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My advice to them upon graduation? Declare bankruptcy. One did...one clings to that old fashioned belief
of paying off accrued debts like my wife and I did after losing our house in 1985...
Or, how to monitize education, and ruin a nation!
I think all you can 'thank' Governor/President Ronald Reagan for getting the ball rolling on out of control rising costs of higher education.
and yea, i'd pretty much kill for $500 per semester tuition. ug, but don't get me started. we deregulated state school tuition in texas a few years ago. i'm now paying nearly double what the hubby paid just 2 & 1/2 years ago. and of course we "make too much money" to qualify for what's left of pell grants, leaving loans as our only option, which of course are becoming more and more unavailable...
i shudder to think how much we'll have to pay to put a kid thru college in the future.
We're currently funded at 79% of what we should be funded at--essentially, at 1970's rates--and we just had a 1 million dollar plus budget cut. (This is the second cut/return money episode in 10 years). Our health care costs have increased by 2 million dollars over the last 5 years, and our energy costs are increasing as well. Technology demands and costs are on the rise. Grant money is drying up and often doesn't cover actual costs of running a grant or a lab.
We have four sources of income: tuition; legislative appropriations (decreasing); grants (decreasing/drying up) and private donations (uh HUH!)
It would be nice if one of those articles looked at the actual complexity of academic funding while they're decrying the increase in tuition.
But people with student loans THEY CANNOT PAY get no relief. You cannot wipe student loans out by declaring bankruptcy! Another nice provision in the new bankruptcy bill..
I had $55,000 in student loans when I quit graduate school. With all the interest from the past 20 years, I now owe over $100,000. I got my loans consolidated through the dept of education (a program the Republicans have been trying to kill), I'm on a "income contingent repayment plan", but even if I paid the minimum monthly payments the rest of my life, I WILL NEVER EVEN TOUCH THE PRINCIPLE, the amount I originally borrowed!
I have a M.A. (in Sociology), and was ABD (all but dissertation) doctoral candidate, but was unable to finish my doctoral dissertation. With the Ph.D, I was never able to get a real job. I worked as a temp for many years, and have had a job for the past 10 years, and make less than $30,000
I am in Ch. 13 Bankruptcy, but will still have to pay the Student Loans!
Student Loans are a scam! In Western European (Democratic Socialists) c ountries, no one needs to take out loans to go to college (or graduate school!) because all education, including college, is PAID, Tuition Free!
Student Loans should be forgiven completely, based on income, and all public colleges should be tuition free. Maybe we can get to this after single-payer universal health care.
See: Student Loan Justice
http://www.studentloanjustice.org/
elitist-my a$$.
I saw that coming and decided I didn't want to be in debt for the rest of my life.
I went into the military and went to school using their 75% tuition assistance/reimbursement. During my two enlistments I was able to come within a semester of achieving my AA and BS (i completed both simultaneously). The remainder I put on a credit card and then paid off over the ensuing semester. no loans.
I have only one child and his father and I plan to pay what isn't covered by scholarships, financial aid, or his own job.
Basically, the idea was that a more educated workforce would make more money, and end up paying back the State in increased state income taxes.
I was attending the Cal State University system in the late 70's thru the early-mid 80's, when the second Jerry Brown (Jr.) was Governor. Tuition was $79 a quarter in 1976, which you could earn working a part time job in about 2 weeks, maybe 3.
By 1981-82, tuition had increased to maybe $120 a quarter, but that was during a time of very high general inflation.
When Republican Governor Dukemajian come into to office in '83, he doubled tuition charges, and just a few years later, tuition was around $400 a quarter, increased FAR above the rate of inflation.
Basically, state funded College education became unaffordable except for the rich, and those willing to borrow 10's of thousands of dollars.
It's completely ridiculous nowadays.
Course while pursuing my degree in Industrial Engineering a decade ago, I was often the only American in the classroom. I should contact my old school mates in India, Asia, and Russia and see if they're hiring.
Correction: December 4, 2008
Because of an editing error, an article on Wednesday about the increasing cost of higher education gave an incorrect context for two figures: the 439 percent increase in college tuition and fees and the 147 percent increase in median family income since 1982. Those figures were not adjusted for inflation. The error was repeated for the data in an accompanying chart. A corrected chart appears at nytimes.com/national.
The article also described incorrectly the report for the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education that cited the figures. It is produced every other year, not annually.