3 ms·

It's particularly interesting to me that she spent most of her undergrad at a private institution. > Education is costly in the USA, this is horrible and wrong

It's particularly interesting to me that she spent most of her undergrad at a private institution. > Education is costly in the USA, this is horrible and wrong. I mean, there are straight forward ways to pay very little money for a degree in a high earning field. That people people decide not to take this path tells me a lot. A decision is only bad in so far as the consequences are (expected to be) unpleasant. > In the ideal world she could have been denied the loans on the basis of her lack of ability to manage her own financiancials. This is where her parents failed her (and I suppose, themselves, since they are on the hook as well).

damontal 8y ago
>I mean, there are straight forward ways to pay very little money for a degree in a high earning field Can you give some examples?
- nordsieck 8y ago
  Community College -> State School costs very little, especially when compared to private universities like the article. State schools tend to offer everything, so picking a high earning field is typically a matter of an hour's worth of research and maintaining high enough grades to get accepted into the program. There are a few instances where going to an elite private school can pay off (e.g. MBA from a top 5 ivy league school), but for the most part, there is no measurable benefit of going to a private university when compared to a public one. Programs like Running Start[0] can drop this cost even further. Attending Community College can be seen as déclassé, but looking at a university degree purely as an investment, it seems like a pretty reasonable decision. I understand that not everyone wants to treat college purely as an investment, which is fine. Life is not purely about making money. However, the further away from treating college as an investment a person gets, the more painful the post college experience will be. It's generally fine to get a degree in a low earning field (e.g. philosophy) as long as you don't spend too much on it. It's also fine to spend a lot of money to get into a high earning field (e.g. dentistry). It is a toxic brew to spend a lot of money on a low earning potential credential (e.g. MFA in dance from a private university). [0] http://www.k12.wa.us/OSSI/K12Supports/CareerCollegeReadiness/RunningStart.aspx http://www.k12.wa.us/OSSI/K12Supports/CareerCollegeReadiness...

damontal 8y ago

>I mean, there are straight forward ways to pay very little money for a degree in a high earning field Can you give some examples?

nordsieck 8y ago
Community College -> State School costs very little, especially when compared to private universities like the article. State schools tend to offer everything, so picking a high earning field is typically a matter of an hour's worth of research and maintaining high enough grades to get accepted into the program. There are a few instances where going to an elite private school can pay off (e.g. MBA from a top 5 ivy league school), but for the most part, there is no measurable benefit of going to a private university when compared to a public one. Programs like Running Start[0] can drop this cost even further. Attending Community College can be seen as déclassé, but looking at a university degree purely as an investment, it seems like a pretty reasonable decision. I understand that not everyone wants to treat college purely as an investment, which is fine. Life is not purely about making money. However, the further away from treating college as an investment a person gets, the more painful the post college experience will be. It's generally fine to get a degree in a low earning field (e.g. philosophy) as long as you don't spend too much on it. It's also fine to spend a lot of money to get into a high earning field (e.g. dentistry). It is a toxic brew to spend a lot of money on a low earning potential credential (e.g. MFA in dance from a private university). [0] http://www.k12.wa.us/OSSI/K12Supports/CareerCollegeReadiness/RunningStart.aspx http://www.k12.wa.us/OSSI/K12Supports/CareerCollegeReadiness...