So where's my college fund?

[Corneo]

Re: So where's my college fund?

Those schools are pretty good about giving out need-based aid, though. And merit-based aid. The Harvards of the world are heavy into price discrimination, the rich legacies pay for the good students. If you get into one of those, you're generally going to get some help. It's the middle-of-the-road private schools that just aren't worth the bucks, especially if you are paying your own way.

Funny you bring this up. I was recently accepted into UCLA for my masters in EE. But they did not offer me funding, and won't allow me to work as a TA either ( to waive tuition). So if I were to go, I would have to pay about $40-50k for two years of graduate studies. I don't think its worth it for the type of job I could still get by graduating from other less prestigious UCs.

 

[BobCox2]

Re: So where's my college fund?

I put myself through college and my parents support was free room and board while I carried a full time load, I think expecting anything more than that is bullcrud on your part and if they can and are willing to do that much for you, you should say thanks and try to show it by being helpful around the house and showing a good attitude.

I did co-sign a student loan for one of my kids and guess what, he did not complete the degree and I'm stuck with the bill now so if any parents want my advice when it comes to that kind of thing just say no.

Like JMervyn said pick your course carefully and you don't have to stop learning at 24. I only have a BS in Finance but moved into computers in the 80's and VOIP in the 90's etc. I hold dozens of certificates and take at least 2 classes or test out every year and I make 6 figures +.

My Wife came to the USA at 17 from Mexico with little English and was told by her high school counselor to drop out of school get a job to help her family as she would never be able to go to college.
She currently holds a BA and MS in Education and Consoling certification, is a full time Social Worker and is working on her second MS and a MFT cert which will allow her to move from the current 50K to 80K per year (largely because of her Bilingual skills).

You need to check your sense of entitlement vs the real world Stillman.

 

[Glurin]

Re: So where's my college fund?

I've witnessed both outcomes on the subject of parents co-signing a loan with their kid. It can be a real help if the kid finishes, but really sucks when they don't. Especially if it was because the kid just gave up and dropped out rather than tried to finish and failed. Sort of like rubbing salt in the wound.

Its certainly not something to be expected of the parents though. People should consider themselves lucky if the parents help out at all.

 

[NASE]

Re: So where's my college fund?

Just come to Europe (or Belgium for that matter). Studie here and work here. You might be pleasantly surprised.

 

[PFSS]

Re: So where's my college fund?

Just come to Europe (or Belgium for that matter). Studie here and work here. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Or not - in the UK at least overseas students have to pay the full cost of their tuition.

I'm on the fence a bit with this one - for people without parents who will pay their way through college the investment they are making in higher education is a very large one and a huge risk. It's a huge discouragement to people who were not lucky enough to be born to wealthy parents and makes access to education more open to a mediocre student of financial means than to a very good student without.

On the other hand there are many universities which have means and merit-based tuition deductions with some of the very high end universities in the US (supposedly) making their placement offers without asking about the students ability to pay with fees assessed on parents income only after the student has accepted the place.

There is also In State tuition (In the US) which is normally heavily subsidized - I believe that people should have the right to a quality education regardless of their income, I don't believe people should have the right to go study in far away and exciting places when there is a perfectly good education waiting for them in state.

Tuition is not the only cost while at college - obviously you've got to eat, but as someone who worked every weekend though university and full time every summer my sympathies for most students who wind up in debt through living costs is limited.

I'm from the UK (though know a lot of people from the US) where we have heavily subsidized tuition fees (which are comparable to in-state rates in the US) and the number of people I knew at college who *****ed about being unable to afford those was amazing - and there is a moderately large movement trying to get student loan debt written off. Given most of these people choose to live away from home and go out drinking every week my heart pumps piss for them *****ing about being in debt.

There are a lot of options to help pay through university, or to drastically reduce costs if you're prepared to make sacrifices.

Though - why on earth are you forcing yourself down a road that pays nothing when there are better options out there? What is it with all these people who insist on going to university to do degrees that will never get them a job?!

 

[HegemonKhan]

Re: So where's my college fund?

if your a math genius/prodigy, apply for being a janitor at a pretigious university, and secretly solve math equations on a black board in the hallway

(who knows what movie is this from ? it should be simple....)

 

[KremBanan]

Re: So where's my college fund?

Become a norwegian citizen. Here you get scholarship and low-interest school-loans to make sure you get through College and University :thumbup:

 

[stillman]

Re: So where's my college fund?

I'm sure many of you delight in hearing how I suffered and starved through university and walked away unhappy after years of hard work. But this is not a sadist thread. Take your name calling elsewhere. I am not the sissy you make me out to be--not after what I've been through.

No, this is a thread for people who are angry at the widening gap between the rich and the poor. This is for people who are fed up with this old fashion notion that you can work at a restaurant and pay tuition with your tip money. What nonsense. These are not the old days. We are being gouged. You think I'm the one who needs to look at reality? No, we need to tell the older generations that things have changed. Telling students that they can just work a job and get a student loan to cover everything is just a pack of lies.

Are you tired of the gouging, lies, and soaring tuition costs? Or are you one of these parents who wants to take the easy way out and not save for your children's future?

 

[TheOgreMan]

Re: So where's my college fund?

I've had to work nearly every day as I went to college, and because I had to work I actually had to extend my time in college because I could not afford to live otherwise (5.5 years long, partly because I changed my goals, as well). With student loans I now owe...well, a lot of money. And I have to start paying them off in two months. Luckily I'm one of the few biology degree holders I know who immediately got a job in the biology field but it still doesn't quite cover everything once loan payment starts again.

I do feel the same way as you do in some respects. It would have been a hell of a lot easier, and faster, if I had someone to pay my way through college. I probably would have been done in 4.5 years and not had to worry about 20 years of loan payments. Then again, I think I appreciate my degree more than a lot of people do, and I hold no ill feeling towards my family since none are college educated and none could afford to help me through school. It's part of life and yes it sucks, hard, but it's something you have to live with now.

BTW my job is in research in the neuroscience field and my degree is more general biology with an emphasis on human medicine and animal ecology.

 

[KremBanan]

Re: So where's my college fund?

Telling students that they can just work a job and get a student loan to cover everything is just a pack of lies.

You want everything for free now dont you?

Or are you one of these parents who wants to take the easy way out and not save for your children's future?

I will try help my kids the best I can with money(and other things) when they start College or University. But Im not gonna finance their entire education, even if I had the money to do so I wouldnt. What kind of parent would I be if I just gave them everything? The parents job isnt to take care and protect their children for life, but to educate them in how they can survive life.

 

[Johnny]

Re: So where's my college fund?

Free education here. If you got the commitment to get the grades then you can go anywhere.

 

[NASE]

Re: So where's my college fund?

What kind of parent would I be if I just gave them everything? The parents job isnt to take care and protect their children for life, but to educate them in how they can survive life.

And how people survive with comfort? By doing high studies. Just look at the economic crisis. It ain't the heart surgeon that suffer. It's those people who don't have a degree at all or who are having a small degree.
Now, by forcing you child to work during his studies, you are denying him time to learn. Time he could have spend learning quantum physics. Who are you to prevent your child from learning at his capacities? Who are you to forcing him to serve people while he could be reinventing the general theory of relativity?

I agree that you can teach you child many interesting aspect about life by no paying for his education. Yet 1) you are playing with aspect that are much more important and 2) don't you think you should have thought him most of those things already? Or that it can't wait 5 years?

There is a time for everything. And learning should be done when the time is there, not at age 40 - nofi.

 

[Garbad_the_Weak]

Re: So where's my college fund?

Funny you bring this up. I was recently accepted into UCLA for my masters in EE. But they did not offer me funding, and won't allow me to work as a TA either ( to waive tuition). So if I were to go, I would have to pay about $40-50k for two years of graduate studies. I don't think its worth it for the type of job I could still get by graduating from other less prestigious UCs.

I went through the same dilemma. Although the top schools would offer scholarships and financial aid, the reality is still 100k+ of debt for me. That's an individual decision, but not necessarily wrong, especially for those who want very corporate jobs with high pay and no time off.

But this is not a sadist thread. Take your name calling elsewhere. I am not the sissy you make me out to be--not after what I've been through.

No, this is a thread were a 29 year old loser emo ranted about how his daddy won't pay his way through life. I'll quote:

Is anyone else mad as hell that you don't have a college fund because your family thinks it's acceptable to work towards saving up your own? Man, do they realize how much university costs? I'm going to be working for maybe 10-20 years to fulfull my goals. That's bullcrap!

Please do not have any children unless you have their college fund already sitting there in the bank or else you will feel their wrath when they are 29 like me and unable to start their career. I'm going to be 50 or w/e and I'll be just getting my foot in the door! That's BULL****!!

Anyway, is anyone else mad as hell?

I'm ashamed for you.

 

[SaroDarksbane]

Re: So where's my college fund?

Telling students that they can just work a job and get a student loan to cover everything is just a pack of lies.

I paid my tuition with student loans and the money I made delivering for Pizza Hut for several years.

I repeat: Suck it up.

Also: It sounds like you picked a poor field of study. Also your fault.

 

[KremBanan]

Re: So where's my college fund?

And how people survive with comfort? By doing high studies. Just look at the economic crisis. It ain't the heart surgeon that suffer. It's those people who don't have a degree at all or who are having a small degree.

Yea...high studies is the best and only way...not. If the everybody was a surgeon, teacher, accountant, dentist etc where would one get for example food from?

Now, by forcing you child to work during his studies, you are denying him time to learn. Time he could have spend learning quantum physics. Who are you to prevent your child from learning at his capacities? Who are you to forcing him to serve people while he could be reinventing the general theory of relativity?

Im not gonna force him to work during his studying. If he wants to study, that will be his choice.

I agree that you can teach you child many interesting aspect about life by no paying for his education. Yet 1) you are playing with aspect that are much more important and 2) don't you think you should have thought him most of those things already? Or that it can't wait 5 years?

First off, education isnt more important. It isnt less important either. And where do you see that Im gonna hold him back from school because I want him to go to the "school of life" instead?
By the time he starts(if he starts) higher education(yes, I will encourage him to study, but Im not gonna force him), I hopefully will have learned him most things.

There is a time for everything. And learning should be done when the time is there, not at age 40 - nofi.

Where do you get the age 40 from???

 

[NASE]

Re: So where's my college fund?

Yea...high studies is the best and only way...not. If the everybody was a surgeon, teacher, accountant, dentist etc where would one get for example food from?

But why would you want to be a farmer when you can be a teacher or engineer. Some people like farming, and I'm glad they do. Yet some people should do other things.
I can't speak for other professions, yet there are always engineers short. Why not take the advantage of the study and the life that comes with it if you can. And some of those potential engineers can't afford to work, and some don't want to loan for education*.

Im not gonna force him to work during his studying. If he wants to study, that will be his choice.

Then you are forcing him to take a loan. How else is he going to pay for his education.
perhaps there are school that are cheap, yet I know one thing, everyone can go to university in the U.S. It's barely the degree that counts, it's the university that counts. So going to a cheap university isn't something good.

Where do you get the age 40 from???

from jmervyn - who I see as a victime of the system. Everyone would be better off as he would have gotten his masters at 25.


*: And every is talking about loan. Haven't you learned anything from the financial crisis? Loaning isn't good. Let me end with an advise my father gave me.
"There is exactly one things you can loan for and that's your house. If needed a loan for a car can be tolerated of that's needed for your work. Yet in all other cases, a loan is a bad thing."

Certainly because there isn't anything you can give them in return. If you fail to pay for your house, they can take your house. Yet if you fail at your studies, or if you fail to pay your car, what can you give them in return. Noting. And that's a huge problem.

 

[KremBanan]

Re: So where's my college fund?

But why would you want to be a farmer when you can be a teacher or engineer. Some people like farming, and I'm glad they do. Yet some people should do other things.
I can't speak for other professions, yet there are always engineers short. Why not take the advantage of the study and the life that comes with it if you can. And some of those potential engineers can't afford to work, and some don't want to loan for education*.

Why would you want to be a teacher or engineer when you can be a farmer or fisherman? Some people like teaching, and Im glad they do. yet some people should do other things.

Then you are forcing him to take a loan. How else is he going to pay for his education.
perhaps there are school that are cheap, yet I know one thing, everyone can go to university in the U.S. It's barely the degree that counts, it's the university that counts. So going to a cheap university isn't something good.

Through scholarships. And if he wants more money while he studies, its his choice to either get a studentloan or work.

from jmervyn - who I see as a victime of the system. Everyone would be better off as he would have gotten his masters at 25.

Who knows what would happen if he got it at 25. Maybe he would have been sick to death after he had finished and regrettet it. He might even thought that he should had gone for farming instead...

*: And every is talking about loan. Haven't you learned anything from the financial crisis?

I havent had problems during this financial crisis. Very few of my countrymen have had problems. Ofc, some lost their jobs, but some also got a job. The interest was very high for 3 months and then it went back to normal,..no biggie.

Let me end with an advise my father gave me.
"There is exactly one things you can loan for and that's your house. If needed a loan for a car can be tolerated of that's needed for your work. Yet in all other cases, a loan is a bad thing."

Certainly because there isn't anything you can give them in return. If you fail to pay for your house, they can take your house. Yet if you fail at your studies, or if you fail to pay your car, what can you give them in return. Noting. And that's a huge problem.

Imo, the best reason for taking up a loan is for education.

 

[jmervyn]

Re: So where's my college fund?

Who knows what would happen if he got it at 25. Maybe he would have been sick to death after he had finished and regrettet it. He might even thought that he should had gone for farming instead...

Honestly, it was probably best that I didn't. I received an Active Duty commission so there wasn't much choice, but considering some of the sad sacks that were on the extended college plan (i.e. getting a doctorate off of daddy without ever having held a job) I wouldn't have had anywhere near as beneficial a set of life experiences.

As for farming, that's the fallback position. :thumbup:

As for stillman's original emo rant, my opinion is unchanged. Yes, life isn't fair, etc. etc. but he wasn't talking about the admittedly ridiculous charges for degrees so much as that his parents didn't foot the bill.

 

[PFSS]

Re: So where's my college fund?

No, this is a thread for people who are angry at the widening gap between the rich and the poor. This is for people who are fed up with this old fashion notion that you can work at a restaurant and pay tuition with your tip money. What nonsense. These are not the old days. We are being gouged. You think I'm the one who needs to look at reality? No, we need to tell the older generations that things have changed. Telling students that they can just work a job and get a student loan to cover everything is just a pack of lies.

The details of my life are quite inconsequential... very well, where do I begin?

EDIT: I'll spare you the sob story. But I will guarantee you that there are several on this board who have had hard or even horrific lives who went though very very very hard times to get to where they are. And I will further guarantee you that their experiences have been dwarfed by the experiences of others out there.

It would be great if you had parents who were able to provide those things to you but, speaking as someone who had to make it though university the hard way, I think when you make it though too you'll eventually realize that the hard times have made you into a stronger person. In this global economic ****fest I'm seeing the strong and the weak - I see some people fall to pieces when they lose their jobs and I see others take it on the chin and work out what to do next, which for them is whatever it takes. You make it though all this and you should find yourself in the second group, and the lessons you learn will be unavailable to those who had it easy.

Lots of people have hard lives. **** happens. It's not fair. I have several friends who had things much worse than me who managed to get though OK too. You sound like you have made it this far, you've obviously got it in you to make it further - but don't fall into the trap of "if only X", because it isn't. Once you start down the road of it being someone else's fault or because of a chance missed you are basically starting to give up. Keep fighting. Also seriously consider a better paying career.

 

[NASE]

Re: So where's my college fund?

Imo, the best reason for taking up a loan is for education.

Because there isn't any other option. That doesn't make it a smart idea.
If the government would take their responsibility, it would be a different story.