[quote=scaredyclassic]
i guess im getting pretty cheap, but every 18 to 22 year old is broke.
why does society expect me to pay for my adult kids? seriously. These arent kids. these are adults.
it was different when the numbers werent so large, maybe, like if I had to cough up a few extra bucks.
i could earn a years tuition at a state univ over the summer in 1981
now…
it’s not like a little extra help. 100-300k is actual money.
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College tuition is one of the few things that has consistently increased by 4% every year. Think about that one.
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so you see bumperstickers like, my kid and all my money go to stanford univ.
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Funny you should say that because the first week I got into college, I bought a sticker and gave it to my dad that says exactly that….I got a full ride from Bank of Parents who paid for it because of his speculation in the 80ies into then unknown semiconductor company called “Intel”
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in general, we tell people, your parents money is not your money. dont count on it, dont expect anything, if they want to help you they will, but it’s theirs not yours.
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Many parents only tell our kids that so they don’t turn out to be entitled spoiled brats. And that’s the reality. But it’s a systemic problem we have here in the U.S. even well before college..
Money in some cases does make a non-trival difference in someone’s education here in the US. And that’s fucked up.
Take something as simple as the SAT/ACT . Parents that can afford to send kids to take the SAT/ACT multiple times at $100 a pop, and the more times one takes it, the better the score is. we can sign them up for a multiple prep classes so they can score higher. And parents know that now. That’s why getting a kid into a top rank school or even a UC school these days is almost like an arm’s race, where the parent that spends the most money arming their kid with the best tutors, extracuricular activities in name only, recommendation, essay writing, etc wins….I have a huge problem with these “college specialists” these days that pretty much offer strategic ways for kids to apply, how to write their essays (even possibly doing it for them), etc. It wasn’t nearly this bad when I was applying for colleges….But admittedly, since this is the game that it has come to, and for a family that can play this game, of course they are going to pay up and play this game. It frankly makes me sick. and totally turned off I hate this game.
That ain’t right. Anytime you put a huge dollar on whether someone gets into a a reputable college program, that immediately means you aren’t always going to get the best and brightest students, because there is a good percentage of the population that would have been good but couldn’t afford to go. That’s fucked up. In most Asian countries, people test to get into the best schools, and the best schools are almost free to anyone who test in and meet the stringent requirements, regardless of economic background they are from. Private schools are tier 2,3,4 level schools for students who don’t do as well. In a lot of way, this makes sense because this gives people from poor(er) backgrounds an opportunity to get out of their financial state simply by being academically talented/capable. And those that aren’t as talented but are from families with reasonable amount of money can afford to send their kids to a decent private school and still turn out pretty good
We don’t do it here. Everything a kid needs to do to get into a top rank college, the kid has a better change when their parents have money.
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yeah, if college were free, the middle class kid will be richer if he got free college in a strictly accounting way.
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College into a top rank school, one could consider, is a limited resource. Not everyone should be able to get in for “free”. There should be some weeding out process, so that “free” applies to top talent irrespective of financial background. I don’t have a problem if tax dollars are used to groom the best and brightest here in the U.S. I also don’t think these top rank schools should be free foreign students. We’re not responsible for raising top foreign talent. And most of the time, top talent from foreign countries have a free ride from their respective governments that end up paying for their tuition. In fact, imho, we should be charging much more for foreign students since most likely countries will end up paying, if their eventual purpose is to repatriate the students the send overseas here to the U.S.
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but i think it’s just that everyone at least start at zero. that seems reasonable. debt feels awful.
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Yup.
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having been hobbled with 6 figure debt, with a supposedly lucrative degree, i still found it difficult to make it, i dont want my kdis in debt, i dont want to pay, i dont like the system, and it doesnt seem very fair overall.
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I think I mentioned this before but there are a lot of doctors and dentists that are part time employees for other doctors and dentists and won’t be having their practices for a long time….Why? Because when they graduated from medical school and dental school, they were in a hole for $500-600k.
On top of that, if they wanted to start their own practice, who’s going to loan them the money?
The ones that are able to start their own practice right away tend to be financed by Bank of Parents who were also doctors and dentists…
But good news. For most careers, eventually, the degree from a specific college really doesn’t matter. I have yet to work with many people from an Ivy League school. My expensive paper, however, looks very nice..Might double up as spare toilet paper. That’s about it.
Also, we have a few programs that other countries dont have. For instance, serving in the armed forces is a great way also pay for higher education.
