parents paid half of my education, I paid for the second half via loans & working through college.
I work in corporate retail as a Senior Buyer. Retail does not pay the same as being a hedge fund manager or big law attorney or a surgeon....but I'm good a it and I love my work. I hit the 6-figure mark at 28- figure in 2 years of no merit increase due to the recession and very low/no bonus for fiscal 2008 and 2009 and I think I've done quite well financially for my field.
Hats off to you, dude. It's tough to pull that achievement with that kind of degree.
I always thought I drew so much only because of my technical domain, though I have moved towards management these days. Keep up the good work
I have to disagree. We are from Russia and back then taxes (if any) were 10%, they stand at 13%. I would love pay 13% income tax and free tuition.
Russia being communist, means that corporations where operated for profit by the government...which is where the money came from. They groomed intelligent people to compete with the rest of the world.
Hats off to you, dude. It's tough to pull that achievement with that kind of degree.
I always thought I drew so much only because of my technical domain, though I have moved towards management these days. Keep up the good work
Actually, we recruit probably 50% liberal arts and the other 50% split between business & fashion merchandising degrees.
I do some recruiting for our corporate training program and look for 2 things- neither of them are degree or GPA.
1. Leadership- is this person a leader among their peers? What leadership positions did they hold in college & what responsibilities did that entail?
2. Passion for the business- does this person read industry rags and keep up? Have they had internships or other relevant work experience?
If someone has leadership & passion for the business, we can teach them everything they need to know about computer systems, reports, store correspondence, marketing, etc. However, I have learned you can't make someone a retailer if they don't want to be there and you can't really teach lesdership. Both of those are innate, intrinsic values that you either have- or you dont.
Most large consumer products or consulting firms (Bain, E&Y, Deloitte, Proctor & Gamble, Frito Lay, Coca-Cola, etc) hire using very similar guidelines.
[SIZE=2]I know this my seem like a weird question, but I don't see how it makes sense to pay $40-50K a year for an undergrad education. Where we come from college is free, so my mother did not understand paying for college. When I went, I chose a cheap school and she gave me about $500 a month to cover expenses. I worked all summer, entire 14 weeks, 60 hours a week to have spending money during the school year. I graduated with $20K in student loans and an undergrad degree.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=2]When I have my kids, unless they are passionate about something or really have an aptitude, I would say go to state school or community college until you figure out what you really want to do. I would have them work to pay expenses and I would cover some of the expenses as well. I'll leave the Ivy League out of it, but is school name really that important for most professions? In accounting, they don't really look at your school, they look at your experience and certifications. I k now law school, med school and prestigous MBA schools don't apply here.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=2]My brother made a big stink that it was my mother's duty to pay for his college and she shelled out $14K a year for him to go to a $45K a year school. He has $70K in loans, but did get a job right out of college making $50K. His field is engineering. I figure if he did engineering at UCONN (where he got a full ride), he would be doing the same thing.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=2]Is my thinking this way because I see so many college grads with debt up towards the 6 figures with a job paying $30K a year?[/SIZE]
I do not get this either. My DIL went to a private college in the same city as Ohio State, and came out with a boat load of student loan debt, which she wouldn't have had if she had gone to a state school.
I think what happened is that, towards the end, all the grant and scholarship money sort of dried up and she was forced to take out another loan in order to finish.
We won't be paying for our son to attend college. If he wants to further his education after high school he can get grants, scholarships or apply for the service. No one paid for my education past high school, nor did my husband have anyone pay for his. He will appreciate his education more if he pays for it himself, if he decides he wants to go to college
Our middle daughter will probably never go to college ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katiana
Sorry, but I find the bold shocking, unless your daughter is disabled.
She is, but I don't feel that all kids are cut out for college anyway. Some would be better served by going to vocational school and learning a trade.
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Originally Posted by JustJulia
[M]y eldest intends to go to community college for two years, then transfer to a state university like I did. We will pay for that. It's also possible that she will get a scholarship in art, but she doesn't know if she wants to go to art school despite the free education.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katiana
Do not count on a lot of scholarships, etc. If your daughter is good at art and going to art school, she will be competing for the scholarship money with others that are the same caliber as her or better.
I have to disagree. We are from Russia and back then taxes (if any) were 10%, they stand at 13%. I would love pay 13% income tax and free tuition.
Kate, the wages were homogeneous in former Russia. As they are now in Cuba. People were making 100 - 200 rubles a month. No one had the option to make $2000 or $5000 a month. The education money did not come out of taxes.
In Cuba, they make $20 a week. Have free medical care and free education. Probably are proud by the 13% of tax, - which is unclear what purposes it serves, in a centralized economy.
The education is free in Cuba (and was free in Russia) because NO ONE is (was) making anything more than $20 a week. If a government hoards the rest, it may play "generous" with free services.
I've lived there, so I know. My first paycheck ($39k job) was $1187 every other week. My rent (spitting a 1 br apartmetn with a roomate) was $905. My student loans were around $250 back then. Half of electric & cable was $100ish every month. Left me about $1000 a month to budget for EVERYTHING else- food, entertainment, several $300 plane tickets a year back home to Texas, clothing (because when you graduate you don't have a professional wardrobe and when you move from TX you don't own a winter coat/ boots/ etc). Plus, I owned no furniture or home things (dishes, microwave, etc).....that first year or two was ROUGH with a $250 loan. I can't imagine having swung a payment 2-3x more on my salary back then.
ikea or craigslist for furniture now. obviously, less visits home at first. outlets for professional clothing, building your collection as you go.
my buddy rented a small studio for $800/month in the village until about a year ago. it can be done. just have to be crafty.
Where are you finding a 700-1000/month student loan repayment? You can buy a Mercedes and pay it off in 4 years for less than that. If you're paying that much per month, for a 4-year period, then you're doing something wrong.
My parents helped fund my education but didn't pay all of it. Guaranteed state loans funded most of the rest of it. I funded the balance by working. After I graduated, I had a year's respite before I had to start paying the loans back. The amount was $87.02/month for 12 years. And I deferred twice.
I'm guessing you can't get these types of loans anymore because FannieMae no longer exists. But I'm sure if you truly can't afford to put your kids into college, you would qualify for funding of various sorts INCLUDING grants. If your child is a solid, consistently good student, often colleges will reduce tuition costs and even offer scholarships. Grants and scholarships and reduced costs do NOT have to be paid back.
If you CAN afford to send your kids to college, but choose not to, then there's no wiggle room for complaint. Either you want your kids to have a higher education or you don't. If you can afford it, you pay it. If you can't afford it, you apply for assistance wherever you can find it. Saying "I don't want to spend a fortune" on investing in your own child's personal growth as a contributing adult in society doesn't seem like a very efficient option.
Education has value for its own sake. Even if the kid does nothing with it, career-wise, he has benefited himself by learning more about subjects that interest him. This *cannot hurt* him in the future, and can only help him, or do nothing for him. Rejecting higher education can only do nothing, or hurt him. Why would you want to risk hurting your child's future, when you could risk helping it? I just don't understand the mentality.
it's not exactly a far fetched idea for some students to graduate with $100k+ in student loan debt and have around a $700-$1,000 student loan payment.
the problem is, some people "can afford" to pay $x based on the paperwork, but in reality it's not true. it depends.
i'm all for helping kids with college though. college is a worthwhile investment. you just have to choose wisely so that the debt one graduates with isn't too much for their career prospects.
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