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Most educated 20-something couples will also have the equivalent of a hefty mortgage payment dedicated to servicing their educational loans. Take a considerabl
by douche 11y ago
Most educated 20-something couples will also have the equivalent of a hefty mortgage payment dedicated to servicing their educational loans. Take a considerable chunk off the top for that, and then it becomes harder to establish the savings necessary to make a down payment on a home, which locks our couple into renting, at rates that are commonly well above what the mortgage payment would be, without the benefit of building equity in the property. Moreover, to earn the kind of money to service those loan payments, our couple has to abandon their local social networks that might be able to assist with childcare, shared resources, etc, and move to a different area with more competitive wages, or possibly just an area where employment is possible, which results in yet higher costs of living. Throw in parents and family that have the attitude that they pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, and so their children ought to be able to as well, ignoring the fact that when they got their education, it was possible to earn enough money working in a summer to cover their tuition and living expenses for the rest of the year. Or that it used to be possible to earn a middle-class income with no education beyond high school.
It's kind of a vicious circle.
- vram22 11y ago>when they got their education, it was possible to earn enough money working in a summer to cover their tuition and living expenses for the rest of the year. Or that it used to be possible to earn a middle-class income with no education beyond high school. Talking about the US or EU, I guess? Any idea why it was that way, back then (also, when was "then"?) and not so now?
- douche 11y agoI was speaking on the US, and the difference between the experience of Millennials vs the Boomer parents. It seems like runaway costs, more than anything. Tuition and room and board have nearly quadrupled[1], while the amount of money that it is possible to earn in the kind of low-level, part-time work that a college student is capable of fitting in has sort of stagnated. I was able to earn $5-6k over the course of a summer working, which isn't a whole lot different than what my father, for instance, was able to earn in his summers in the 70s. That might pay my tuition for part of one term, whereas it paid his whole year. Meanwhile, housing costs have rocketed up as well, and the price of gas was $4/gallon, rather than $.50. [1] http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/tuition-and-fees-and-room-and-board-over-time-1975-76-2015-16-selected-years http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-table...
- vram22 11y agoGot it. I've heard from much older friends and relatives that in those earlier days people used to think nothing of driving across the whole of the US, for fun. On the same lines as what you say ...