The Elite Master’s Degrees That Don’t Pay Off • Hacker News Board

Re: The Elite Master’s Degrees That Don’t Pay Off

#21

Post by IG_Semmelweiss » Fri, Jul 09, 2021, 2:43 PM UTC

ivan1783 wrote: post #11

A society doesn't just need productive, value adding jobs which fill 100% of the working generations time. A society also needs fine arts, theatre, film because its part of being human. If we were all corporate wage slaves the world would be a terrible place to exist. The system as we have it in Europe is the perfect balance of this, you pay nothing or very little for your higher education and in return you can explo…

The system you have in europe means creating a permanent underclass of young adults that have no prospects for jobs, until they are in their late 20s and they finally have to get off govt aid

By my late 20s i was already a midlevel executive in NYC. Thats the same age when the avg student is just finishing their uni studies.

Education in the EU is just a holding pen for young adults to do something, erasmus, whatever, while they are permanently unemployed. I was visiting friends, spending cash in restaurants, while they ate ramen in college dorms or small urban housing, well into their late 20's.

That sticky 12% unemployment is no coincidence

Re: The Elite Master’s Degrees That Don’t Pay Off

#22

Post by IG_Semmelweiss » Fri, Jul 09, 2021, 2:46 PM UTC

https://archive.is/4lQkO

Re: The Elite Master’s Degrees That Don’t Pay Off

#23

Post by Aditya_Garg » Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 4:34 PM UTC

anonuser123456 wrote: post #7

haltingproblem wrote: post #5

I want to weep at the list of programs in the article: - Journalism - Fine Arts in Film, Theater and Media Studies - Speech pathology A masters degree can run 300k at these top institutions. We have laws against usury, lemon laws, price gouging, ponzi schemes, securities regulations.....etc. How can a society justify allowing young folks spending 300k of money they don't have to get a degree in fine arts ?

It's fine we let them spend whatever they want. What's not fine is that when it is clear they aren't able to pay it off, we don't let a bankruptcy court discharge the debt like all other unsecured debt. Let lenders take risk, and when that risk clearly goes bust... wipe it out.

What’s to stop broke university students from immediately declaring bankruptcy upon graduation? They don’t have any assets to forfeit which typically stop others from gaming the system.

Re: The Elite Master’s Degrees That Don’t Pay Off

#24

Post by opo » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 5:21 AM UTC

kaonashi wrote: post #17

themagicalyang wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US is the prime example of a capitalist ecosystem. I would argue that this is what made US the superpower it is today. So to do away with it goes against everyone who enjoys the benefits of the system in US. Those who enjoy the benefits are also those in power.

The US gained its advantage during the 40s-70s, when the government sector was a much larger percentage of the economy. We've been coasting on the efforts of that period and are now losing ground to countries that have their act together.

>...The US gained its advantage during the 40s-70s, when the government sector was a much larger percentage of the economy.

The government sector is larger now than pretty much anytime since the end of WW II.

The US gained its advantage when it was the only industrialized country that wasn't devastated by WW II.

https://taxfoundation.org/short-history-government-taxing-an...

Re: The Elite Master’s Degrees That Don’t Pay Off

#25

Post by kaonashi » Tue, Jul 13, 2021, 6:26 AM UTC

opo wrote: post #24

kaonashi wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US gained its advantage during the 40s-70s, when the government sector was a much larger percentage of the economy. We've been coasting on the efforts of that period and are now losing ground to countries that have their act together.

>...The US gained its advantage during the 40s-70s, when the government sector was a much larger percentage of the economy. The government sector is larger now than pretty much anytime since the end of WW II. The US gained its advantage when it was the only industrialized country that wasn't devastated by WW II. https://taxfoundation.org/short-history-government-taxing-an...

that's mostly due to financial bailouts.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=8fX