<p>Ditto what menlopark said. I was thinking that maybe we needed to direct some of the posters here back over there. The pol forum is a dark and creepy place…</p>
<p>dstark,</p>
<p>Thanks for taking the trashing professionally. I’m hope you didn’t take it personally, but I think you handled the discussion well. </p>
<p>I’m not uneducated in the ways of finance, but my specialization was production management (where real value is added to goods and services 
).</p>
<p>No. I didn’t take it personally. I agree with a lot of what you said. :)</p>
<p>Group <<< hug >>> :D</p>
<p>(wheres that barf bag again???)</p>
<p>"Not any more. Not after the vitriol posted when Obama won… "</p>
<p>This definitely started when Obama won. Before that when Bush was president, it didn’t exist.</p>
<p>“then I guess most people who buy stocks are really speculators.”</p>
<p>Definitely! We know nothing of what we are doing. Any recommendations?</p>
<p>"This definitely started when Obama won. Before that when Bush was president, it didn’t exist. "</p>
<p>DocT, you really crack me up…</p>
<p>I was hoping this thread would lightens up a bit, as I was definitely looking for the barf bag too.</p>
<p>^^^ but you get the extra special pilots barf bag, busdriver. The rest of us back here in steerage have to settle for the one with the tic tac toe game on one side and the “reserved” sign on the other…</p>
<p>Uh, oh, we don’t have barf bags up front. If we make ourselves sick—we’re in big trouble! Truth is, I like to fly nice and smooth and keep everybody happy.</p>
<p>Good point, busdriver. And my preference , in general, is for a feedbag, not a barf bag. Strap one of those on me and I am a happy camper. </p>
<p>Ahhhh— and speaking of which… this thread is smoothe sailing now. Dare we return to talking about Mr GE Capital man??</p>
<p>A feedbag would be okay, a winebag better (I am very alcohol deprived, most of the time I am not legal to drink, so I surely enjoy a nice glass or two when I’m able).</p>
<p>Back to Mr GE Capital man-if we dare. I still think he will be just fine, with a relatively high salary, probably some investments and kids partially through college. But I can understand if someone had high expectations of thinking they were secure and had “made it”, losing their job, and having to change expectations. Much more difficult for the people on the bottom end of the earnings scale, now they are just trying to make it to the next month.</p>
<p>This article prove that
</p>
<p>It is sad that such people (with $550/yr income and $1.5Mil Homes) are bailed out by universities providing financial aid but we have to pay full fare just because we have been more cautious with our spending habits.</p>
<p>Well, they didn’t say full financial aid, I only saw mentioned work study. Then again, is it fair to pay for people because they have 6 kids? Or that mom decided to quit her job as a dentist and stay home? Or that a woman decided to have 3 out of wedlock kids? Or that someone decided to quit their corporate job and go on their own? Or save nothing for college or lie on their financial aid forms? As a full pay parent, I’ve just accepted there ain’t no fair about it…you just keep paying and hope others appreciate what they have. And there are alot of people out there that feel they are completely entitled to have their children’s tuition completely paid for-by you.</p>
<p>busdriver- I agree. Sadly, the whole financial aid system is unfair to a large extent. It’s great that students who are from lower income families get aid, but there are too many situations where middle and upper middle class families end up having to borrow or choose less expensive schools. The problem is how to fix it. I don’t know if anyone’s come up with an answer. I know I haven’t.</p>
<p>Like you, we are full pay and we have just learned to accept the fact and be happy that our kids have options. I do tell my friends with younger kids to save, save, save (we live in an upper middle class community) and not to expect any financial aid. Recently heard a sad story of someone who assumed their child would get lots of merit and it didn’t happen.</p>
<p>I don’t have a good solution either. Seems that when we were going to school, prices were low enough that you just worked and paid for it as you went. Everybody around us was fairly poor, but we never even heard of financial aid. It seems the more “aid” the schools and government provides, the more the prices go up. There’s probably some sort of correlation!</p>
<p>We are full pay, my sister’s family has real financial issues yet My niece’s FA awards are inadequate due to a small inheritance of her father’s. We are talking about 2 parents working a family income around $60,000, very little saved for retirement and very little home equity. They did not buy a house they couldn’t afford at least. Perhaps that inheritance should be used up, but then what cushion do they have for emergencies, retirement, etc…We pay for the “extras” for my nieces, and my husband plans to quietly give my college bound niece spending money for college but I can’t commit to paying part of her tuition. My husbands brother however has chosen not to work these last 9 years after being bought out of a business, he has 2 year old twins and is meeting with financial advisors to find ways to structure his portfolio to minimize his out of pocket future education costs and maximize the potential for financial aid. He called us up and told us we need to funnel our money into things like whole life insurance. I have to admit I was disgusted.</p>
<p>Hard to not be disgusted. Some will always try to game the system so somebody else pays. And I don’t understand why college costs have gone up exponentially. Seems if everybody knew that they were going to have to pay the full cost for whatever schooling they received, alot of people would make different decisions. I guarantee you my son would have gone to a local inexpensive college and lived at home, if he was footing the bill.</p>
<p>Well…anothercrazymom…whole life insurance is a pretty poor product…so your brother-in-law’s college savings are just going to transfer to somebody else.</p>
<p>And busdriver11…tuition costs are rising for the full payers and some of that money is being redistributed to those that can’t pay. It’s not a conspiracy. It’s being done by design.</p>
<p>I would be disgusted too, anothercrazymom. There are people out there whose ethics/morals are just slimy to non-existent. They are masters at getting other people to foot their bills or feed their lifestyles. They want it all-- but on someone elses dime. That is repulsive. I have been reading websites on how to shelter income/investments so you don’t have to report them on your FAFSA. Makes my stomach turn. Truly vile morals.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>The perception that a better school results in better earnings and
opportunities over a lifetime has created a lot of demand.</p>
<p>Easy credit in an industry tends to create bubbles.</p>
<p>We had a boom in prosperity that has ended for now. During that boom,
parents and students expected more and more and more from their
schools and providing those facilities, professors and services
costs money.</p>
<p>The growth in remedial services offered by schools. My daughter’s
school offers some impressive remedial services with rooms and
staffs for multiple core subjects. I believe that they staff these
with professionals; not students.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Schools come right out and say that they are doing this. At my son’s
school, they said that they were raising prices and that part of the
reason was to provide more financial aid. Private schools may want to
build a particular class that includes those from different economic
backgrounds. Public schools may say that they want to provide
opportunities for all in their state. Some publics use out-of-state
students as profit centers to fund financial aid for their in-state
students in addition to providing geographic diversity.</p>
<p>The area of full-pays vs financial aid is often a hot one on College
Confidential - similar to the class wars being played out in the
political sphere.</p>