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I don't understand how people still wrack up so much debt in college unless it's medical school (which generally, if you're smart enough for that you get full scholarships.)
Study something useful like computer science, do two years at a CC and another at a state school and you should be 20k or so in debt. If you choose the computer science degree that debt will be paid off in no time.
I don't understand how people still wrack up so much debt in college unless it's medical school (which generally, if you're smart enough for that you get full scholarships.)
Study something useful like computer science, do two years at a CC and another at a state school and you should be 20k or so in debt. If you choose the computer science degree that debt will be paid off in no time.
Computer science degrees don't lead to immediate well-paying jobs nearly as consistently as they once did.
Nor is everyone who is urged to get a bachelor's degree also urged to make it in computer science.
Nor, really, is there a need for a lot of people with computer science bachelor's degrees.
Back in the 70s, the US Navy was pounding hundreds and hundreds of high school graduates through programming courses. They just needed coders. If those enlisted sailors decided at some point that they wanted to be managers and leaders, then they got a bachelor's degree. Otherwise, they were just happy codedawgs.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by s1alker
I don't understand how people still wrack up so much debt in college unless it's medical school (which generally, if you're smart enough for that you get full scholarships.)
Not true at all. Med school is almost always paid for.
Quote:
Originally Posted by s1alker
Study something useful like computer science, do two years at a CC and another at a state school and you should be 20k or so in debt. If you choose the computer science degree that debt will be paid off in no time.
Do you want to study computer science? If so, ok. If not, it would be wasted.
I don't understand how people still wrack up so much debt in college unless it's medical school (which generally, if you're smart enough for that you get full scholarships.)
Study something useful like computer science, do two years at a CC and another at a state school and you should be 20k or so in debt. If you choose the computer science degree that debt will be paid off in no time.
Who finishes a STEM degree in 3 years? The CC to 4-year institution for STEM still doesn't lend itself well to 4 years and you're probably still looking at 5 years total to graduate. Many people I know who got significant work experience in undergrad with STEM degrees did take at least 5 years to graduate, which often means that scholarship money runs out after year 4 and you're going on loans/savings from jobs for year 5 (or year six which may be the case if people do COOP programs that may have more guaranteed employment at graduation).
Computer science degrees on their own aren't necessarily a guarantee of anything. I know plenty of people in the field. Most who have high paying jobs have graduate degrees/niche specialties.
I've got one in college and two more on the way soon. The cost of an education today is breath-taking, and you should not assume that community college credits will transfer cleanly. Lots of students find out the hard way that this is often not the case. Check and re-check before you go the CC route, and stay in close contact with counselors at both schools to ensure that you are doing exactly what's required and that there haven't been any changes. It sucks big time to put in a year or two and then find out that you pretty much have to start from scratch after transferring.
I've got one in college and two more on the way soon. The cost of an education today is breath-taking, and you should not assume that community college credits will transfer cleanly. Lots of students find out the hard way that this is often not the case. Check and re-check before you go the CC route, and stay in close contact with counselors at both schools to ensure that you are doing exactly what's required and that there haven't been any changes. It sucks big time to put in a year or two and then find out that you pretty much have to start from scratch after transferring.
Colleges these days have lots of "tricks" up their sleeve to prevent students from being able to use or transfer credits. It didn't used to be that way. It's kind of sad.
I don't think it is necessary. I think it depends on the child.
People have mentioned reasons for why it is good, but I don't think one NEEDS a job to learn most of the skills that have been mentioned here. There are people who never worked in HS and are good employees. There are people who have been working forever and somehow they are still terrible. My uncle has been working since he was a teenager, makes good money, graduated from an Ivy League and still has terrible money management skills. You either learn these things and practice them or you don't---you don't need to work in HS for that.
Colleges these days have lots of "tricks" up their sleeve to prevent students from being able to use or transfer credits. It didn't used to be that way. It's kind of sad.
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Some of that may be regional. Here the Community College works with the high schools so the classes kids are taking in HS actually count as college credit. If you're taking Trig or English Literature in HS, it's really not any different than taking Trig or English Lit in college, so the community college contracts with the HS. Kids taking these classes get both the HS credit for them and the college credit. Classes are still taught at the HS as part of the regular schedule/curriculum. As a result A LOT of kids are actually entering college as sophmores.
I don't understand how people still wrack up so much debt in college unless it's medical school (which generally, if you're smart enough for that you get full scholarships.)
Study something useful like computer science, do two years at a CC and another at a state school and you should be 20k or so in debt. If you choose the computer science degree that debt will be paid off in no time.
I completely agree. I know entirely too many people who went to pricey private schools to get teaching or social work degrees. They graduate $100,000 or more in debt for a job where the average salary is peanuts.
Suze Orman (love her) always recommended never borrowing more for college than you can expect to make in your first year in your chosen career. That may mean going to the local state school rather than an expensive private school or out-of-state.
We're talking about transferring community college credits to a four-year university. I live in Colorado. It's a big problem here, even between schools that are supposedly part of the same system.
And regarding costs, CG, are you aware that tuition, room & board at our "affordable" land grant school, CSU, runs in excess of $20k per year? That's how students end up with six-figure debt.
Last edited by randomparent; 07-13-2016 at 08:34 AM..
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