PSA: Potential college students, don't be like these college grads

[davmat787]

Specialized Studies? WTF does that mean?

KT

I think it is the study of the "Special". You know, Special Olympic records and stuff.

 

[Dear Summer]

Ill have under 20k in loans after leaving UCLA with a Poly Sci degree.

Sorry but you realize a poly sci degree is worthless right?
You will end up owing 150K after going to a no-name law school once you realize this after graduation.

 

[BoomerD]

(A) is the option I am taking. Community college is just so much cheaper then university. If I went to a four year university for my GE, even living from home I would be paying 4 times as much for the same education.

Maybe your community college English professor can explain the difference between "then" and "than" for you...

/grammar Nazi.

I agree that in MOST cases, taking the first two years at the local community college to get through all the General Education bullshit classes is the best option, but ONLY if those classes will transfer to the university where you plan on getting the Bachelor's degree.
Talk to your school's transfer department.

 

[KillerCharlie]

Man, we need more programmers and engineers. There's such a shortage, that we're hiring people from other countries (namely, India..). All these guys do is send money back to their countries, and not much of that stays inside. Gah.. Job shortage? what job shortage? How come kids aren't choosing technical majors? That said, we also need more engineers and scientists in public office.

I don't know why more kids don't go into science and engineering. I honestly think kids are more stupid these days, or maybe it's not cool or something.

I know a girl from high school that went to a private school and graduated with $100k in debt with a psychology degree. Now she has to do college all over again to get a nursing degree.

Engineer's great because you typically go to a state school where tuition is more reasonable, and the jobs provide solid pay. If you want to get a master of phd it should be pretty easy getting them for free (or you shouldn't be doing it).

I think I graduated with around $40k (all federal loans) in debt for my engineering bachelors. I paid off half of it extremely quickly. With an engineering job $40k debt isn't a really a big deal.

 

[OogyWaWa]

~$120k post-interest here/
MIS/Japanese BA from University of Alabama
half of a MA too. Also studied abroad.
No scholarship, no help from parents. Worked my balls off.

Now I make ~$80k+ at a really good firm in Tokyo. I have no problem paying my loans back 😛

I am the 1% 🙂

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Sorry but you realize a poly sci degree is worthless right?
You will end up owing 150K after going to a no-name law school once you realize this after graduation.

Good thing I wont be going into law.

 

[BoberFett]

Risk/Reward.

I'm middle class white, there was NO financial aid for me. It was all student loans. It's a choice between going to college, or not. I have a masters in psychology and 153,000 in student loans now. I worked full time all the way through my post-secondary education and got a grand total of 3000 dollars in financial aid along the way. Fortunately about 50,000 of that load is below 3% interest rates.

I got hired by a hospital to a position that pays about 15% over what the average for my degree is. I noticed no other members of my team went to state schools, we all went to private colleges. Will the extra loans be worth it in the end? I started much higher than most $ wise, and as such have a higher life-time earning potential, and I believe it's at least in part due to where I went to college. I don't believe the education I got was ANY better, in fact I have found that the education I got at state colleges along the way when I would take courses at them was actually better. But others have a very good perception of the school I got my bachelor's from, and a very very good perception of the school I got my master's from. As such it opened some doors for me through networking with others from this college.

Does this mean I feel vindicated for turning down the 165,000 scholarship for biochemistry I got? Nope. I went full-retard on that one.

Bear in mind the cost of not working full time while you were in school. That probably cost you $100-200K, so you need to add that to your lifetime earnings cost. Meaning at the low end, that degree actually cost you $253K. Divide that over a 40 year career and you need to make $6K more per year to make it worthwhile. Will it pay off for you? Quite possibly, you say you're doing well. But for some of the people in the OP who are making crap wages, not a chance. Even that person with $30K in loans has the same situation, where four years of college actually cost them (including the opportunity cost of not working) more like $130K.

 

[Zebo]

Easier said than done. What would you have them do live at home? Work odd jobs upon getting out of HS? American kids have been sold out for slave labor in China and have no choice but to go to secondary school despite the FACT they should not be there... not to mention the increased demand (students) has shot the cost though the roof higher than medicine doubling every 7 years chaining them to debt for life.

I'm coming up on 40 and when I went to a cal state school (cal poly slo) it was virtually free ~$300 a quarter. I worked at my dad's lighting company in summer and Cuesta Equipment part time during quarter and paid it easily with money to spare. Drove a brand new 4runner, apt on the beach, etc. Today I could not do that at all and would be in massive debt. Not only are jobs not there tuition has gone up 1200%.

 

[Zebo]

I don't know why more kids don't go into science and engineering. I honestly think kids are more stupid these days, or maybe it's not cool or something.

I know a girl from high school that went to a private school and graduated with $100k in debt with a psychology degree. Now she has to do college all over again to get a nursing degree.

Engineer's great because you typically go to a state school where tuition is more reasonable, and the jobs provide solid pay. If you want to get a master of phd it should be pretty easy getting them for free (or you shouldn't be doing it).

I think I graduated with around $40k (all federal loans) in debt for my engineering bachelors. I paid off half of it extremely quickly. With an engineering job $40k debt isn't a really a big deal.

Because lifetime post docs in those is common too. Ever heard the term gypsy scientist? Ask me how I know and this was in the good old days when recruiters would stack career day and even fly you out for interview. I had BS Chemistry into lab running instruments all day for $28K then got a MS in materials science (now called materials engineering) before getting a significant raise, I was with a young family working for a DOD contractor and had to borrow from my parents to even buy a house. To make real money I had to take a gig in arabia a couple years.

I never worked for anyone after that at about 30. Really all the education did for me was give me cash, credit and a bit of analytical thinking to finally do my own thing but I never seen anyone get wealthy in sciences or engineering. We had one guy in our group a PhD in civil and he drove a 20 yr old Honda, lived in a shack, and I suppose banked most of his over 100K salary so maybe he's rich but usually you're just making someone else rich.

 

[Patranus]

Here is the problem.
The government guarantees these loans so banks have no disincentive to make the loans.
If the banks knew that someone wanted to take out $150k in debt and would only be making $40k per year they wouldn't make the loans. Sadly they do because the government guarantees them.

 

[halik]

Here is the problem.
The government guarantees these loans so banks have no disincentive to make the loans.
If the banks knew that someone wanted to take out $150k in debt and would only be making $40k per year they wouldn't make the loans. Sadly they do because the government guarantees them.

DING DING DING!

Make all new issues dischargeable in bankruptcy and you'll see what's the market interest rate for $120K loan on film degree at NYU.

 

[shortylickens]

On a related topic I think the main reason education is so fucking expensive is a while back somebody figured out kids were willing to take out loans to do college. Now we have 300 dollar books, 100 dollar parking stickers, strange "technology" fees for every class, and credits that cost 20 times what they used to.

Same thing happened with health care. All insurance did was massively inflate the money pool and now it costs 150 bucks to sit in a waiting room, 800 for a bottle of mass-produced pills, and 100,000 to get surgery.
IT DID NOT SOLVE ANY FUCKING PROBLEMS!

 

[AznAnarchy99]

On a related topic I think the main reason education is so fucking expensive is a while back somebody figured out kids were willing to take out loans to do college. Now we have 300 dollar books, 100 dollar parking stickers, strange "technology" fees for every class, and credits that cost 20 times what they used to.

Same thing happened with health care. All insurance did was massively inflate the money pool and now it costs 150 bucks to sit in a waiting room, 800 for a bottle of mass-produced pills, and 100,000 to get surgery.
IT DID NOT SOLVE ANY FUCKING PROBLEMS!

Seriously, fuck those technology fees. $200 a quarter for "keeping the class site up". Really? $200 per quarter parking permits.. bs...

 

[Jeff7]

Seriously, fuck those technology fees. $200 a quarter for "keeping the class site up". Really? $200 per quarter parking permits.. bs...

And some books go through a crazy number of revisions.
I had one book on manufacturing processes, a $150 book, which appears to receive new revisions every few years.
Freshman year, 2005: It was in the 9th edition, published in late 2003.
2007: 10th edition is published
2011: 11th edition

Meanwhile, my Thermodynamics text book was originally published in 1997, and went to the 2nd edition ten years later.

 

[edro]

They are all BA degrees.

 

[shortylickens]

And some books go through a crazy number of revisions.
I had one book on manufacturing processes, a $150 book, which appears to receive new revisions every few years.
Freshman year, 2005: It was in the 9th edition, published in late 2003.
2007: 10th edition is published
2011: 11th edition

Meanwhile, my Thermodynamics text book was originally published in 1997, and went to the 2nd edition ten years later.

Most of my books get refreshed every two years. If you were foolish and took Precalc and then waited too long to get into full calculus, you'd have to buy a new book by the time class started.

 

[LookBehindYou]

I think someone mentioned the military, that really is the way to go. Instead of having a massive amount of debt, you do 4 years in the Air Force. You pick an AFSC that won't get you deployed as much if any (and if you do, you're doing some cake job in the A/C), do your time, and enjoy free college.

You actually come out ahead. I'm using the Post 9/11 G.I.Bill right now. My tuition is 100% paid for. I receive $125 per class for books. And the real kicker is that I also receive an additional $1025 a month to pocket for a housing allowance, on top of my salary from the Fed.

So yes, you can have a great degree without being in debt. The question is whether it's worth sacrificing 4 years of your time. I would say yes.

 

[bignateyk]

:Facepalm @ #7

 

[rudder]

or go back in time, get a 35 on your act test, and thus get full ride to just any college

(thats what i did)

That's dumb. I would have went back and invested $10,000 with bill gates when he was buying his first OS to start microsoft... with a time machine... screw college.

 

[rudder]

Here is the problem.
The government guarantees these loans so banks have no disincentive to make the loans.
If the banks knew that someone wanted to take out $150k in debt and would only be making $40k per year they wouldn't make the loans. Sadly they do because the government guarantees them.

the other problem is students feeling they are entitled to live on those loans while in college. Its not that hard to get a part time job... but people would rather party on saturday.

 

[ShawnD1]

I've BEEN going to community college. It sucks even worse. Way too much money for a shitty education that impresses NO ONE!
Work is just plain better. If you can find it.

Maybe your community is just full of retards. My dad and brother both have 2 year community college training and they both have excellent jobs. Right now my brother makes over $35/h doing piping design and he can work as much overtime as he wants.

 

[LookBehindYou]

the other problem is students feeling they are entitled to live on those loans while in college. Its not that hard to get a part time job... but people would rather party on saturday.

They also spend a lot of "school loan" money on stupid shit. I don't know how many kids I see on campus with $200 Beats by Dre headphones and an iPhone walking around that are probably using their loans to pay for that shit. I would imagine if the loans were used strictly for school it would be a different story.

Unfortunately, you are able to get a lot more than you need. Hell I even qualified for $6K, and thats with me and my wife having full time jobs + plus the GI Bill paying for school anyways + the $1K I get for GI Bill Housing Allowance. So yeah, if they just took what they needed and got a part time job, it might be a different story.

 

[rasczak]

Risk/Reward.

I'm middle class white, there was NO financial aid for me. It was all student loans. It's a choice between going to college, or not. I have a masters in psychology and 153,000 in student loans now. I worked full time all the way through my post-secondary education and got a grand total of 3000 dollars in financial aid along the way. Fortunately about 50,000 of that load is below 3% interest rates.

I got hired by a hospital to a position that pays about 15% over what the average for my degree is. I noticed no other members of my team went to state schools, we all went to private colleges. Will the extra loans be worth it in the end? I started much higher than most $ wise, and as such have a higher life-time earning potential, and I believe it's at least in part due to where I went to college. I don't believe the education I got was ANY better, in fact I have found that the education I got at state colleges along the way when I would take courses at them was actually better. But others have a very good perception of the school I got my bachelor's from, and a very very good perception of the school I got my master's from. As such it opened some doors for me through networking with others from this college.

Does this mean I feel vindicated for turning down the 165,000 scholarship for biochemistry I got? Nope. I went full-retard on that one.

I want to smack you silly. 😛

 

[PingSpike]

I don't know why more kids don't go into science and engineering. I honestly think kids are more stupid these days, or maybe it's not cool or something.

I know a girl from high school that went to a private school and graduated with $100k in debt with a psychology degree. Now she has to do college all over again to get a nursing degree.

Engineer's great because you typically go to a state school where tuition is more reasonable, and the jobs provide solid pay. If you want to get a master of phd it should be pretty easy getting them for free (or you shouldn't be doing it).

I think I graduated with around $40k (all federal loans) in debt for my engineering bachelors. I paid off half of it extremely quickly. With an engineering job $40k debt isn't a really a big deal.

Why does everyone keep asking this?

Most kids don't go into engineering because its fucking hard. Most people are bad at math, or at least don't try at it. Lots of people can barely read. Not everyone can do it period, and many people who could don't have the motivation. I'd hazard a guess that the main reason most people go to college is to drink beer and try and sleep with other people while muddling through the easiest degree they can find.

If everyone could be an engineer then it wouldn't pay for shit because...everyone could be an engineer!

 

[ShawnD1]

Most kids don't go into engineering because its fucking hard.

Don't even lie. No it's not. Engineering is easy if you DO THE ASSIGNMENTS AND READ THE BOOK AS INSTRUCTED. All of the teachers will end the class by saying something like "read chapter 2" then next day they carry on as if you had read chapter 2. If you read it, you'll have some idea of what the teacher is talking about and you can at least follow along for the time being. The guys who didn't read chapter 2 have no idea what is going on. The teacher is talking about "wave functions" and "permeability" and the people who didn't read the book don't even know what those terms mean. They can't even follow along. They just write stuff down and hope it makes sense later, and it never does. Not reading the book is why the failure rate is so damn high.

Anyone can be an engineer as long as they apply themselves and take ADHD medication as needed.