Higher Education to be Unaffordable

[Kestastrophe]

Over all, the report found, published college tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007, adjusted for inflation, while median family income rose 147 percent. Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade, and students from lower-income families, on average, get smaller grants from the colleges they attend than students from more affluent families.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/education/03college.html?hp

American aristocracy

[Barry Egan]

getting a Canadian student visa for cheaper education

[demi]

Nothin but a big ol scam

[Tieno]

My last $800 student loan payment:

$745 to interest
$55 to principal

I (my mom) payed the standard rate of 520euros per year to my university. That's not counting costs of living in the University city though (probably close to 400euros per month)

social capitalism
not having to loan and get in debt to receive a higher education

crazy high taxes

[Kestastrophe]

Socialized Higher education would be awesome. Doesn't California have it?

[dammitmattt]

If you do well in high school, go to a state school IN YOUR OWN STATE, do well in college, and get a part-time job, you can get through college without too much damage done.  And that's not even counting if your parents help you out.  Grants and scholarships really, really help if you can get them (and most people can at least get some grants).

[siamesedreamer]

Move to GA and maintain a 3.0 GPA in high school.

http://www.gacollege411.org/finaid/scholarshipsandgrants/hopescholarship/default.asp

Of course free college does have its drawbacks as the big state schools like GA and GT are much, much more difficult to get into now.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Heh, I got a few comments to say about this.

I blame the lack of fiscal responsibility from the universities.  Universities don't give a fuck about fiscal restraint because they just know that mommy and daddy will pay for it or student loans. 

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

If you do well in high school, go to a state school IN YOUR OWN STATE, do well in college, and get a part-time job, you can get through college without too much damage done.  And that's not even counting if your parents help you out.  Grants and scholarships really, really help if you can get them (and most people can at least get some grants).

I wish that was the truth.

[dammitmattt]

I wish that was the truth.

It was for me, including the zero help from the parents part.  What part of it is not true, exactly?

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

All of it.

My parents made too much money and I was not eligible for any grants.  Parents said they weren't going to give me a cent for school so I'm all on my own, with no grants.  Scholarships?  I did very well in high school, participated in sports and other extracurriculars, and didn't get shit.  I've been on the Dean's List virtually every semester, no financial help.  In fact, since I'm in an engineering major, I now have to pay a premium price.  So my tuition jumped over $1000 a year.  I had part time jobs and it worked but only for a few thousand a year.  Three months of internships does not cover nine months of other expenses.

Fortunately I got a pretty high paying job but I probably will have to work a second job until my late 20s or early 30s.

My university actually dropped 40 places in one year because of the high student debtload students carry.  One of the highest in the nation in fact.

[Brehvolution]

Multi million dollar football/basketball coach contracts.
Millions in ad revenue
Free labor(athletes)
   

This isn't sustainable. Once the student population goes down, and it will fast, they'll bring the gawdy tuition prices back down.

[Eric P]

i was going to go to college recently but decided to just buy some books and learn on my own because i couldn't justify the price

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Student loan lenders are rapidly becoming insolvent.  My private loan lender went insolvent a year ago.  Interest rates somehow lowered for some reason.

The tuition eventually has no choice but to go down.  If lenders are going south, students just won't be able to afford college.

[G The Resurrected]

i was going to go to college recently but decided to just buy some books and learn on my own because i couldn't justify the price

I'm doing this as well. School is great and all, but It's gotten too expensive and now since my mother has passed away its even more expensive. I was tapping into her for my financial aid. Since I don't have that anymore my next year is in jeopardy cause I can't afford all the expenses. And I don't qualify for student loans due to past debts. 

[Tauntaun]

This is why I only went to 1 year of college and it's all paid for.  LoL, my wife's loans are bananas. 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I are smart. 

[close]

[ToxicAdam]

School isn't THAT expensive if you go the community college -> real big-boy college route. You can save a ton of money (and make all your costly mistakes) at the community college and then finish up in a legitimate school.

[archie4208]

My last $800 student loan payment:

$745 to interest
$55 to principal

If you don't mind me asking, how much do you owe total and what's the interest rate?  I just made a $750 payment and only $30 went to interest.  I've paid about $7500 since June on my loans and I owe about $9700 more.

Move to GA and maintain a 3.0 GPA in high school.

http://www.gacollege411.org/finaid/scholarshipsandgrants/hopescholarship/default.asp

Of course free college does have its drawbacks as the big state schools like GA and GT are much, much more difficult to get into now.

Hope scholarship helped me so much. .  Still had to take out some loans, though.

[MrAngryFace]

I owe 10,000, ill pay it off eventually. I keep the bills paid tho.

[ch1nchilla]

My school is fucking unbelievably expensive. I might transfer back to in-state so I can have more throw-away scrilla, and possibly  pay for a year to go to language school in Japan in addition to university.

[archie4208]

My last $800 student loan payment:

$745 to interest
$55 to principal

If you don't mind me asking, how much do you owe total and what's the interest rate?  I just made a $750 payment and only $30 went to interest.  I've paid about $7500 since June on my loans and I owe about $9700 more.

Move to GA and maintain a 3.0 GPA in high school.

http://www.gacollege411.org/finaid/scholarshipsandgrants/hopescholarship/default.asp

Of course free college does have its drawbacks as the big state schools like GA and GT are much, much more difficult to get into now.

Hope scholarship helped me so much. .  Still had to take out some loans, though.

I owe about $15,000 and my interest rate I believe is 6.5%.  I took out my first loan in May of 2007.  I didn't borrow for my first two years, but I'll have to for junior through my masters program.

I'm probably gonna take a year off of school to try and focus on paying off my loan completely.  The last thing I want is to find myself 50k in debt.

Were they subsidized or unsubsidized loans?  I was lucky enough to have most of my loans be subsidized so I didn't have to worry about the interest accruing until my grace period ended.  I'm hoping to have my loans paid off by June so I can quit my shitty job and find something better.

Also, did your 150 hours for the CPA require a master's degree?  I don't know what state you are in, but in Georgia you can take any classes you want to get 150 as long as you have 30 semester hours of accounting.  I took easy classes like World Religion and Geography and I LOVED it.

[archie4208]

your classes aren't going to help much in the real thing.  I made A's in nearly all my accounting classes and I've done (and still do) a ton of distinguished mentally-challenged shit at work.

[dammitmattt]

All of it.

My parents made too much money and I was not eligible for any grants.  Parents said they weren't going to give me a cent for school so I'm all on my own, with no grants.  Scholarships?  I did very well in high school, participated in sports and other extracurriculars, and didn't get shit.  I've been on the Dean's List virtually every semester, no financial help.  In fact, since I'm in an engineering major, I now have to pay a premium price.  So my tuition jumped over $1000 a year.  I had part time jobs and it worked but only for a few thousand a year.  Three months of internships does not cover nine months of other expenses.

Fortunately I got a pretty high paying job but I probably will have to work a second job until my late 20s or early 30s.

My university actually dropped 40 places in one year because of the high student debtload students carry.  One of the highest in the nation in fact.

You seem to be in a very unique position that wouldn't apply to most people (and I don't think you handled it the right way, either).  Most parents making enough money would help their children.  If they're NOT helping you out, then they shouldn't be able to claim you as a dependent, and you will qualify for any and all grants (the problem is that this process wouldn't play out until your sophomore year).

I didn't do all that well in high school and had few activities my senior year since I was working all the time, but thanks to a good test score I had multiple scholarship opportunities (which I promptly fucked up, naturally).  Are you sure you tried hard enough to apply for as many as possible?  There is a ton of money out there!  Also, when I got my shit together, I promptly was re-eligible for my grants and won two new scholarships.  Maybe I was just lucky, but I wasn't the only one of my peers who were rewarded.  Again, did you apply for all of the scholarships available to you?

Also, it all depends on what school you go to.  Did you choose to go to the school that will give you the best value for your dollar?  My college costs about $3k per semester for most majors, including engineering, and it's a pretty damn good engineering program for a state school (Auburn).  Where did you go that was so expensive?  And again, if your parents weren't supporting you, why the hell didn't you claim yourself and apply for grants?  It sounds more like you just didn't get the right information or guidance to take advantage of the options that you had.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

I wish I haven't fucked up in college so far. . I still don't know what I want to major in, so i'm going through without  any clue as to what I want to do (because i'll likely never get into a college for something I really want to do)

[Fragamemnon]

I made it out of school without any debt, but I went to a state school with a generous state scholarship in the same state I went to high school in, and worked hard to keep a 20 hour a week programming job that paid well all year round. Between that and roomates I got by.

A main reason for tuition hikes can be traced back to state Republican governors and legislators that cut taxes without cutting spending (or even raised spending) in boom times. Eventually they hit a tough spot in terms of revenue (such as 2 great 2 depressing) and jack tuition rates since they can't run deficits and it doesn't cut any social services.

[Kestastrophe]

I really wish I could afford to do an internship.  I dunno..I'm just nervous.  I've gotten so used to what I currently (been working here for over 7 years) do and am good at it so the prospect of getting into something else and being a fuckup scares me

In my brief experience (one tax season internship in a small CPA firm) that is pretty much the name of the game. I thought that I was well prepared coming out of grad school, but there is really nothing that can equivocate on the job experience. Part of it had to do with the fact that my education was tailored to larger companies and the CPA firm that I worked at only handled small mom and pop shops and doctor offices (most of whom did not know a credit from a debit). Accounting is more or less an apprenticeship type of career

[Great Rumbler]

If you do well in high school, go to a state school IN YOUR OWN STATE, do well in college, and get a part-time job, you can get through college without too much damage done.  And that's not even counting if your parents help you out.  Grants and scholarships really, really help if you can get them (and most people can at least get some grants).

I wish that was the truth.

My school pays everything for me and then hands me a check every semester. So, yeah, it happens.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Assholes!

Perhaps I am in a unusual spot but the fact that this spot exists is pretty telling about how shitty the system is.  I'll be fine but I'm saddled with a fair amount of debt.  Fortunately my credit rating is high and the highest interest rate I have to pay is 3.25%

[dammitmattt]

Assholes!

Perhaps I am in a unusual spot but the fact that this spot exists is pretty telling about how shitty the system is.  I'll be fine but I'm saddled with a fair amount of debt.  Fortunately my credit rating is high and the highest interest rate I have to pay is 3.25%

Where did you go to school?

[brawndolicious]

Even then, the schools are getting huge budget cuts.  My first choice for the state universities didn't accept ANY undergraduate admissions this November.

[Madrun Badrun]

CANADA

I owe 10,000, ill pay it off eventually. I keep the bills paid tho.

You went to school?  what did you take?

[max_cool]

ahuahauhauahauahauhauaha

I owe a grand total of about $85,000 and I only make about $40,000 a year   

[thekavorka]

Texas 

[Tristam]

I'm not sure how much debt I've accumulated throughout UG, but I was lucky to score a $15k scholarship earlier this year (I already had a weak $2k per year scholarship -- renewable for 4 years -- for scoring a 31 on the ACT). It doesn't really matter though because I'm planning on going to law school; tuition itself can reach $40k per year at the top programs. I'm not attracted to biglaw, but I wonder if a few years of grueling work will be necessary to pay off at least a significant portion of those costs.

[Kestastrophe]

Perhaps I am in a unusual spot but the fact that this spot exists is pretty telling about how shitty the system is.  I'll be fine but I'm saddled with a fair amount of debt.  Fortunately my credit rating is high and the highest interest rate I have to pay is 3.25%

I am in the same situation as you. I have a fair amount of student loan debt, but I did have a grad assistantship that payed for 2 semesters of schooling as well as provided a modest stipend. Thankfully I picked a well paying field and it will be hardly any problem to make payments so long as I can find a job (who knows when that will be though).

[Bloodwake]

Berea College
Free Tuition paid for low income students (me)

You still have to pay room and board

[Himu]

Thread makes me depressed

[xnikki118x]

If you do well in high school, go to a state school IN YOUR OWN STATE, do well in college, and get a part-time job, you can get through college without too much damage done.  And that's not even counting if your parents help you out.  Grants and scholarships really, really help if you can get them (and most people can at least get some grants).

I didn't get any grants at all, only scholarships. And I applied for a TON OF SHIT.

I'm pretty middle-class. My dad works one full-time job and one part-time job, and my mom works one full-time job. Thei combined incomes are like 80-90k per year.

I start paying my student loans on the 21st of this month, and around $350 a month. I don't even MAKE that much in a month. No idea what I'm gonna go.

[Kestastrophe]

I start paying my student loans on the 21st of this month, and around $350 a month. I don't even MAKE that much in a month. No idea what I'm gonna go.

Even if you are past your 6 month grace period that is typical with most loans, there are things you can do. If you get in contact with your loan provider I am sure that there is a way they can reduce your monthly payments, if not there is always temporary forbearance that will postpone your payments for a short time.

[xnikki118x]

I start paying my student loans on the 21st of this month, and around $350 a month. I don't even MAKE that much in a month. No idea what I'm gonna go.

Even if you are past your 6 month grace period that is typical with most loans, there are things you can do. If you get in contact with your loan provider I am sure that there is a way they can reduce your monthly payments, if not there is always temporary forbearance that will postpone your payments for a short time.

I thought about that because I definitely qualify for the "economic hardship" stuff, but Ecro doesn't want me to postpone the payments any longer. It does just tack on more interest so you end up paying more in the end. The whole thing just sucks lol. My dad says he's going to pay like 100 of it, making my monthly payments like 250, which will even out with the 100 a month I usually pay my dad for car insurance and my phone.

I might be getting a full time job in January so that would be way awesome.

[drozmight]

ahuahauhauahauahauhauaha

I owe a grand total of about $85,000 and I only make about $40,000 a year   

What's the payment on that?