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college and how to fix it


Trigger Mike

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What I haven't heard discussed here is the cost of room and board, be it on campus or off. If there is no four year school in your town, and the kid(s) can't live at home, those costs can quickly add up to be the most expensive part of a college education. Just ask me.

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In a more socially developed country the university system would open it's doors to the most gifted and assign those with less merit to courses of studies more suited to their intellectual level. In this way the state could insure the best and brightest would always be educated in the areas of greatest importance and that those who were only gifted with strong backs would do the physical labor necessary to keep society moving.

 

Is this what we want Comrades?

 

Yes college is overpriced

yes it helps people who want to succeed to do so

no it isn't for everyone

no it won't make a goof off turn into an adult

yes we should all be free to choose-even to choose badly

 

the student loan debt isn't 1% because our government's debt is so large that if our interest rates were not kept artificially low to prevent the (always) current administration from being the one who let the govt fail on their watch

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Interesting topic. I am one of the fortunate few, I received a fully paid scholarship to a major west coast university because I was a pretty good football player. Got hurt and didn't play all 4 years, but still received my degree. Graduated with honors with a 3.99 gpa. Got a job right away, as jobs were easier to get back then. Worked 40 years in aerospace as an engineer. Even went back for an advanced degree.

 

My point is this, I realized education was the key to my future and worked hard at getting the tools to get me started in my profession. My Dad always told me "Don't spoil the opportunity you are getting because you can play football, it won't last forever. You will still have to get a job". Once the door was opened, I was on my own. Most of the kids today really aren't prepared when they get out of high school. There is no vocational education and training now in high school for those who don't want to go to college. Most of the Liberal Arts Degrees are way overrated. I would sure hate to have to pay for one of them in relation to what you receive.

 

I put money away for my son's education and when he didn't want to got to college, helped him start his own business. He is very successful earning a 6 figure income. Everyone does not need to go to college, but needs to get pointed in the right direction.

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100 years ago colleges were not trade schools. A bachelor's degree was largely a classical education (Latin, literature, history, etc.). Professions requiring specialization depended on post graduate work (medicine, law, etc.). Grantland Rice, the dean of newspaper sports writers in the first half of the 20th century did not attend a journalism school...he studied the classics at Vanderbilt.

 

Somewhere, sometime, somehow, colleges became trade schools, forcing young people to make career decisions before they know who they are. The fact that the majority of college graduates pursue a career in some area other than their degree field makes this a questionable situation.

 

I was very immature when I graduated from high school. I would have been better off not going to college immediately. I needed to grow up. My second degree, completed at age 34 is proof of that.

 

If a young person has the time and financial resources to dabble in a variety of subjects at the college level, neat stuff could happen. Steve Jobs took the courses he liked rather than the ones he had to for a particular degree. That worked out well for him. Unfortunately, few have the time and financial support to do that.

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What I haven't heard discussed here is the cost of room and board, be it on campus or off. If there is no four year school in your town, and the kid(s) can't live at home, those costs can quickly add up to be the most expensive part of a college education. Just ask me.

Throw i coast to coast transportation in you live on one (Ontario, California) and your student lives on another (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Three round trips a year x four years, and always at peak travel times and that doesn't include the time you and Momma go back there to visit.

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The problem is that if you don't have that degree, there are so many doors that won't open for you. The business world has almost mandated that you have a degree for any supervisory type of job. Sure, there are exceptions but they are few and unique.

 

 

 

College is totally unnecessary to earning a comfortable living. There is a great variety of well paid jobs in skilled trades that require no more than a high school education.

 

After drifting around college for a couple of years I applied for an apprenticeship with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Best career move I ever made. After completing the apprenticeship I returned to college, earned a BA in History, then went to law school. Both the BA and JD were earned with honors. After 8 1/2 miserable years of practicing law, I returned to my tools as an electrician. The next 20 years were quite satisfying, and earned a very respectable pension which I am now enjoying.

 

Too many kids go to college because it is expected, and do not explore non-academic career possibilities. Many are not suited for college or professional life, despite their upbringing. It is more important to have a job in which one takes satisfaction, than it is to have a job (or career) that grinds one down to an early grave.

 

Just the view from my saddle - if your view varies, you must have a shorter horse...... :D

 

eGG

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My firm does a lot of Architectural design work for colleges and universities projects. I'm at my college designing a clinic. It's been almost 40 years since I graduated. I'm asking questions about the school and discover all of the mandatory things students pay for. Medical clinic on campus. What if they are covered by their parents insurance and could go anywhere???

Counseling, non-academic, for all kinds of behavioral and social issues. "I'm stressed from studying". Suck it up and move on, I did.

Freshmen have to live on campus for 1 year. XXX.....I guess it's part of acclimating to college, but that is spendy.

This little clinic and counseling building has more administrative managers than I have ever seen in the private industry.

 

Too many people involved i anything but teaching.

Ike

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College is totally unnecessary to earning a comfortable living. There is a great variety of well paid jobs in skilled trades that require no more than a high school education.

 

After drifting around college for a couple of years I applied for an apprenticeship with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Best career move I ever made. After completing the apprenticeship I returned to college, earned a BA in History, then went to law school. Both the BA and JD were earned with honors. After 8 1/2 miserable years of practicing law, I returned to my tools as an electrician. The next 20 years were quite satisfying, and earned a very respectable pension which I am now enjoying.

 

Too many kids go to college because it is expected, and do not explore non-academic career possibilities. Many are not suited for college or professional life, despite their upbringing. It is more important to have a job in which one takes satisfaction, than it is to have a job (or career) that grinds one down to an early grave.

 

Just the view from my saddle - if your view varies, you must have a shorter horse...... :D

 

eGG

Amen!

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Many students don't do a very good job of researching the future job potential and salary. Many things being taught today will be worthless in 6 to 10 years. Especially technology, computer sciences, engineering etc.

 

That and they want immediate gratification. 'What do you mean I have to go to Nursing school for 6 years and the starting salary is less than a tech. position etc." they don't see the investment.

 

No one wants to put the time in to gain salary and position in whatever they are doing.

 

I was working in an Automotive machine shop building engines, valve jobs etc. I started at the end of HS. When left the job after 11 years at the top of the wages offered I was in an entry level position in an Architectural firm. My starting entry salary was equal to the highest salary where I was. College provided that.

Ike

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Careers seemed to have changed over this last generation. If you were in tech 20-30 years ago, you would learn your job, then your boss' job and if you were lucky your company would continue to train you, provide opportunities to grow into new things. Now it seems, people are hired for what they can do right now. They work until their skills are obsolete and then replaced.

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Howdy,

The biggest problem with college is that high school doesn't teach kids about what money really is.

And parents don't either.

Best

CR

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