the rich always win.

Parents Forum
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<p>OMG Aries, that's a big chunk of change! But I guess you'll be okay when you become a resoundingly successful patent attorney (I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you!). Is it possible these days to take more than 10 years to pay back student loans?</p>

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<p>newmassdad:</p>

<p>As one of the people who would benefit greatly from HFAI (I'll be going to Yale instead, which has a similar program), I'd like to point out that there's no reason to criticize what is a win-win situation: Harvard gets good press, and students get more money.</p>

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<p>Despite the cynics, in this country, it is still possible to jump up in social class (or at least income levels). Instead of whining, set a goal that you will earn enough so your own kids won't have to worry about paying for college. It's the American way.</p>

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<p>LFK: that is for two years (for all intensive purposes, year 2 is being taken out in loans) - over 3 years, it'll be $125,000. Yes, you can take more than 10 years to pay back loans; that is not the route I want to go. Anal individual that I am, I've calculated loan repayments, which can be made (barely) on an engineer's salary and could be made comfortably on a good patent attorney's salary.</p>

<p>Thank you for that post. :) Let me know what your son ends up doing.</p>

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<p>"Despite the cynics, in this country, it is still possible to jump up in social class (or at least income levels)."</p>

<p>Key word: possible. Notice how the people who manage it end up on the news somewhere. You know why? Because it's uncommon...</p>

<p>"Instead of whining, set a goal that you will earn enough so your own kids won't have to worry about paying for college. It's the American way."</p>

<p>Does that goal involve taking up a second (or a third) job? Or maybe going back to school on top of an 80-hour workweek?</p>

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<p>I grew up in a lower middle class community in an apartment complex. All of my childhood friends are now successful doctors, lawyers or businessmen making well into six figures. My brother in law grew up traveling around to flea markets with his dad selling dollar jewelry. He is now the multimillionaire CEO of a public company. None of them have made the news.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Icarus, do you really believe what you wrote? Harvard is being generous? Look at the posts that discuss how much it will actually cost Harvard. They got far more good press (counterbalancing Summer's other statements...) far more cheaply than they ever could via the standard PR machine.</p>

<p>Regarding your first statement, keep in mind that private colleges are nonprofit corporations. That means they are an integral part of our competitive economy, and live by all the rules but one: they don't pay taxes. So, for good or bad, they are businesses first, institutions of education second. And all our caveats about dealing with business, such as "buyer beware" and "watch out for spin" apply.</p>

<p>Regarding the original topic, I remind you of Paul Fussel's book on social class. The rich have always had huge advantages, but some segments (the old money upper class, for example) do not even play the game. They don't need to.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>And yet Harvard practically gives away its education to those who can't afford it.</p>

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<p>tanonev, it's not so uncommon. It is uncommon for people to go from living on the street to being billionaires, but it is not so uncommon to see someone make significantly more than their parents did.</p>

<p>My own father was born in a shack without running water or electricity. He lived there for the first five years of his life. Neither of his parents had much education. He's now a doctor, and is able to pay for his children's educations. </p>

<p>No one writes news articles about him.</p>

<p>Rich people always have more, but they don't always win. Some of the wealthier people I know have really hit a rough patch in young adulthood. They are not motivated to do anything. Being given everything when you are a child can really kill your motivation. Money is what it is... it can buy a lot of things, but not motivation or happiness.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
tanonev, it's not so uncommon. It is uncommon for people to go from living on the street to being billionaires, but it is not so uncommon to see someone make significantly more than their parents did.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Yet Rockefeller did it.</p>

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<p>No, but it buys an awful lot of affection and attention from beautiful people. j/k</p>

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<p>The difference between the successful and the almost-successful is that the latter chose to not take no for an answer, or they just made sure to diversify their portfolios.</p>

<p>You'll never know unless you try.</p>

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<p>Maybe not to the level of Rockefeller, but many bright and hard working kids do surpass their parent's income level by a lot. Yes Tanonev, for many it involves second jobs and jumping through hoops. It involves hunger. My business school class was full of kids who worked their way through college and are now multimillionaires.</p>

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<p>Icarus, do you really believe what you wrote?</p>

<p>well actually yes i do, thank you. I really doubt Harvard needs the "good pr", even despite their fool of a president.
... and I would still like to think that most colleges are institutions of education first and businesses second. </p>

<p>I second the question about what you define as rich. It is such a relative term, with very little set quantitative basis.</p>

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<p>It's actually $40K.</p>

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<p>No, but with a lot of it you can buy a reasonable facsimile.</p>

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<p>I don't see why Summers is a fool. Brash, yes, but a fool? Hardly.</p>

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<p>The rich may be able to easily pay their way and have less worries about bills, but I know an awful lot of screwed up rich people who actually envy me my un-paranoid, familially close, easy-going life-style which is something that can't be bought. I'm a happy camper as are my kids and hubby....couldn't want for much more....The best revenge, as they say, is being happy.</p>

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<p>Revenge as in "being happy" doesn't hurt a soul but actually helps make the world a less vengeful place. What "sucks" is your use of the word "sucks."</p>

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<p>This thread is so useless. DUH the rich always win. Life is not fair OBVIOUSLY. I guess the person who started this thread just wanted company to share in their misery. cuz misery likes company. LIFE IS NOT FAIR DEAL WITH IT.</p>

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<p>"LIFE IS NOT FAIR DEAL WITH IT."</p>

<p>Life is fair...it's just not nice :)</p>

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<p>Clearly, having plenty of money is an advantage for many things in life, including college admissions. In the vast majority of educational studies, there is a direct link between money and achievement. And I am not just talking about having millions to donate to a school to get in as a development admit. Kids who come from families with the money can afford the cost of ECs much more easily than those who do not. And parents can afford to be more supportive and spend the time with their children when money is not a big issue in the family. You can pay others to do necessary things like home upkeep, childcare of other siblings, etc. </p>

<p>Having said all of this, there are many, many families and children who transcend the money/achievement equation. Having lived among a cluster of economically poor college postgrads, grads, perpetual students, employees for many years in a student ghetto, I saw some very gifted children whose talents were nurtured and encouraged. The colleges that these kids collectively attended look just like lists from the very top prep schools. And all of them had heavy duty financial aid and merit scholarships since their families could not pay for those schools. I've seen other such pockets as well, among homeschooled kids and other specialty groups, not in a number that will make a blip on the money/achievement educational model, but these families do exist. And many of these kids are truly remarkable, loving learning for learnings sake as they were nurtured in such an environment. </p>

<p>And there are kids from wealthy families whose parents end up having to spend much more than private college tuitions to put them into institutions of another sort and to avoid having them put into still other institutions of another sort.</p>