I rent a 160sqft Pole Barn, 18k for 3 years

[hunterridgefarm]

Just make sure the boy stays through the entire time to get his masters.
One of my sons was working on his masters and left a semester early to take a job and was gonna finish right up. Took him 2.5 years to do that last semester even with my constant hounding
Oh and to remain an active student he had to still pay some tuition each semester of those 2.5 years....
Hated to see all that money "go to waste". We paid for the 4 year degree, he did have some scholarship and intern money, the masters was all at his expense. Still was very proud to attend his delayed masters graduation last month!

He has a good head on his shoulders but what he decides after a couple of years could change. His mom went back to get her masters a year after we graduated and married. I was going for mine once she finished hers...never seemed to have the time. I had a chance to become a professors assistant and get my masters but was broke and had to leave with the BS and get a job.

So we told him just to stay and get the masters it would be a lot easier.

 

[Reg]

$14.4K for one year, to board your horse:shocked:I don't think I want to live near Ballstone.

If you had enough land around the dormitory belt you might (-:
I don't, but there are other little businesses that survive quite nicely on people who can spend that sort of money on boarding their horses (yes, plural horses per owner).

I might adopt "Ballstone", or "Ball stone" into my vocab - thanks.

 

[mjarrels]

Both of my kids are in college now, one a senior and one a freshman. Son lives rent free in my other house and daughter still lives at home. Job market looks bleak for college grads. I don't think a college degee is what it use to be. Willing to bet my local plumber or HVAC tech makes more money. What I do see are some folk who get a job as a college professor and stay there for life and probably could not make it in the real world.

mark

 

[Chuck52]

Both of my kids are in college now, one a senior and one a freshman. Son lives rent free in my other house and daughter still lives at home. Job market looks bleak for college grads. I don't think a college degee is what it use to be. Willing to bet my local plumber or HVAC tech makes more money. What I do see are some folk who get a job as a college professor and stay there for life and probably could not make it in the real world.

mark

Pick a subject. Try to teach it at the college level to other people's children. Then come and talk to me about the "real" world.

Chuck

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Willing to bet my local plumber or HVAC tech makes more money.
mark

Reminds me of a story.

A plumber does some work for an attorney. Hands the attornry the bill; the attorney grabs his chest and says "I have been an attorney for 20 years and don't make this kind of money". Plumber says " I did not make this kind of money either, when I was an attorney":laughing:.

 

[Reg]

Sometime about 20 or 25 years ago I saw data that showed it was machinists who made the best lifetime money.
It may have been tool and die specialists, it might have been for those who start their own "cellar shops", but they were WAY ahead of many doctors and legal specialties.

This was just before CNC really caught on, i.e. Bridgeport and lathe skills were what mattered.

Very short time to very good money at a very early age, no college loans to pay back, no mal-practice insurance expenses, etc.

 

[scgargoyle]

Just make sure the boy stays through the entire time to get his masters.
One of my sons was working on his masters and left a semester early to take a job and was gonna finish right up. Took him 2.5 years to do that last semester even with my constant hounding
Oh and to remain an active student he had to still pay some tuition each semester of those 2.5 years....
Hated to see all that money "go to waste". We paid for the 4 year degree, he did have some scholarship and intern money, the masters was all at his expense. Still was very proud to attend his delayed masters graduation last month!

My son seems pretty focused- has been all through college. He would have gotten an even better scholarship if he'd been more focused in high school, but at least he eventually caught on.

BTW- I'm in tool & die (mold maker, to be precise). It USED to be a great trade, and I guy could make good money and always have job security. Now most tool work is done in China (what else is new) at ridiculously low prices. We can buy a finished mold from China cheaper than we can buy the raw materials here.

 

[Sigarms]

Job market looks bleak for college grads.

Sad fact is that there are probably too many kids in the US that are in college today that don't belong in college.

Trades today are becoming a thing of the past because it seems kids think they are "too good" to actually work with their hands.

What I do see are some folk who get a job as a college professor and stay there for life and probably could not make it in the real world.

And I see the same thing with guys who put in their 20 and retire.

 

[dave1949]

"Ballstone" That's funny. I never thought about what Boston must sound like to people from further south. I know my wife and I used to burst out laughing while watching TV and somebody with a Downeast Maine accent was speaking. It lands funny on the ears for a good many years. I've lived in Maine 16 years and people still ask me where I am from.

Kids, college & trades:

Kids by and large believe what we indoctrinate them to believe. There are darn few books, tv or movie stories staring a plumber, electrician, etc. where their trade is inherent to the story.

Think about the role models held up to kids and it's no wonder they make the choices they make. Al, the electrician, is not doing Nike commercials. I don't think it has to do with getting dirty or working with your hands as much as just being in the dark about trades.

There are a several generations of children now that never had to make anything with their hands and tools after kindergarten. How would they learn or understand the pleasures and rewards of that? Urbanization of the population plays a role too. I bet lots of us older rural people went out to the shop or garage and started tinkering with something as kids and that grew into a challenge/desire to make something useful. Not many shops and garages in high-rise apartment complexes. And you don't see home-made go karts and minibikes running around in the 'burbs much either.

Also, history has worked against trades ever since the latter stages of the Industrial Revolution. Whatever comparisons people made that took them to the factories in droves, there must have been a reason for that. Maybe they were scratching out a living on a farm and the steady paycheck looked good. On the farm, things got built and fixed all the time. In the factory, that was somebody else's job. Now the factories are declining and it's natural for people to look around at alternatives.

On the college side, it cannot be denied that suitable people can make a comfortable living working with their minds only.
Dave.

 

[300UGUY]

Sometime about 20 or 25 years ago I saw data that showed it was machinists who made the best lifetime money.
It may have been tool and die specialists, it might have been for those who start their own "cellar shops", but they were WAY ahead of many doctors and legal specialties.

This was just before CNC really caught on, i.e. Bridgeport and lathe skills were what mattered.

Very short time to very good money at a very early age, no college loans to pay back, no mal-practice insurance expenses, etc.

When I started in Tool & Die in the early 70's, Toolmaking was considered the "queen of trades" here in Michigan. The work was very steady, usually 58 hours per week, and the hourly rate was good. But by the 80's more outsourcing was going on in basic manufacturing industries such as auto, machinery, appliances. Toolmakers service those industries. And when the industry moves offshore, eventually the service industry does also. Toolmakers here in Michigan are making less than they did 20 years ago. I haven't known of a toolmaker apprentice in 20 years. Most journeymen are 50+. It is now considered a dying trade. I have seen real nice bridgeports and decent lathes for under $500. Some of the shops that have gone out of biz lately don't even have an auction, they just call the scrap man. They get more $$ out of the old equipment that way, and pay no auction expenses. I have a couple of friends that have small shops, and they are struggling. There busineses have withered away.