4 ms·

> Also, wealth from family of origin allows risk taking, funding for law or medical degrees, which for lower income students represent a huge risk so they go to

> Also, wealth from family of origin allows risk taking, funding for law or medical degrees, which for lower income students represent a huge risk so they go to safer less lucrative fields. Why not make an agreement with acquaintances that they fund (a part of) the tuition fees of your degree course. On the other hand you have to give them back a percentage of your gross income for the next, say, 10 years after finishing university. This should mitigate the problem a lot.

germinalphrase 7y ago
What is the likelihood that someone who requires this funding also has acquaintances with the ability to supply it?
- CrazyStat 7y ago
  Thank you for pointing this out. "Just get a loan from your family/friends/acquaintances" is the modern rendition of "let them eat cake." I come from what I consider to be a comfortable middle-class background in the US (probably not what most people would consider upper-middle class), and there's no way I would have been able to raise tens of thousands of dollars a year from acquaintances to fund an elite education.
  - wolfgke 7y ago
    I don't think so. A large number of small loans from family/friends/acquaintances also totals a decent amount of money.
    - CrazyStat 7y ago
      Perhaps if I canvassed all my friends and their parents and all my parent's friends I might have raised 100 loans averaging $50 each. That's quite an optimistic estimate, I think. That gets me about 10% of the way to one year's tuition at an elite university. I don't know what your background is, maybe you consider $1000 a small loan, or maybe like the current president of the USA you consider $1000000 a small loan. Suffice it to say that your proposal is not at all realistic for many many many people.
Nasrudith 7y ago
That has been known as a bad arrangement since Ancient Greece given the Paradox of the Court and related satirical plays. Lawyer jokes are ancient it seems.
- wolfgke 7y ago
  Only give loans if you have sufficient trust in the person not to cheat you.

germinalphrase 7y ago

What is the likelihood that someone who requires this funding also has acquaintances with the ability to supply it?

CrazyStat 7y ago
Thank you for pointing this out. "Just get a loan from your family/friends/acquaintances" is the modern rendition of "let them eat cake." I come from what I consider to be a comfortable middle-class background in the US (probably not what most people would consider upper-middle class), and there's no way I would have been able to raise tens of thousands of dollars a year from acquaintances to fund an elite education.
- wolfgke 7y ago
  I don't think so. A large number of small loans from family/friends/acquaintances also totals a decent amount of money.
  - CrazyStat 7y ago
    Perhaps if I canvassed all my friends and their parents and all my parent's friends I might have raised 100 loans averaging $50 each. That's quite an optimistic estimate, I think. That gets me about 10% of the way to one year's tuition at an elite university. I don't know what your background is, maybe you consider $1000 a small loan, or maybe like the current president of the USA you consider $1000000 a small loan. Suffice it to say that your proposal is not at all realistic for many many many people.

Nasrudith 7y ago

That has been known as a bad arrangement since Ancient Greece given the Paradox of the Court and related satirical plays. Lawyer jokes are ancient it seems.

wolfgke 7y ago
Only give loans if you have sufficient trust in the person not to cheat you.