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I really wanted to go to MIT, but I couldn’t believe my eyes when they were bragging that average student debt after graduation was “only” the price of a brand-

by alanh 11y ago

I really wanted to go to MIT, but I couldn’t believe my eyes when they were bragging that average student debt after graduation was “only” the price of a brand-new minivan or sports coupe.

kmonsen 11y ago
The return on investment on an MIT degree and a sports car is pretty different. If you graduate MIT with a decent degree in a wanted field you are going in the right direction.
serge2k 11y ago
That sounds quite reasonable actually. A degree can be a good investment. The right degree from MIT will open a lot of doors .
- alanh 11y ago
  Do you think everyone who has gained an education should then be burdened by an inescapable bondage to a particular high-paying career? What if they decided they would rather be a teacher? A musician and band director? A serial backpacker? What if they are injured and can no longer take the 40, 50, 60 hours in a chair at the office it would require to maintain the level of salary? Just because a college degree is often a great ROI doesn’t mean that it can justify the expense for all students, or even for all students with a "wise" career in mind at time of enrollment.
  - zanny 11y ago
    If you want to go to a very competitive school like MIT, probably. Generally the "best" schools are those that have better access to good professors, and resources that the brightest can best take advantage of. Now you can be bright and not want to make a lot of money out of MIT, but generally the assumption is that in capitalism if it is valuable it is worth money, and if you go into a job that pays a lot you are doing a more valuable job than if you were doing something that paid less. If you want to go into a less competitive career, going into a less competitive school can make a lot sense, often because the less competitive schools can have better programs appealing to less lucrative fields because the pressure is less severe than it is for an MIT undergrad.
    - Symbiote 11y ago
      That rules out the careers of two friends from school, who both studied at Cambridge (UK). One runs an educational charity programme in Congo, the other does cancer research. Another top-school engineering graduate I know spent 5 years building water facilities (pumps, wells etc) in Africa.
  - pc86 11y ago
    > What if they decided they would rather be a teacher? A musician and band director? There are literally government-subsidized student loan forgiveness programs for exactly this purpose. > A serial backpacker? Most student loans are backed by the government. As a tax payer I have no interest in subsidizing someone's backpacking trip. You can't be a serial backpacker if you have a car payment, rent, or a mortgage either. > What if they are injured and can no longer take the 40, 50, 60 hours in a chair at the office it would require to maintain the level of salary? A. Disability insurance exists for exactly this reason B. You can make the same argument against getting a mortgage. FUD.
xenadu02 11y ago
I guess I passed the first few screening stages at MIT. They wanted to setup an interview and all that. My father had just gotten a programming job so suddenly, on paper, we were far too high income to qualify for any aid. I never bothered to schedule the interview. I don't know if it worked out for the best or not but it seems insane that university is so money driven here in the US.

by alanh 11y ago

I really wanted to go to MIT, but I couldn’t believe my eyes when they were bragging that average student debt after graduation was “only” the price of a brand-new minivan or sports coupe.

kmonsen 11y ago

The return on investment on an MIT degree and a sports car is pretty different. If you graduate MIT with a decent degree in a wanted field you are going in the right direction.

serge2k 11y ago

That sounds quite reasonable actually. A degree can be a good investment. The right degree from MIT will open a lot of doors .

alanh 11y ago
Do you think everyone who has gained an education should then be burdened by an inescapable bondage to a particular high-paying career? What if they decided they would rather be a teacher? A musician and band director? A serial backpacker? What if they are injured and can no longer take the 40, 50, 60 hours in a chair at the office it would require to maintain the level of salary? Just because a college degree is often a great ROI doesn’t mean that it can justify the expense for all students, or even for all students with a "wise" career in mind at time of enrollment.
- zanny 11y ago
  If you want to go to a very competitive school like MIT, probably. Generally the "best" schools are those that have better access to good professors, and resources that the brightest can best take advantage of. Now you can be bright and not want to make a lot of money out of MIT, but generally the assumption is that in capitalism if it is valuable it is worth money, and if you go into a job that pays a lot you are doing a more valuable job than if you were doing something that paid less. If you want to go into a less competitive career, going into a less competitive school can make a lot sense, often because the less competitive schools can have better programs appealing to less lucrative fields because the pressure is less severe than it is for an MIT undergrad.
  - Symbiote 11y ago
    That rules out the careers of two friends from school, who both studied at Cambridge (UK). One runs an educational charity programme in Congo, the other does cancer research. Another top-school engineering graduate I know spent 5 years building water facilities (pumps, wells etc) in Africa.
- pc86 11y ago
  > What if they decided they would rather be a teacher? A musician and band director? There are literally government-subsidized student loan forgiveness programs for exactly this purpose. > A serial backpacker? Most student loans are backed by the government. As a tax payer I have no interest in subsidizing someone's backpacking trip. You can't be a serial backpacker if you have a car payment, rent, or a mortgage either. > What if they are injured and can no longer take the 40, 50, 60 hours in a chair at the office it would require to maintain the level of salary? A. Disability insurance exists for exactly this reason B. You can make the same argument against getting a mortgage. FUD.

xenadu02 11y ago

I guess I passed the first few screening stages at MIT. They wanted to setup an interview and all that. My father had just gotten a programming job so suddenly, on paper, we were far too high income to qualify for any aid. I never bothered to schedule the interview. I don't know if it worked out for the best or not but it seems insane that university is so money driven here in the US.