Well I certainly wouldn't bank my financial future on 30% gains. Thats a very risky proposition. Learning the value of a dollar, and then picking the right field of study is your best bet. Too many kids enter college without ever holding even a part-time job, and then they hit a brick wall after all the freebies from mom and dad are used up.

It gets complicated. I set up mutual funds for my kids, hoping that they will use those funds to make education loan payments and help pay for startup living expenses once they are done with school. Those same funds, however, reduce our chances for tuition assistance. So you stretch your resources to help whereever you can, and you end up getting screwed somewhere. It really stinks how convoluted and unpredictable the process is.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

My wife has a philosophy degree because they gave her a choice of Philo and some other stupid thing. Part of the education system where they tell you what you can major in. At this point, it isn't even worth a roll of toilet paper because it is too hard and will scratch my ass. She came here and got her BSN and now is going for her MSN. Wanna buy a cheap degree of philosophy? Geniune National University of Singapore issue.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

That's too bad. It is such an interesting damn subject. I can see how anyone would be tempted to learn a lot of philosophy. But the degree will never be worth the paper it's printed on.

What is the sound of one burger flipping?

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Pxland

2001 Honda Accord

1995 Jeep Cherokee

1973 MB 280SEL 4.5

Yes, it is an interesting subject. However, it has absolutely zero practical application. In any case, that is how Singapore engineers it so they don't have shortages of anything. You are the brightest 100 people who want to go into engineering? Wonderful. We need people in other fields so you don't get to go into what you want. We tell you what you can go into. Grades don't mean a damn as far as that goes.

That is why she got her BSN. As an RN she is in demand. As a Nurse Practitioner, she will have the flexibility of being an RN or having better hours like 9-5, M-F.

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Notice that the word think is not used in that article.

This person has no imagination, no research skills and no ability to think for themselves. I think they are damn lucky to have a job that pays enough to buy food. If this person graduated with honors their school should be closed permanently for fraud.

Her loans can be refinanced any number of ways but chances are that she will not get instructions in the mail telling her how to do it. I wonder if she would know it if she did. With a little imagination she could have even discharged these loans through bankruptcy before the new laws are enacted, probably could anyway.

The real problem see in this is for the people whose jobs are gone due to globalization. They are told to get more education or training but still owe for the training they got for the job that they lost.

"After spending five years working odd jobs and traveling around Europe, I understood its value."

lol..how much student loan $$ does it cost to travel around europe ? =)

-John

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
(insert Mercedes here)

Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)

Well, I had a philosophy degree and I flip a mean burger. Actually, philosophy should or would prepare you to think about what you're doing and whether or not you're going to get a rate of return on your investment, even if you're into critical theory. I know some unfortunate ones who continue to believe they are as radical as the ideas they study, when in fact they're just screwing themselves out of ever having a decent life in the US and seem to draw power from being screwed and disgruntled...You can have fun with your mind and think wahtever you want without committing yourself to being some ascetic intellectual freak, but few "intellectuals" seem to grasp this. Derrida isn't broke on student loans trying to figure out how to make Ramen noodles with the water shut off, why should you?

Anyway, you can only refinance student loans once-this does not mean that you can't rearrange your finances in some way that makes life easier for you. Problem is it helps to own property, something many debt burdenned people can't do as their income is way too low for the debt. These loans are also not dischargeable in bankruptcy either. I'm sure you guys knew all this anyway. I've got some loans from law school, but they're pretty liveable because I went to the cheapest school I could find in my state with a scholarship. The people who seem to be crippled out of the gate are professionals with pedigree degrees and Doctors. Geez, they gotta' make the money to get out of all that. Good thing they do, or at least can.

It's a tough one to figure. She looked a tad goofy in the magazine where I first saw the story. She claimed she was only allowed to refinance it once, and now couldn't do it again when rates were lower.

I sorta agree on the no sympathy thing, but I think a lot of kids are fed a pollyanna story of how college is going to open the world up for them and it's just not that simple. People can get lost at college, as far as what they ought to be taking, what could work out for them, and I don't think there's that much help available for them to figure it out. No easy answers to that one.

I remember a quote from a Bob Dylan biography I read. He was asked if he learned anything in the one year he went to college. He said, "I learned that they's a whole lotta people that goes to college."

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

That's a good one.

I read of a commencement speech at a major college and the school president said this in his speech:

Out in the world, the engineer will ask, how can we make this?
The economist will ask, how can we pay for this?
The scientist will ask, what research can we do to improve this?
The architect will ask, how can we design this?
The liberal arts major will ask, would you like fries with that?

__________________
1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Being an intellectual means finding a way to keep the water on.

__________________
Pxland

2001 Honda Accord

1995 Jeep Cherokee

1973 MB 280SEL 4.5

I liked that one......

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I have a simple question for you folks...I have always wondered where people in the US got the money for university/college. Given that it seems to cost roughly $15-25K/year, where does that money come from? Either you are rich or you get swamped with debt?

I could never have afforded that. I graduated from a Canadian university in 1995 and at that point, my tuition was approx. $3000 CDN/year for an Honours BSc. I had some money from my parents' education fund and the rest I paid myself with the help of some student loans. Upon graduating, some of my student loan amount was forgiven by the government and the rest I have since paid off.

No way could my family or myself have afforded $15K/year. Just curious...

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Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon

You got it right....you either had wealthy parents pay for it or you spent years after graduation paying off the loans like I had to.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Aww...you're not such a bad guy after all.

__________________
1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Well A good joke is a good joke....


So many of these recent College grads are so cocky thinking they know everything there is to know about everything...........oh what a surprise they are in for when they get to work.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche