<p>
This is just untrue, as we can see from many posters here on CC. There is some truth to the charge but not wholesale, and it all comes down to individual decisions.</p>
<p>Community college runs about $6,000/year for the most expensive states. $2,500 can be returned via tax credits. So one just needs $3,500 in after-tax money to pay for the first two years if living at home and working full-time during the summer and part-time during the school year.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Agreed.
Then again I dont think we should be bailing out homeowners either…</p>
<p>BCEagle, agree 100% ,college is affordable for just about everyone,though it may NOT be the college they dream of…</p>
<p>“Everyone is to blame, it goes beyond just personal responsibility. It is now impossible for almost any average family to be personally responsible when tuitions are spiralling out of control and 4 year tuitions are many times more than the median household income in this country.”</p>
<p>This is answered very well by qdogpa’s comment, “college is affordable for just about everyone,though it may NOT be the college they dream of…”</p>
<p>Anyone (unless you have no ambition or self esteem, or any one of various excuses) can graduate from college with very little debt. Community college, state (not neccessarily flagship) university. There are places that are still cheap, and not so difficult that the ordinary person couldn’t work and go to school. Jeez, I worked full time and got an engineering degree (while not being overly smart nor motivated). No, the work wouldn’t have paid for a 50K/yr school, but it is easily doable even nowadays to live at home, or with several other students in a cheap apartment, with little to no loans. It might just take a little longer, living a little lower, and not going to the school of your desires.</p>
<p>And everyone is not to blame. The parents and children who have made responsible decisions, not gotten into debt that they couldn’t handle, or took the cheaper options—are definitely not to blame. There are very specific institutions and individuals that have made bad decisions, you can’t just blame this on a generic "everybody’. But everybody will end up paying, that’s for sure.</p>
<p>“It might require a scaling back in some of the unnecessary amenities - the taj mahal dorms, the big student recreation centers, etc. - but those aren’t necessary for a good education.”</p>
<p>– I agree. Colleges shouldn’t necessarily be country club experiences. If that’s what you want, pay for Princeton. But this push for plush means that the state U has become out of reach of the middle class. And that’s a huge problem.</p>
<p>The flagships are a decent bargain,though some are more pricey then others…That said, many other lower level state schools are very affordable,so students DO have an affordable option…The problem lies is everyone wants to drive a Lexus,and don’t want to drive the Kia. ;)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chibrkbus-college-graduates-to-face-lower-salaries-20110517,0,6644977.story”>College graduates get less bang for buck</a></p>
<p>College students who graduated in 2009 and 2010 earned 10 percent less than those who entered the job market before the financial crisis, according to a report released Wednesday.</p>
<p>Those graduating before the recession earned a median salary of $30,000, while those graduating after earned a median salary of $27,000, according to the report released by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.</p>
<p>The report, “Unfulfilled Expectations: Recent College Graduates Struggle in a Troubled Economy,” paints a grim picture for the about 1.7 million students who are graduating this spring with a bachelor’s degree. The graduates will face an unemployment rate hovering around 9 percent and a economy struggling to recover more than 8.8 million private sector jobs lost during the recession.</p>
<p>^^^^So what^^^^^… many full time employees saw wages cut,or zero salary increases…why wouldn’t it be logical that those freshly minted college graduates find wages lesss then what they were prior to the economical downturn…lousy article when you think about it</p>
<p>Many of you are failing to see the big picture about what is going on and don’t know how our loan system works. A student needs a loan so goes to a bank to get a loan and repays it, end of story right? Wrong, big time. Student loans are just like, mortgages, they can be securitized in instruments that can be invested in. When a student pays a bill investors in that students debt make money off of the payment on the principal AND payment on the interest. In otherwords there is STRONG INCENTIVES for people to get students to have as muchdebt as possible. Ever since 2000, after we deregulated banks and allowed the investment banks to merge with commercial banks we’ve seen an explosion in student loan asset backed securities (SLABS). It doesn’t take a genius to see that there can be blatant conflicts of interests when investing banks delve into the commericial banking industry. Banks have tons of incentive to drive up tuition costs because it means more student debt and more money via SLABS. Ill elaborate further when I get home,but it is clearly a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.</p>
<p>while it’s logical that new graduates would be making less money than previous generations in this particular job market, what’s different is that these graduates who are making less also OWE more money than previous graduates.</p>
<p>I went to four years of parent meetings in high school about planning for high school and not once did a recent graduate come in to talk about what life with loans in this economy is like. It could be eye-opening for parents.</p>
<p>The assumption for a long time is that you could borrow X and get into college. Government policy for a long time has been to get as many people in college as possible, qualified or not. The entities that have benefited most from this are the colleges and the banks.</p>
<p>Same goes for home buyers who have mortgages worth more then their homes…don’t blame the schools/colleges,blame the students/parents who got themselves into this predicament…there is NO need to go into serious debt for a college education, unless of course you choose a school you CAN’T AFFORD</p>
<p>Big screen TVs, Harleys, late-model luxury cars, vacations, eating out, expensive clothes, etc.</p>
<p>"Colleges shouldn’t necessarily be country club experiences. If that’s what you want, pay for Princeton. "</p>
<p>Princeton campus does look like a country club. but some of the dorms are 8 ft x 10 ft, just able to fit a twin bed and a small desk. no AC. Not exactly country club style.</p>
<p>You know, one can argue over whether or not a college education is over-priced, as well as the degree to which students should put themselves in debt. However, that does not justify the sensationalist headline, “The Worst Investment in History”. A college degree still remains a good investment for the majority of students, despite the occasional horror stories of kids with obscure degrees and >$100K debt.</p>
<p>Now, my brother’s plan to make a killing in the mint Beanie Babies collectors’ market, THAT might qualify as the Worst Investment in History. And, a close second would be the timeshare condo we bought in Florida.</p>
<p>“Princeton campus does look like a country club. but some of the dorms are 8 ft x 10 ft, just able to fit a twin bed and a small desk. no AC. Not exactly country club style.”</p>
<p>– No worries, Princeton makes it up to its students in a zillion other posh ways :)</p>
<p>^ That’s true. $200k+ price tag though. 
To be fair Princeton tuition is not in the top 100 colleges.</p>
<p>College is a good investment if you:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Pick a major that is marketable. This could be anything from Finance, Accounting, Engineering, a foreign language, Nursing, or even something micro-specific such as technical writing.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t go to the most expensive school. If you have to, do your first two years at a local community college. That will save a significant amount of money. Also, live at home to save expenses.</p></li>
<li><p>Do internships and gain work experience while in college.</p></li>
<li><p>Volunteer.</p></li>
<li><p>Get to know you professors so you can get good recommendations.</p></li>
<li><p>Take college seriously. Don’t party, don’t get smashed every weekend. Study hard, then play hard…and keep up your GPA.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>With that said, I think college is overall a good investment if you make it a good investment.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Good point. As someone in HS, my question is -which major(s) in humanity area are marketable? (I know engineering is marketable, my parents always tell me that. but I just don’t like it. Yet I don’t want to starve either.
)</p>
<p>Probably the only thing more expensive than getting a college degree these days is not getting a college degree.</p>
<p>I do feel for the kids these days, though. When I was in school in the late 80s it was still possible to put yourself through college without overly much scrambling or this burdensome debt.</p>
<p>Does anyone really know why college costs have risen so dramatically in relationship to everything else?</p>