151–160 of 205 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I worked my way through school for both my undergraduate degree and a masters in computer science. It wasn't bad. Just have to work hard. The nice thing was, I finished up school with zero debt.
Just have to work hard? What planet do you live on?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Looking at my local university's budget, research and educational costs still account for most of the budget. But research costs are becoming enormous - they're spending over 1/3 of the budget on research, and only half as much on education. Which isn't to say that we shouldn't be spending money on research, or that universities shouldn't be the ones to do it. But considering that government funding for research has…
Ok...So, you are saying that less than 1/2 of the budget can be traced to actually supporting research and education. Where is the other 1/2?
Of the rest, the 5 next biggest things are financial aid at 12%, "enterprise operations" (which covers administration of everything from state labs to the student bookstore) at 8%, student services (including athletics) at 7%, academic support (administrators, libraries, etc.) at 6%, and physical plant at 6%.
The University of California charged NO TUITION until the 1970s. Think about that for a second. While we bicker and boast on here about bootstraps and how to pay off debt by living like a pauper we have to realize that we are straight up being stolen from. There is no reason why public universities should cost 10s of thousands of dollars for a 4 year degree. That's the whole reason they exist in the first place.
The main reason that college tuition has risen in America is that it become less and less subsidized by state governments. It's not straight up theft when that subsidy gets reduced.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
" When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. "
I don't know that it has anything to do with voting since, as I pointed out, the bloat-causing rules come from both parties.
That's honestly a huge boon to meritocracy which we should not forget about. All these people pushing for the elimination of aid and a shift to market mechanisms need to seriously consider the impact that a zero-aid, market-based system would have: a return to a time when only the wealthy could attend great institutions and everyone else is relegated to community colleges and second-tier state universities. That's what market mechanisms are great at: matching products to people's ability to pay.
I dearly hope we don't actually want that for our country. It undermines the very meritocracy we pride ourselves on——if we can't get an equal education, regardless of economic ability, then the rest of the market-based American economy is a sham of wealth perpetuation.
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On a completely different note, I do actually think it is possible to work full-time during college. I've done so for the past year, in a fairly intense job capacity. I'll be graduating with enough money in the bank for the down payment on a small house.
Here's another graph showing that the recent rise in tuition in Michigan is due to declining state education appropriations. http://i.imgur.com/5gYHQK5.png
The solution though, isn't to stop providing money to students for college. If you don't have Pell Grants, Stafford loans and the like, lower income bracket individuals would never be able to afford college. There is a simple fact: I could not pay my way through my Midwest university education without these things. I will graduate and be in debt, but I'll be better off having done it. Certainly the experience is wort…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
CS people are probably in a somewhat unique position where that is somewhat possible. If you study something that isn't tied to a specific industry or where you need many years of training and certification to become useful that's not so tenable.
I can't speak to other times and places but in silicon valley in the late 1980s I went to a temp agency and looked for unskilled work during the summer - I don't think I ever came across any jobs that paid as low as minimum wage. One summer I was a "shipping clerk" (meaning: guy who gets stuff out of a warehouse and puts it in boxes) at Syva - that paid over twice the minimum. Another summer I did data entry for the…
We have to ask ourselves why college is so expensive. When some people read articles like this, they call for more government aid to students. "We need to help young, hard working students from unprivileged backgrounds to pay for college!" Their hearts are certainly in the right place, and it isn't an unreasonable idea at first glance. However, could this idea be part of the problem? Maybe giving people free money fo…
For reference, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RDMdc5r5z8
We have to ask ourselves why college is so expensive. When some people read articles like this, they call for more government aid to students. "We need to help young, hard working students from unprivileged backgrounds to pay for college!" Their hearts are certainly in the right place, and it isn't an unreasonable idea at first glance. However, could this idea be part of the problem? Maybe giving people free money fo…
I believe the question, "Why college is so expensive" is the right one, but I don't think this is the right solution.