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You didn't go to uni in the USA and the paper is by the St Louis Fed on USA grads. You took your degree in a country with far lower inequality and better inwar
by amiga_500 7y ago
You didn't go to uni in the USA and the paper is by the St Louis Fed on USA grads.
You took your degree in a country with far lower inequality and better inward education investment, and then jumped over to work in a country that doesn't tax people enough to support USA students.
I'd imagine that is pretty good value.
- rayiner 7y agoYou are incorrect about your assessment of US education expenditure. Governments in the US spend a similar percentage of GDP on tertiary education as New Zealand: https://jobmarketmonitor.com/2016/09/23/tertiary-education-countries-are-finding-other-ways-besides-public-spending-to-fund-it-oecd-finds https://jobmarketmonitor.com/2016/09/23/tertiary-education-c.... Both spend in the 4-5% range of GDP in terms of public money. (We spend a higher percentage of GDP, again just public money, than countries with “free” education like Germany.) Additionally, because US GDP per capita is 65% higher than New Zealand adjusted for cost of living, we spend far more than New Zealand per person in absolute terms.
- rb808 7y agoThe good thing too is if you get really sick you can go back home for the free healthcare. The US really benefits from immigrants that were trained by poorer countries. I too moved here, my chronically ill relative is still at home.
- seem_2211 7y agoI went to university in a country with a Gini coefficient of .35, and now live in a country with a Gini coefficient of .39 (See OECD link below) The funny thing is, my student loan is one of the highest out of my American friend group† (although very normal amongst my NZ peers). Unlike the US, there was a lot less much in the way of financial aid/scholarships available, so sticker price was what people actually paid. https://data.oecd.org/inequality/income-inequality.htm https://data.oecd.org/inequality/income-inequality.htm † For people with undergraduate degrees
- amiga_500 7y agoInteresting. I knew NZ was pretty messed up but I didn't realise it was that bad. The friend bit is anecdata. Looks like NZ avg debt is $28k NZD [1] USA is $29 USD [2] So USA is 50% more expensive, on avg (NZDUSD 1.5). IMHO both are a disgrace, but that's another thing. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_loans_in_New_Zealand#Student_debt_levels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_loans_in_New_Zealand#S... 2: https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/ https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/
- cipher_system 7y ago$29k is not that much is it? That is about what I ended up with for my degree in Sweden where higher education is free but you borrow for living expenses. I repay it with about $100 per month for 25 years. Perhaps the biggest difference is the interest rate which is government backed and around maybe 1-2%. According to first result on Google the interest rates on US student loans seems to be around 6-8%.
- koheripbal 7y ago4.5% for US gov't subsidized loans.
- zitterbewegung 7y agoYes, but you get the 6-8% as a tax deduction if you can pay it as long as the loan is from the govt.
- CydeWeys 7y ago$29k is a decent chunk of change of you don't have a high paying job. It'll take you many years to pay off because of all your other expenses (housing, transportation, healthcare, food, clothing, etc.).
- sokoloff 7y agoYes, but think of it as someone else lent you money to be housed, fed, and clothed for four years while you earned no income. That’s going to cost money anywhere in the world, before a single book is purchased or lecture paid for.
- Gibbon1 7y agoI did something like that. The country was California in the 1980s.