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This is mostly a US issue, though. In many European countries, for example, you can get a decent education without being left in large debt. I prefer to live i

by vog 9y ago

This is mostly a US issue, though. In many European countries, for example, you can get a decent education without being left in large debt. I prefer to live in a society where, when in doubt, people are usually more educated than they actually need to be. This is far better than the reverse. The bad thing is the debt, not the college.

nxsynonym 9y ago
>The bad thing is the debt, not the college. To add to this: the bad thing is that college is being peddled as necessary for career placement/advancement, when it's just another big business looking to profit off of young people who don't know what to do with their life. College level education is great. The more educated and well-rounded a society is the more it will benefit from each other. The fundamental problem is exploitation for profit (much like our health care/insurance industry here in the US).
- notfromhere 9y ago
  universities aren't for-profit institutions. the increase in cost was because states cut back funding for universities, forcing higher tuition and higher debt loads on students
adventured 9y ago
> I prefer to live in a society where, when in doubt, people are usually more educated than they actually need to be. This is far better than the reverse. The US has among the highest levels of university education attainment on the planet. [1][2] That's one part of the cost inflation problem. You can in fact still receive a tremendous education in the US without ending up with large student loans. The median cost of in-state tuition + fees to public universities in the US is close to $8,000 per year (the average is $9,650). The US has a lot of great public universities. You can solidly get a four year degree, work occasionally on the side, and exit college with between $0 and ~$16,000 in student loans. $100,000 in student loan debt is not a requirement to getting a good engineering job making $60,000+ per year in the US. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tertiary_education_attainment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tertiary_... [2] http://www.russellsage.org/sites/default/files/Fig10_Comparative_hires_0.png http://www.russellsage.org/sites/default/files/Fig10_Compara...
- foldr 9y ago
  $16,000 is actually a pretty big debt, though. It might not seem much compared to the amount some students in the US owe, but being $16,000 in debt places severe restrictions on your life options.
  - LyndsySimon 9y ago
    Bear in mind that there is a big different between $16,000 of debt payable over 20 years at 4.5% interest and say, a car loan for $16,000 payable over 4 years at 10.9% interest.
    - foldr 9y ago
      Right, but if you have the $16,000 debt, you have to work a job that pays a reasonable wage. Even ignoring the interest, $16,000 over 20 years is $66 a month.
xiaoma 9y ago
Be careful not to confuse education with schooling.

by vog 9y ago

nxsynonym 9y ago

>The bad thing is the debt, not the college. To add to this: the bad thing is that college is being peddled as necessary for career placement/advancement, when it's just another big business looking to profit off of young people who don't know what to do with their life. College level education is great. The more educated and well-rounded a society is the more it will benefit from each other. The fundamental problem is exploitation for profit (much like our health care/insurance industry here in the US).

notfromhere 9y ago
universities aren't for-profit institutions. the increase in cost was because states cut back funding for universities, forcing higher tuition and higher debt loads on students

adventured 9y ago

> I prefer to live in a society where, when in doubt, people are usually more educated than they actually need to be. This is far better than the reverse. The US has among the highest levels of university education attainment on the planet. [1][2] That's one part of the cost inflation problem. You can in fact still receive a tremendous education in the US without ending up with large student loans. The median cost of in-state tuition + fees to public universities in the US is close to $8,000 per year (the average is $9,650). The US has a lot of great public universities. You can solidly get a four year degree, work occasionally on the side, and exit college with between $0 and ~$16,000 in student loans. $100,000 in student loan debt is not a requirement to getting a good engineering job making $60,000+ per year in the US. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tertiary_education_attainment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tertiary_... [2] http://www.russellsage.org/sites/default/files/Fig10_Comparative_hires_0.png http://www.russellsage.org/sites/default/files/Fig10_Compara...

foldr 9y ago
$16,000 is actually a pretty big debt, though. It might not seem much compared to the amount some students in the US owe, but being $16,000 in debt places severe restrictions on your life options.
- LyndsySimon 9y ago
  Bear in mind that there is a big different between $16,000 of debt payable over 20 years at 4.5% interest and say, a car loan for $16,000 payable over 4 years at 10.9% interest.
  - foldr 9y ago
    Right, but if you have the $16,000 debt, you have to work a job that pays a reasonable wage. Even ignoring the interest, $16,000 over 20 years is $66 a month.

xiaoma 9y ago

Be careful not to confuse education with schooling.