Quote:
Originally Posted by dynalow
Tom,
I hope I didn't offend you by relating our conversation. I am not being critical of her (and her parents) decision. Sadly, there are probably thousands like her graduating every year. I was stunned by the magnitude of the debt she's leaving there with. I'm just pissed off that colleges fill the rooms and giant lecture halls with students, take your (borrowed) money, hand you a diploma, then turn around and ask you to give to the Endowment Fund. 
With third party direct pay (Hello Mr. Pell) or financing (Hello Messrs. Perkins and Stafford) available, colleges for the last few decades have had little incentive to keep costs low and tuition reasonable. I also think there is a prestige premium built in to the tuition. Probably anywhere from 10 to 30% depending on how "big" the name or how high they are in College Rankings by USNWR. Do you think if the school was, say, ranked number 20 instead of where it is, it would be able to charge as much as it does? I don't.
I also sympathize with today's graduates who have to look for work in a very, very difficut job climate. One that in my opinion will be very challenging for 3 to 5 years. Lots of old timers still hanging on out of economic necessity.
Happy New Year to you both  .... and good ridance to this sorry decade.  |
No offense taken at all! I've found that my classmates fell into two categories--one group would take out tons of loans, hope for the best and work hard to make sure they get their moneys worth. The other half has it fully paid for by parents and generally doesn't take it too seriously...my gf and I both part of the former. There is surprisingly little middle ground between the two. I agree that the price of colleges and the "prestige" factor is somewhat sickening. Especially since doing well on NCAA athletics, the school has gotten massive amounts of attention so they don't need to dish out the financial aid as much. They can take all the "top" students coming from elite private schools, leaving little room for the masses below.
My brother graduated 4 years ahead of me into a great job market. His loans are nearly all paid off by now whereas just a few years later, a large percentage of graduates will be working retail jobs to pay high five and six figure debts...just dumb luck. He's making over twice as much as me with mediocre grades/experience and bachelor's degree where I'm halfway through a Masters program, blah blah blah sibling rivalry. I generally say good for him though, he better not lose that job...
And happy new year to you and your family as well!
