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More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

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Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#621

Post by WalterBright »

indymike wrote: post #314

There are three problems that colleges need to fix. 1) Skilled trades pay better than most bachelor's degree track jobs. My kids can make more money with a six month apprenticeship than they will with all but a few 4 year degrees. If you can drive a forklift, you can make $45K/yr... which is identical to what an firsty year teacher makes. 2) There are better options than college for many. One of my daughters did a si…

> which is identical to what an firsty year teacher makes

Education degrees and Journalism degrees rank near the bottom of pay.

If you want a good starting salary, invest in a STEM major.

Above all, google "starting salaries for major XXXXX" before picking one. Sheesh!

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#622

Post by greedo »

ativzzz wrote: post #410
greedo wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand how we've accepted $30k/year as relatively affordable...

In my undergrad, when I was living in dorms, it also came with a meal plan (I think ~2 meals a day covered). So for in state, 10-15k was tuition. The rest was rent + meals. So 15k / 12 = $1250 a month, which is not cheap, but considering it includes food is really not bad at all.

But you can't divide it by 12 since school is only in session for roughly 9 months. During summer session you're on your own for food and housing. That makes it more like $1666/month. That's nuts.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#623

Post by godmode2019 »

I don't see this as a problem. We certainly have a case of elite over production in the west. Where people study liberal arts and except a high paying job, and any job that they get will not ever pay the off the loan.

Obama explains it the best. (Ignore the right wing title its a good video of him on his first visit to Kenya)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fItxli7-uU0

Starts at 15:13

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#624

Post by greedo »

endisneigh wrote: post #444
indymike wrote: post #314

There are three problems that colleges need to fix. 1) Skilled trades pay better than most bachelor's degree track jobs. My kids can make more money with a six month apprenticeship than they will with all but a few 4 year degrees. If you can drive a forklift, you can make $45K/yr... which is identical to what an firsty year teacher makes. 2) There are better options than college for many. One of my daughters did a si…

Im very skeptical of this post: 1. Many trades also pay like crap and have a very limited window in which you can do it. In addition many are not welcoming to women at all, regardless even if you take the highest paying trades, do they pay more than the highest paying careers that require higher education? 2. Which boot camp? How many people ended up like your daughter? How much was it? Without these facts no compari…

"cheap state school"...

The state school where I live charges $18K/year for tuition and housing. That sure isn't cheap, especially for a mediocre school. Graduating with $72K in debt from this school would be a waste of money if you aren't doing a STEM program, and if you are, there are far better schools.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#626

Post by MisterBastahrd »

subsubzero wrote: post #576
tempest_ wrote: post #542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With regards to 1 A lot of the trades are hard on your body. By the time you are 45-50 your knees could be wrecked and that makes it hard to do service work like electric/HVAC. There are an argument that desk work isnt healthy either but that is a different discussion.

alot of engineers(and other tech employees) are forced out of the field due to ageism by 45-50 so its a wash.

Not unless they're dogmatic about the language they're developing in, they aren't. I ran into people ALL THE EFFING TIME as a recruiter who refused to train in another language or environment because they were going to make less money if they moved on, even as the market for their current skillset dwindled to nothing.

That's a completely different issue from having injured your back or shoulder or knee so often that you need surgical corrections just so you can remain functional at a resting state.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#627

Post by kadomony »

indymike wrote: post #523
endisneigh wrote: post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im very skeptical of this post: 1. Many trades also pay like crap and have a very limited window in which you can do it. In addition many are not welcoming to women at all, regardless even if you take the highest paying trades, do they pay more than the highest paying careers that require higher education? 2. Which boot camp? How many people ended up like your daughter? How much was it? Without these facts no compari…

> 1. Many trades also pay like crap and have a very limited window in which you can do it. I'm not sure what you mean by limited window unless we are talking about professional athletes and some categories of manual laborers. > In addition many are not welcoming to women at all, regardless even if you take the highest paying trades This is rapidly changing. Also, there are also skilled trades that are mostly women (e…

Sounds like Lambda School.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#628

Post by 01100011 »

tempest_ wrote: post #542
indymike wrote: post #523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. Many trades also pay like crap and have a very limited window in which you can do it. I'm not sure what you mean by limited window unless we are talking about professional athletes and some categories of manual laborers. > In addition many are not welcoming to women at all, regardless even if you take the highest paying trades This is rapidly changing. Also, there are also skilled trades that are mostly women (e…

With regards to 1 A lot of the trades are hard on your body. By the time you are 45-50 your knees could be wrecked and that makes it hard to do service work like electric/HVAC. There are an argument that desk work isnt healthy either but that is a different discussion.

As a 46 year old I agree, but I'll say that most tradesmen I knew have either moved on to owning/managing or have switched careers. Overall they've done very well.

Also, IME, tradesmen always have the nicest houses regardless of income because they or someone they can trade with will do top quality work for barely any compensation.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#629

Post by toomuchtodo »

betwixthewires wrote: post #618
fuzzer37 wrote: post #604

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you like to argue just to argue?

I'm pretty sure not, I'm pretty sure this person is going to argue until someone helps them justify their education expenses to themselves, or their teaching profession. They're fishing for a "you're right, college is the only thing that's worth it."

Discovering an asset’s value is marked down is tragic for the owner, but the reality of a free market. A college degree is the new taxi medallion.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#630

Post by sokoloff »

joshgrib wrote: post #581
throwaway5752 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That completely shifts the blame to bureaucracies, and that isn't fair. Loans are where they are because students prefer newer dorms, amenities, programs, and research opportunities. Student competition leads to prestige, leads to demand from employers for graduates from a specific institution. It is a self-reinforcing dynamic. The fact student loads have special bankruptcy treatment is bad. But absent Sallie Mae (or…

This is an institutional problem and they should be blamed though. It doesn't really matter what students "prefer", if a bank doesn't do their due diligence and a student isn't able to repay their loan, then the bank should be losing that money as a bad investment. They won't give a $1M mortgage loan to buy a 50k lot, and likewise won't give it to someone that doesn't seem like they could pay it back. I do think ther…

> won't give [a student loan] to someone that doesn't seem like they could pay it back

I wonder what groups of people might be harmed by such a policy, but I would bet it won’t be middle and upper class families who are willing to co-sign for loans.

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