Colleges at the breaking point, forcing ‘hard choices’ about education

Post by WalterBright » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 10:27 PM UTC

psadri wrote: post #590

bananabreakfast wrote: post #449

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"Society" doesn't figure anything out. If "Society" wanted people to go to college then it would it give it to everybody for free. People are incentivized to act one way or the other. Less-wealthy people cannot afford college tuition, and the government cannot mandate that banks give away money to extremely risky but ambitious people. This same problem exists with extending loans in general to risky, low-income indiv…

This argument is missing one important part. The prevalence of student loans has caused the cost of education to skyrocket, pushing it even further out of reach. So now even people who previously afforded higher education need to get loans. It’s a self-fulfilling system.

Post by CamperBob2 » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 10:29 PM UTC

knzhou wrote: post #417

wutbrodo wrote: post #187

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I work in AV development, and the number of refugees from the hard sciences is astonishing. I guess I don't blame them, but it's weird to have a physics PhD report to you and be able to use only a fraction of the skills she spent a decade and hundreds of thousands of dollars gaining. This isn't quite a complaint: adopting math and physics PhDs (first as a mentor and now as a TLM) that are seemingly unproductive has b…

Physics PhD student here. Yeah, we're all playing the lottery for the dream of a life studying the universe. It's the exact analogue of how serious student athletes throw away their whole undergrad education for a shot at a pro career, usually to end up injured and useless a couple years later.

Post by BobbyJo » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 10:30 PM UTC

gwd wrote: post #318

jedberg wrote: post #179

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> All of us should be regularly lobbying our lawmakers to make student loans dischargeable by bankruptcy, just like any other loan. The reason they aren't dischargeable is because what bank in their right mind would give a loan to an 18 year old with no collateral? They only guarantee they get that it will be paid back is the fact that it can't be discharged. Student loans would dry up overnight if they could be disc…

> The reason they aren't dischargeable is because what bank in their right mind would give a loan to an 18 year old with no collateral? If it's a bad bet for the bank , it must be far worse of a bet for young adults. That's the point -- right now we're essentially suckering millions of naive young adults into a life of wage slavery by giving them a "bet" which they are completely unequipped to evaluate; and many of t…

Post by wolfgke » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 10:33 PM UTC

gwd wrote: post #113

nimbius wrote: post #64

Disclosure: i never went to college, I went to a trade school. Colleges really only started scaring the heck out of me when I started enjoying my career. After spending a day wrenching in a garage, we'd hit miller time and head down to the Soapbox Bar and Grill. Over the span of a month or two ordering buckets and shooting pool I learned our bartender Javon had a masters in biology and his fiancee Cortisha who bussed…

> He had some massive college bills too and i didnt understand how those worked, but you cant get rid of them like you can a car loan. This is the thing that is really the most shameful and outrageous thing about the US system. Our entire K-12 educational system and our culture is set up to paint a college degree as a ticket to "the good life". Then an 18-year-old, potentially with parents who aren't great at math bu…

Post by mettamage » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 10:34 PM UTC

moftz wrote: post #589

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #402

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Actual boilermaker here. Can confirm: earn more than my university educated age group; no education debt; have home and mortgage that I don’t struggle to pay; still have plenty of work during the down turn. Have often thought about living on rice n lentils n going to university to get a degree, but this whole pandemic mess has made me realise: well and truly fuck that for a joke .

It's all a betting game. Go to trade school and get a decent job making good money but have little upwards mobility other than opening your own business. Or go to university and hope you pick a worthwhile major and get a great job out of school where you have a lot of upward mobility. University is risky but if you can pick something like electrical engineering and end up at a top firm, you are probably set for life.…