Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached • Hacker News Board

Re: Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

#261

Post by jqgatsby » Tue, Mar 29, 2016, 11:59 PM UTC

onion2k wrote: post #179

jqgatsby wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I walked out of MIT with $100K in student loans, because I had the combination of 'parents who make too much money' and 'parents who had five kids and did not adequately save for their children's education'. I'm all for soaking the rich, but how is that fair? I was apparently rich by association, and it was pretty upsetting to see kids who were ostensibly poorer than I was get a substantially easier start in life.

The difference is that you come from a background where you see people (eg your parents) earning a good income and believe that a $100k loan is something you can actually afford in the long term. Someone from a poor background whose parents have never earned a high income would very likely see $100k debt as an impossible barrier they'll never get past, and consequently would be a lot less likely to take on the risk.…

I'm not saying we should saddle people from poor backgrounds with the same crushing debts as the middle class folks. I don't know of another country that expects any students to take on the kind of debt burden that we take on here in the US. If they can make college affordable for everyone, even the middle class, then so can we.

Re: Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

#262

Post by jqgatsby » Wed, Mar 30, 2016, 12:01 AM UTC

chrisan wrote: post #195

jqgatsby wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I walked out of MIT with $100K in student loans, because I had the combination of 'parents who make too much money' and 'parents who had five kids and did not adequately save for their children's education'. I'm all for soaking the rich, but how is that fair? I was apparently rich by association, and it was pretty upsetting to see kids who were ostensibly poorer than I was get a substantially easier start in life.

Technically you walked in to MIT knowing you would have $100K of debt and weighed the pros and cons and decided in the end that, yes $100K for a MIT education was worth it.

I fully concede that taking $100K in debt was my best option. Saying that I did it freely and even well-informedly is not the same thing as saying it was a fair situation.

Re: Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

#263

Post by jqgatsby » Wed, Mar 30, 2016, 12:04 AM UTC

rbcgerard wrote: post #204

jqgatsby wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I walked out of MIT with $100K in student loans, because I had the combination of 'parents who make too much money' and 'parents who had five kids and did not adequately save for their children's education'. I'm all for soaking the rich, but how is that fair? I was apparently rich by association, and it was pretty upsetting to see kids who were ostensibly poorer than I was get a substantially easier start in life.

I like that you talked about being "unfair" to rich people and fair to you in one sentence. So we should encourage people that earn decent money not to save adequately for their children's college education?

I am not my parents. I did not have a say in their financial decisions. The argument you're making is equivalent to arguing that the debts of parents should be passed on to their children, a practice that was outlawed long ago.

Re: Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

#264

Post by jqgatsby » Wed, Mar 30, 2016, 12:16 AM UTC

massysett wrote: post #207

jqgatsby wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, what you call a 'crack in the best system available' is the life I've had to live. I've had to take less societally-beneficial jobs because they paid more, while my loan-free friends were off joining the Peace Corps or teaching. I think the world is made a worse place when people like me are turned into mercenaries. MIT thinks it's okay to boil down someone's financial future into a single dominant number (par…

You take no responsibility for your situation. You talk like MIT just happened to you. You turned yourself into a mercenary by attending MIT and accumulating the debt with full knowledge that you would take high-paying jobs to pay it off-jobs that you could get thanks to your MIT credential. Once your debt is paid off you will have one less excuse to go do whatever it is you claim you really want to do. The only ques…

I willingly took the best deal I could get, and I would make the same deal with the information I have today. At the same time, a system that arbitrarily indebts some students and gives others a free ride is unfair and needs to change. Also, I think calling my position whining is a pretty low level of discourse.

Re: Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

#265

Post by jqgatsby » Wed, Mar 30, 2016, 12:19 AM UTC

mdpopescu wrote: post #156

jqgatsby wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I walked out of MIT with $100K in student loans, because I had the combination of 'parents who make too much money' and 'parents who had five kids and did not adequately save for their children's education'. I'm all for soaking the rich, but how is that fair? I was apparently rich by association, and it was pretty upsetting to see kids who were ostensibly poorer than I was get a substantially easier start in life.

You're all for soaking the rich, except when it applies to you?

My line there was intentionally facetious. That being said, there are people who can legitimately afford to pay $100K in tuition. I was not one of them. I am doubtful that universities are able to distinguish between the two, but currently they pretend they can.

Re: Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

#266

Post by jqgatsby » Wed, Mar 30, 2016, 12:22 AM UTC

twoodfin wrote: post #193

jqgatsby wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I walked out of MIT with $100K in student loans, because I had the combination of 'parents who make too much money' and 'parents who had five kids and did not adequately save for their children's education'. I'm all for soaking the rich, but how is that fair? I was apparently rich by association, and it was pretty upsetting to see kids who were ostensibly poorer than I was get a substantially easier start in life.

You don't think an MIT education is worth $100K?

It is definitely worth $100K. Just because it was a rational decision from my perspective is separate from saying that the system which decided to charge me that amount is a good system.

Re: Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

#267

Post by rbcgerard » Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 4:20 PM UTC

jqgatsby wrote: post #263

rbcgerard wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like that you talked about being "unfair" to rich people and fair to you in one sentence. So we should encourage people that earn decent money not to save adequately for their children's college education?

I am not my parents. I did not have a say in their financial decisions. The argument you're making is equivalent to arguing that the debts of parents should be passed on to their children, a practice that was outlawed long ago.

While there is theoretical merit to that line of thinking, the practical extension of that thinking is that for all intensive purposes nearly every student planning on attending college is jobless and broke (aka a high school senior) and therefore can not afford college, and thus entitled to financial aid (regardless of if their parents are billionaires or below the poverty line)