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I don't mean that as an insult. I do know several psych majors (through friends and relatives) who couldn't find a job after graduation and went back to school for a different degree, like nursing, or they went into social work. It's a very interesting major and sucks you in.
It's as good as any degree to use as a stepping stone into an advanced degree in another field. And I understand an advanced degree is required to be taken seriously in the field itself. This is not true in many other fields.
I’m a psych these days. That was always my plan.
Dorms were the absolute norm back in the 80's when I went to school. We literally furnished our rooms with second hand rugs (I picked up mine when a neighbor set a rug out for trash pickup), mini fridges,etc. We worked summer jobs and seasonal work to pay for our expenses - which amounted to books, ramen and cover money for parties.
Dorms were mandatory for first year students and all transfer students (if not commuting from home) in the late '60s & '70s. Cooking in your room was prohibited but we were allowed to have popcorn poppers and became innovative dorm cooks. Real meals were served in the common dorm cafeteria. Women were not allowed to wear slacks on campus, only skirts or dresses, until after evening meal. This was a public state university.
Many (like me) did community college the first 2 years from home and then transferred for the junior/senior years. That is how we made college affordable. Now you can't talk a HS senior into that arrangement because they have to go to the prestige school. They can't be expected to go to a community college. We also did graduate school at night while working all day.
Dorms were mandatory for first year students and all transfer students (if not commuting from home) in the late '60s & '70s. Cooking in your room was prohibited but we were allowed to have popcorn poppers and became innovative dorm cooks. Real meals were served in the common dorm cafeteria. Women were not allowed to wear slacks on campus, only skirts or dresses, until after evening meal. This was a public state university.
Many (like me) did community college the first 2 years from home and then transferred for the junior/senior years. That is how we made college affordable. Now you can't talk a HS senior into that arrangement because they have to go to the prestige school. They can't be expected to go to a community college. We also did graduate school at night while working all day.
I got an internship sophomore year that included pay, benefits, and tuition reimbursement but had to switch to evening classes. Such tuition reimbursement is much harder to get now.
Do you know the average mortgage rates right now? Do you think the high interest rates at the time to combat the inflation helped lead to the economic golden age of the 80s and 90s?
Interest rates today are substantially less than they were 40 years ago. I know that. High interest rates lead to recession, which hopefully leads to lower inflation. Unless Carter is president, that is.
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I’m sure their elders would’ve understood the hurdles of buying a house at that time, unlike the elders of today who just beat the younger crowd over the head with accusations of laziness and glamorous lifestyles. I still did the math with my mom, and at that time the average income compared to average household size(debt to income ratio) was half of what it was when I bought in 2016. I don’t even know what it is today, with 8% interest rates.
There's no question incomes have not kept up with inflation. Incomes have not kept up since the 1970s when our manufacturing base began to move overseas.
Yet, I can't help but think that some of the people complaining about an inability to purchases a home would never trade their leased BMW and iPhone 15 Pro Max for a 2005 Honda Accord and flip-phone, even if doing so would greatly increase their ability to buy a home.
No surprise here. I saw so many "house poor" couples. Especially 20-30 years ago. People that bought houses at the edge of what they could pay for. Beautiful places on the outside, almost no belongings inside while they slept on mattresses on the floor. They would keep the house a year or two, sell it for the equity and go buy another even more expensive house. For a few years it seemed to work for some and supplemented their income, until the bubble burst and they were underwater with noting but an overpriced property they could barely afford to maintain and a high end car depreciating daily. It was all about appearance, a house of cards so to speak.
Because Trump was actually working FOR this country...
He said "two weeks" and couldn't get it done in 4 years.
"Two weeks" somehow turned into "Who knew healthcare was so complicated?" or some such nonsense.
As I said, no reasonable person would believe that Trump would have signed a new healthcare bill into law by now. That's nothing more than wishful thinking.
Interest rates today are substantially less than they were 40 years ago. I know that. High interest rates lead to recession, which hopefully leads to lower inflation. Unless Carter is president, that is.
There's no question incomes have not kept up with inflation. Incomes have not kept up since the 1970s when our manufacturing base began to move overseas.
Yet, I can't help but think that some of the people complaining about an inability to purchases a home would never trade their leased BMW and iPhone 15 Pro Max for a 2005 Honda Accord and flip-phone, even if doing so would greatly increase their ability to buy a home.
See you almost got the point, but then you made up this fake caricature of people to attack them for the ability not to be able to afford a house. No one in my friend group leases a car, and many drive 10+ year old cars. I drive a 20 year old car myself. Many of my friends still live at home to keep expenses minimal. In my area you are pretty much condemning yourself to a paycheck to paycheck lifestyle if you buy a place on 1 income.
Interest rates are lower than they were 40 years ago, but average debt to income ratio when purchasing a house has gone up. I would rather take 1990 house prices/ interest rates than 2023 house prices/interest rates. Granted the interest rates go down, the likelihood is fairly high that you can refinance at a lower rate, but you can’t buy your house again at a lower price.
Dorms were the absolute norm back in the 80's when I went to school. We literally furnished our rooms with second hand rugs (I picked up mine when a neighbor set a rug out for trash pickup), mini fridges,etc. We worked summer jobs and seasonal work to pay for our expenses - which amounted to books, ramen and cover money for parties.
Then the price run up started to happen when everyone started to take out student loans to finance the whole she-bang. Next thing you know the cost of tuition/room/board was sky high.
The ONLY way to offset that expense was by being a strong student and getting a merit scholarship. Those with gifted athletic, musical, etc talent could qualify for a total free ride.
My own kids have used scholarships, savings and money earned from working to pay their way through school. One lived at home and worked FT.
I get that it's hard. But it was never easy. And it doesn't get any easier when the government steps in.
I believe it was the norm for people you were surrounded by. It sounds like you grew up in a solid middle to upper middle class community. Again, a lot of the people I knew went to community college to take classes at a fraction of the cost while living at home and working and then transferred to a university after getting their associate degree.
Maybe you and your cohorts had a champagne taste on a beer budget, or you grew up in families and in circumstances that allowed you to live an existence that most people on this planet don’t have the resources for. Good for you, but to spin it off as a normal thing shows how much of a bubble you exist in and a sense of entitlement to that lifestyle.
Last edited by ecko_complex24; 12-09-2023 at 08:14 AM..
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