https://x.com/JoshBobrowsky/status/1989869549135577451
I’ve reached the point where this is real to my family. I have one in college and while he won’t graduate debt free, I’m going to make sure it is a manageable amount and he is pursuing a useful degree.
With the inflation of home prices and all of this student debt, I don’t understand how anyone thinks the current generation stands a chance of ever realizing the American dream - not without inheriting it, which only a small fraction will.
clt says trades are looking like a great option
Right there with you. I have one in college now and a high school senior looking at colleges for next fall. Seriously considering community college for the first two years and then transfer to a larger 4 year school. Colleges in VA are expensive. You guys in NC don’t know how good you have it, imo.
It is a shame because I have an optimistic view of higher education regardless of what the major is. It is important for a population to achieve a status of deeper thought and reflection, whether it is engineering or art. I don’t believe we as a society have prioritized the importance of holistic education. Now that it is prohibitively expensive to achieve, we funnel everyone into degrees or trades that will pay. It is no longer a means for fulfilling lives but a means to an end.
I tell students all the time that there really aren’t worthless degrees. There are, however, students without a plan. Accumulating debt without any sense of direction is a bad idea.
That is a problem but not one that should exist. We shouldn’t require people to accrue significant debt for public education.
I think part of the problem is that in high-school they are in the grades game. Kids go to college and don’t realize the game has changed thinking I get a 4.0 and someone is going to hand me a job when I graduate. Don’t ask me how I know.
I absolutely believe student loans that almost anyone can qualify for are the main reason the cost of college is so high. Loans have allowed universities to continue raising the cost to attend because there is a seemingly never ending supply of students willing to take on massive debt to attend. And there is very little preventing them from getting approved for the loans. Without loans, universities would have to keep the cost of attendance down or have much smaller enrollments.
That is certainly an economic theory to describe it. However, people who have studied this have found it was a sputtering economy in the 1970’s coupled with a decrease in public funding for grants in favor for loans. The economy collapse caused tuition and fees to skyrocket while the decrease in public funding created a new problem for students to accrue larger debt than before. What it sounds like to me is we need more public (state or federal) funding for grants in favor of subsidized loans.
Some kids go to out of state schools because it’s cool, their friends are going there and whatever else’s stupid reason. The out of state tuition is stupid.
how about a kid wanting to be a teacher going out of state or just to expensive private institution? Some of the blame has to go on parenting. No way I’m paying for out of state unless I see brain surgeon in my kids future.
Agree on the parents. We have told ours they’re going in state public unless they get scholarships to make whatever else choice the same price or cheaper than in state. It makes zero sense otherwise with the exception being the kid won the brain and motivation lottery. Motivation probably being the more important factor to some degree.
Some kids can go to out of state schools because it’s actually cheaper than going to an in state school. My daughter could have gone to NC State (out of state) for less cost than it would have been to attend William & Mary (in state). Both are public schools. I tell anyone that will listed to hit up the private schools. Sure, the tuition sticker price may seem sky high, but no one pays the sticker price and the privates have WAY more merit based aid than publics. Comes in really handy when FAFSA is useless.
I have a Junior now and am having a hard time planning how all this works, he isn’t a book smart kid by any means but I still want him to get a college degree. There are a lot of people saying you don’t need one anymore but I haven’t seen that in real life especially if the economy starts going south, kids with 4 year degrees are going to get jobs over those that don’t period.
Saving is another weird thing, so if I save more I won’t be eligible for aid….. so if I save nothing I’ll get more… another thing that seems to reward the people that don’t plan in this country.
Our daughter is a senior at Charlotte now. She took advantage of the opportunity to take transfer classes through the local community college while she was in high school. She got her associates degree there before transferring to Charlotte and should graduate with us only paying for 4 semesters. I’m glad she had the motivation to do that. I know many kids, including our 2 sons, do not have that kind of motivation. It saved us a lot of money.
Yeah I’d recommend the 2 years of community college first. If you’re still in the Charlotte area, CPCC is one of the best in the region. Most people I met at UNCC did two years of CC first, most out in Wake County. It’s just much cheaper for them to do it.
It is a catch-22 but it is there for those who do not have a lot. I was fortunate to survive on grants during my education. I wouldn’t have been able to do it otherwise.
It’s more the reason for the public universities to offer more grants in lieu of loans. Apparently that’s what we used to do
My oldest started college as a sophomore because he took college classes through cpcc as a HS senior. Could have done more I think, but he wanted to have a little fun in H.S.
I’m still down with him graduating in 3 years though.
My daughter did the community college thing while still in high school so started college as a junior. That’s cool from a cost perspective but can be tough on a kid jumping in to upper level classes while still emotionally being a freshman. They are also pressured to pick a major much more quickly than a true freshman. Now, my son I had to stay on constantly just to submit applications. Any school requesting multiple essays he immediately ruled out. He’ll probably end up doing regular community college and then transferring to a four-year school. I think he’s ok with that.
Community college for the first two years is going to be the standard.
My Kids graduated from NC St and Clemson. We were able to put them through debt free and now they both make more than I do, lol. And I ain’t broke for the record. School is a good thing but it’s not for everybody.
for kids like them that are high performers, great. For idiots like me that got through Charlotte with mediocre grades I’d have been better going to Surry Community for two years and then figuring it out. There isn’t a one size fits all for education…