Some older Americans say millennials’ student debt is their own fault

Blablabla give it up. Stick a fork. The events I posted occurred exactly as described. The woman was a great gal but mediocre student and got a full boat tuition remission despite being wealthy because she was black and female. But you know what, keep squirming around in print, it's funny. BTW, I had four other black friends that got the exact same deal, just not wealthy, more middle class like me. But I got NOTHING despite having top scores and grades. How do you think I found out about it? By asking them? Of course not. They thought it was unfair when they saw how much I and others had to pay and brought it up themselves. These conversations didn't take place until 2+ years into school, had I known from the first I'd have left immediately and demanded a rebate.

Oh, and I don't -ever- have to -evidence- anything to a poster like you.

 

I finished school 26 years ago and my mom finished about 15 years ago. My 17 year old is lucky. My military service earned him free tuition in any state school in Texas. His older brothers didn’t use it, so he gets 160 credit hours. We’re looking at SFA and Texas A&M.

 

Okay. So point being, what you did to get through school isn't nearly as feasible now, because the cost of tuition has gone up way faster than salaries. For many people, borrowing is the only way they can afford college, and the resulting debt is four times harder to pay off than it was for you and me (I graduated 30 years ago).

FYI, I went through college on a full-ride ROTC scholarship. My wife started out at community college and then transferred to the university, working her way through and taking six years to graduate.

Our oldest daughter is currently a college sophomore. We make her contribute $5,000 a year, and cover the rest with college savings and about $8,000 in loans each year. (She's attending an excellent but pricey STEM school, so the total cost was significantly higher than what we had planned for, even with merit scholarships and other aid).

 

That outlandishly rising tuition is why young people should not leap off the cliff onto the financial rocks with the rest of the herd.

 

My oldest has 2 years of college done and can use his GI bill and Texas benefits to pay for the rest. He can do the same thing I did if he makes the right decisions and disciplines himself. I finished college debt free while I was active duty Air Force.

 

You're both benefiting from the military. The military rejects 80% of applicants; it's not an option for everybody, or even most people.

 

So what's the option? Don't go to college?

This is a real problem, without easy answers. The overall response is "college should be affordable, and it's not." The question is what we should do to make college affordable again.

Personally, I think we should do a more market-oriented version of "free college for everyone." Think "voucher program for college."

1. Everybody who is accepted to college gets a federal voucher.
2. Voucher only covers tuition, fees and books, not room and board.
3. Voucher value is nominally set at what a decent state school costs (say, $13,000 a year).
4. Any school that agrees to accept that amount as full payment gets $13,000.
5. If you decide to attend a school that doesn't accept it as full payment, the voucher value is discounted (say, $8,000 a year).

Idea being to provide market incentives for schools to control costs, provide students with incentives to properly shop for schools, and minimize the amount of subsidizing we're doing for people who don't need it.

 

The easy answer is, don't go to college, go into a trade. There is a lack of real electricians, plumbers, carpenters, mechanics and other skilled trades. When enough people do so, enrollment in colleges will go down, and so will tuition.

 

My brother and his ex were both teachers. They saved in a tax deferred account and their oldest is a Senior at Texas A&M. My brother pays only $3000/semester after scholarships.

 

College isn’t for everyone and some degrees aren’t worth the expense or effort. Trade school is sometimes a good option.

 

On the other hand, colleges that help foster student loans
should have some legal responsibility to guide the student
into a career and not just dispense diplomas in
Advanced Art History.

Yes to responsibility.
America's brightest dig a loan hole they can't get out of,
what about the dumber?



Moi

Don't ize,
Support Personal Responsibility!​

 

You don't have to go to a university with grad programs to accomplish this. This was established in the conversation regarding the REU program and research that can be done in colleges without grad programs.

Competitive?
Good grades, good recs and good GRE scores will land you a slot with stipend in a major research institution.

 

Face book is dead. Why is this even a "topic"?

 

Both are great schools. I have firsthand knowledge of both. SFA is smaller and much to offer up front that A&M does not. If your boy is a good student and likes learning, A&M offers him some powerful advantages not the least the opportunity to network for the future. Remember that Longhorns call Aggies "boss."

 

Who sets the cost of the college degree?

 

I'm not denying the state school funding decline, but what made it possible, without provoking angry parents, was the explosion of Federally backed Student Loans. That covered it up to quite an extent. But tuition has increased way beyond any normal inflation measure:

Well if college acceptance was based only on standardized test scores, we wouldn't really be worrying about what they were studying, because they would probably be able to make a success of it in any case. But that's not really how the US system works so it's not uncommon for mediocre students to graduate with mediocre degrees resulting in mediocre job prospects. Not a great combination when you then have the equivalent amount of a mortgage to pay in student loans every month.

 

Interesting take!

 

Yes, apprenticeships are great. That entire system needs a good boost. Kids need to start thinking about the Trades again.

 

Sure, but a medical degree makes it MUCH easier to pay down debt. $250k is cheap, for what amounts to a lifetime license to print money.

 

That's it, exactly.

 

Well said.

 

Which is precisely why parents need to be heavily involved.

 

Expecting the college to warn and/or protect kids will only enourage less personal responsibility.

Guidance is, after all, the parents' job.

 

WRONG, mostly.


Loans are granted to "good bets" for repayment.
Art History is not a "good bet" major for loan repayment.
Parents? Not 100% there in the 21st Century.
You Want A College Loan, you must have a career oriented major.
Simple.

 

Obviously the parents should be involved in this, but it's unlikely that parents have the knowledge that student guidance counselors have. I wonder if they are telling every student that they should go to college regardless of what degree. Obviously there should be data comparing degrees with the cost of college with the likelihood of jobs with that degree. Somehow I suspect kids, and parents, are not getting that information.