<p>If you think 50k is big bucks for a college grad,then you are correct…I know many hs grad making 50k,with no college education…50k in the NE is not a lot of money</p>
<p>I have worked on placement issues for some refugees who have advanced degrees but it’s not been their communication skills that are keeping them from employment in their fields as much as their inability to meet state licensing criteria. Their coursework and degrees often are not equivalent to U.S. requirements.</p>
<p>Exactly. My dentist had to re-do dental school in the U.S. after moving here from the Ukraine. She had been in practice for years before moving here. I imagine the Pakistani engineer would need to go to school all over again & probably is unable to afford to do so. He doesn’t complain (he just works … really hard).</p>
<p>I am well educated. I have to know a LOT to do my job. I do not make $50k/year & will not earn that in my current job … probably ever … unless I am promoted to management (which means that I would not actually be working in my current job).</p>
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<p>that’s a job i wanna do :)</p>
<p>I caught most of the special - largely not a surprise to me, but still worthwhile. I hope it was widely viewed. Kids and parents really need to sit down and work out the costs of loans - many I know have changed their minds when they see what the cost per month for ten years will be for those 50 to 250K total debt packages.
Growing up, I didn’t have much money at all. We didn’t go on big vacations. I didn’t own a car until I have a job, well after college. I didn’t go on spring break trips or have expensive clothes or other luxuries. I worked all summer and a bit during the school year.
As an adult I was careful too, and eventually, it all paid off.
I will say to those who are being careful with money while seeing others spent it all and pile on debt - just be patient. Your wisdom will bear fruit.</p>
<p>CNBC has some very good programs, but after the markets close their other reporting isn’t all that much better than the paid programming they show on weekends.</p>
<p>They identify the problem - costs are too high. But they don’t provide anything resembling an intelligent analysis of the root causes behind that problem. Wine tasting junkets for administrators are good for sparking flames of anger, but I didn’t see any evidence suggesting that they are the root cause of excessive costs.</p>
<p>We may be regressing to the time of my father who went to school in the early 1940’s (before WWII). He lived at home and went to his local public school - the Univ of Minnesota in St. Paul. Only the rich went off to live in dorms, and, of course, most people didn’t go to college at all. The northeast area had a lot of rich people and that’s why schools in that area developed and became the top schools. The local well-to-do in other states often went to small private schools that were started by religious organizations and some of these schools took on scholarship students who had demonstrated a desire to learn. It wasn’t until the GI bill that going to college really took off.</p>
<p>One other comment… On-line schools can be done much more cheaply than brick-and-mortar, but I think part of what endowments and tuition are funding is the research that goes on at a school. On-line courses only perpetuate current knowledge, they don’t increase knowledge like research does.</p>
<p>As a dad who is almost at the end of funding three kids through undergrad and grad school, I am just shocked at what I have paid out. I was “lucky” that my income is high enough that no need based scholarship money came our way at three very expensive top end schools that do not offer any academic based scholarships…but now my retirement is delayed for years. I have told my kids that before they send alumni checks to these schools who had no problem raising rates 6-7% per year, they send a few dollars my way.</p>
<p>Notice how NONE of the students that graduate from top 150 colleges with applicable degrees need help finding work… This is more evidence that Mr. Obama’s statement that the USA should lead the world in graduates is more of a death sentence for the American educational system. If 40% of the nation’s brightest attend college, I would imagine the costs being more “reasonable” simply because those are the people that will have jobs that may above the median and mean income levels. I’m planning on sending my dad money way before I send the school money, but I still think that a top education is worth more than the cost. That being said, more people need to realize that the option to attend college is not necessarily a good one. I’m not saying that people shouldn’t go to college to climb up the economic ladder, I’m saying that a slight majority of people need not go to college(which means our high schools should step up). </p>
<p>Only those that will really benefit from a degree should attend. The fact is, this shows how little some benefit from going to sub par colleges expected a job waiting for them. Education is not a guarantee, it is an institution for society’s crucial members to sharpen their skills in specific fields. </p>
<p>Let’s face a wonderful fact. In every society, in cases of developed countries that have differing amounts of college grads in comparison to population, you see those with talent, skills and drive rise up and become wealthy or obtain their goals. Note: education and infrastructure does allow many more people to contribute and succeed, essentially allowing those that are “good enough” to make the cut, lowering the level of “good enough”. IF you have the drive and skills to go to a top tier college, your costs are justified, but go to one of the many schools listed on the program and you will find coursework that is probably below most high schools. </p>
<p>You never see kids with top degrees on these shows, my guess is you see the high school students that said, “eh, it’s only school”. Most of these people probably shouldn’t attend college plain and simple.</p>
<p>That guy from Pakistan who works at 7-11 might very well work for himself, meaning he is the OWNER of the store…</p>
<p>Nope. (Although the owner may well also be from Pakistan … I know he is from that area of the world, but don’t know which country)</p>
<p>i loved the woman’s remark at the end. “A degree isn’t a guarantee anymore. I think you need experience”</p>
<p>l0l</p>
<p>People just need to use their brains for this debt crisis. College is not a requirement for a good life anymore. A high school graduate does not go into debt and gets a head start on college grads. I feel that this crisis will keep on expanding and never stop.</p>
<p>Huh??? To think you can achieve the ‘good life’ without a college degree is ludicrous,granted some jobs that currently require a degree,shouldn’t, a college degree is a ticket to a better life and salary</p>
<p>This report helps me feel like I am not crazy and alone. During my college application process, I applied to both expensive private schools, out of state publics, and my flagship state university. When I got the letters back, I chose to go to State U for free on a merit scholarship over $50,000 a year. My parents were upper middle class but we didn’t have the money to pay $200,000. Now, I feel really proud that I earned my spot in college and am not in debt.</p>
<p>Not everyone saw it that way. At my high school, we had to go to at least one college counseling appointment. My college office at high school told me I was crazy to reject the likes of Cornell of Northwestern and that I didn’t appreciate the value of an eduction. They tried to explain how easy it would be to pay my debts. My teachers basically sent me the message they would be disappointed if I chose a “lesser” school. Similarly, a lot of my classmates chose to go to the Highest USNWR ranked school they got into. They had the attitude that they “had to go there”. My neighbor, for example, told me I was crazy for declining to go the school he is now attending (he was accepted from the wait list).</p>
<p>311710, I would chalk that up to the sheep mentality and consider yourself lucky that you and your parents didn’t have an obsessive need to follow that crowd. Obviously if the “common wisdom” of attending the “best” school regardless of cost was really a wise course of action in every situation, then student debt would not be the huge problem it is becoming for so many people. (My guess is that very few even take the time to understand the USNWR ranking methodology and if they did they would understand that lower ranked schools can often be a better choice for their particular needs/interests.) The same is true for buying houses and cars - it makes no sense to take on more debt than one can reasonably afford and risk losing everything. For some people, thank goodness, common sense will prevail.</p>
<p>Notice how NONE of the students that graduate from top 150 colleges with applicable degrees need help finding work</p>
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<p>Absolutely not true. There are plenty of students graduating from top colleges who are unable to find jobs.</p>
<p>I read post after post of anecdotal evidence presented as proof that college debt is/is not paid for by directly related higher salaries after college, and can only hope these posters did not go to college. They clearly did not learn how to think.</p>
<p>I hazard to guess that college education in the past was valuable overall for its networking and socializing aspects; nowadays, competency in advanced technical/vocational studies in relevant areas is as close as anyone is going to come to a sinecure. Think MD and engineering. For everything else separating out person from ‘education’ is too muddled to conclude anything.</p>
<p>Disclosure: We are high middle class financially, and although we could pay for two concurrent luxury educations, both my children chose from merit scholarship alternatives that in all will cost $80k for UG. We looked for best educational value in the presumed area of study interest, ignored prestige, and declined the top tier of marginal educational benefit. By the latter I mean we were happy with 80% best quality at 25% price. We figure the last 20% quality is up to the student regardless.</p>
<p>I’m not exactly on expert on the economy or finance so this may be a silly question but…with the cost of tuition constantly rising, do we really know where all this tuition money is going and how it is really being spent?</p>
<p>^^ Did we know when prices were not rising ?</p>