<p>I found CC and I'll be honest, I'm posting out of sheer frustration. We managed to get our first daughter through 1st yr of college. Waiting to hear about FA for 2nd year. Also in the process of looking for schools for 2nd daughter. We tried to start a small business a few years ago (that's what good Americans are supposed to do right?) and now we're struggling after we lost pretty much everything. I honestly have doubts now about them continuing through all four years, and it gives me nightmares. I'm sure many many other parents feel the same. </p>
<p>I've been to so many college tours and hear over and over how important a college education is. I see government officials (Dem, Rep, Lib, Cons. alike) on TV and web telling us how important an education is, and how it's so vital for the future of America. I'm sorry, if it's that important, why isn't it free? Why isn't the only barrier to getting a college education a students motivation and hard work? I'm sorry, I really feel like we're being fed a load of you know what that America values education. And please don't rant on about Obama this and that. It's coming from all of them, Democrat, Republican, Liberal and Conservative alike. It just seems like college isn't about education anymore, it's just another money-making venture for various corporations, and THAT'S why they tell us education is important.</p>
<p>A college degree is the key to get a job nowadays. When I was trying to get a job out of college back in the 80’s the employers weighed job experience more heavily. Now, almost thirty years later everyone wants to hire someone with a degree even if they have zero experience in the working environment.</p>
<p>If colleges were free you can bet that our taxes would be incredibly higher.</p>
<p>A college education is available for most kids. Most of us have an inexpensive local college, community college or sate school or low tuition private school where our kids can go, living at home and working part time. Surely you don’t expect taxes to support the room and board and personal effects of students between the ages of 18-22? We don’t provide that for the younger years. For those kids, we provide them their education through our choice of school districts supported by local taxes. When they graduate, the automatic transition should be to the local college. They didn’t go away to boarding school for the younger grades, and those who do have to pay for it. So it is with college.</p>
<p>So if you send you kid away to “sleep away” college, you gotta pay for it. If it’'s a state college, the tuition is usually fairly reasonable (though not the case for some states), and you pay the room and board. The kid can take out Stafford Loans and work for the tuition and books. If it’s a private school, they want,…well, you gotta pay for it of course. Why should it be free? They are not in business to give away money. They are every bit a business and tuition is part of the income. </p>
<p>Even in this country, this going away to school is largely a myth in that the average college student is in his mid 20’s, is commuting, is going to school part time, has at least a part time job and is going to a public college. Out of the thousands of colleges and other higher education institutions out there, the boarding colleges are not the ones with the largest enrollments.</p>
<p>It’s not free because we’re spending billions and trillions of dollars to bomb and occupy Middle Eastern countries, while cutting taxes on millionaires.</p>
<p>Let’s not kid ourselves. Back in the 1970s, when my dad was in college and starting graduate school, California public universities were virtually free of tuition. We made choices to slash taxes and spent money on wars and prisons. Where we are is a direct result of where we’ve been.</p>
<p>Just because something is “important” doesn’t mean it should be free.</p>
<p>It means that we should place a specific high priority on the ability to obtain a college education, and attempt to make the right choices in our financial planning so it can happen.</p>
<p>Four walls and a roof over one’s head is important too, but it isn’t free. It costs…and so does college. Just as each family has to decide what kind of walls and roof they can afford to have, each family has to decide what level of college funding they can afford and not expect or demand that others pay for it.</p>
<p>I’m curious msmayor (and others)…hypothetically…do you think each family should have to decide what level of police and fire protection they can afford, and purchase “credits” accordingly? So if your neighbor doesn’t value fire protection, and doesn’t purchase fire protection from the local fire dept., and his house catches on fire so bad that yours does too, you’d be ok with that? After all, it was his decision. Fire protection is important, but it shouldn’t be free or even cheap, and others shouldn’t be expected to pay for it, right?</p>
<p>kjeavus, there are actually some places that do indeed require you to ‘purchase’ fire protection. There was a story in the news a while back that said a house was left to burn to the ground because its occupants chose not to pay for fire services. The fire department was on standby to protect the homes around that DID pay for the service.</p>
<p>Is this right? In my mind no, but then my taxes pay for fire services for the community at large.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that a college education simply cannot be “free”. You would end up paying for it through your tax dollars.</p>
<p>I don’t think folks should be forced to subsidize others’ choice to get a college education. I know a lot of people who are very successful in their chosen careers who have gotten there with little more than a HS diploma and a lot of hard work and effort. They weren’t ‘given’ anything.</p>
<p>My attitude is…you want a college education? Then work for it. Earn it. Pay for it yourself and appreciate the benefits it affords you.</p>
<p>Many in the current generation have been ‘given’ far too much, and take it for granted.</p>
<p>Taxes wouldn’t have to be raised to fund free college education. They’d just have to be spent more wisely. Fewer prisons, more classrooms. It’s not difficult.</p>
<p>OP - I am going to take a 180 degree opposite position from you. I believe it is MY responsibility as a parent to pay for my childrens’ education - not the government. If I can afford an expensive option - great. If can only afford an in-state school - that’s fine too. My older son has been fortunate to get some need-based FA - some comes from his private university and some from the Federal govt. in the form of Stafford loans and work study. I am extremely grateful for every penny he has rcvd. I view it as a gift - as a reward for his hard work - and not an entitlement.</p>
<p>And I agree with what others have written - many people are successful without going away to college for 4 years. Whether they live at home and attend community college, whether they work full-time and attend classes part-time - there are many options available in this country. </p>
<p>Yes, paying for college is stressful. But I regard the stress I feel about the process as my own fault for not planning more wisely and saving more aggressively. I don’t blame the government - not on this issue anyway.</p>
<p>Maybe we just need to tell the criminals that they’ll be forced to go to one of the additional classrooms in polarscribe’s utopian world and that would convince them to change their ways and become productive members of society. Yeah…that might happen. Once again the lines have been blurred between “rights” and “privileges” in this country. I’m tired of people who think they deserve something for nothing, and that everyone should have all the same benefits in life. The only things you deserve are those things that you work for and sacrifice for. I agree that the university cost system is broken, but what do you expect? Universities are smart enough to realize that as long as entities are willing to give out insane amounts of loans to lower and middle class families and upper class families are willing to pay full freight regardless of the cost there is no incentive to rein in tuition rates. In the meantime, I think there’s going to be an exodus of students from major universities to smaller state institutions and community colleges in the near future simply because of inaffordability. Since a bachelor’s degree these days is what a high school diploma was 20 years ago (basically a minimum requirement to get any kind of semi-decent job) I think it will become less and less important where that bachelor’s degree comes from. For middle class families that don’t qualify for need-based aid, either the students do well enough to get large merit aid awards and have a choice of where they can attend or they commute to a nearby school to make college affordable. Parents who don’t learn a lesson by looking at the housing bubble fiasco (huge amount of loans made to people who obviously couldn’t afford to pay them back and in many cases never intended to) are setting themselves and their children up for lifelong monetary problems.</p>
LOL. California slashed taxes and spent money on wars and prisons?</p>
<p>News flash: CA taxes are exorbitant, they don’t have the power to declare war, and the state wastes more money each year than most nations earn.</p>
<p>Gov Terminator recently decreed that CA welfare cards could no longer be used in exchange for chips at casinos. Wow, they’re making painful choices out there.</p>
I don’t think this is a particularly good analogy. Every single person in the community could potentially need the fire department at any moment of any day. Only some subset of the community is sending kids to college at any given time. Some haven’t and never will. </p>
<p>Besides, some part of our taxes goes to pay for the State systems, and as far as I’m concerned, we are paying more than enough in taxes already. Private colleges can’t be funded by the state without being subject to government rules and regulations in ways which they would probably prefer not to be.</p>
<p>*Let’s not kid ourselves. Back in the 1970s, when my dad was in college and starting graduate school, California public universities were virtually free of tuition. We made choices to slash taxes and spent money on wars and prisons. Where we are is a direct result of where we’ve been. </p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Gee…please tell me which war the state of California is funding with state taxes? I don’t recall ever seeing such a line item in any state budget. Honestly, until people understand that the feds aren’t responsible for state schools, and state governments aren’t funding wars, people like Jay Leno are going to continue getting laughs showing videos of Americans who sorely lack an understanding of history, taxes, etc. </p>
<p>A college education is a privilege…therefore it shouldn’t be free. (police and fire protection are not privileges). And, as Cpt says, it’s unreasonable to expect taxpayers to pay for a “sleep away” experience. Going away to college is a luxury. Going to a local college is a privilege, not a right. The feds provide student loans that cover much/most of the costs of going to a local CC or state school. The rest should come from a summer job and/or family funds.</p>
<p>If you want your child to have a perfect “fit,” do an unusual major, have a private college experience, or a sleep away experience, then either pay for it, find schools that use their own funds for aid, or look for merit scholarships. It’s not reasonable to expect tax-payers to fund that.</p>
<p>Obviously, the connection flew right over your head.</p>
<p>Federal dollars being spent on wars are federal dollars that could be spent on higher education subsidies - something far more productive than a cruise missile blowing something up in Libya.</p>
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<p>So you’re accusing the government of spending money unwisely while advocating for more government spending on prisons. That makes sense how?</p>
<p>“…dollars that could be spent on higher education subsidies”</p>
<p>With all due respect, I’d rather see funding go to K-12 education FIRST.</p>
<p>You can’t construct a strong building on a poor foundation. Let’s get the younger generation educated well through high school FIRST, then worry about additional funding to colleges and universities.</p>
<p>*We tried to start a small business a few years ago (that’s what good Americans are supposed to do right?) *</p>
<p>where would you get that idea?
Most people aren’t able or willing to have the combination of creativity/hard work/skill and luck to pull that off.</p>
<p>I’ve been to so many college tours and hear over and over how important a college education is.</p>
<p>Again, what else would you expect them to say on a college tour? That the jobs are going to go to unskilled workers & your degreed child will be competing with everyone else to make a salary to be able to pay ins premiums?</p>
<p>I’m sorry, if it’s that important, why isn’t it free?
K-12 isn’t even free ( we have pay for K here)
I don’t notice anyone breaking down the doors to pat more taxes that would cover bilingual education let alone higher ed.</p>