Got The Call Yesterday

[KubotaSteve]

Now my 14 year old daughter will be another issue in a few years. She wants to go to school in the Phillippines... Might be cost effective in the long run.

Until she gets homesick and wants to come home every weekend . I worked with several people who are from the Phillippines and flights can be quite expensive not to mention long. They usually save their leave up and take six weeks at a time when going back to the Phillippines.

 

[dmccarty]

Well, I agree about the 50-100K part, but not about the degree part.

George, we are really on the same page...

There is nothing wrong with getting an English degree. However it is insane to go into 50-100K worth of debt to get the degree. There are far cheaper ways to get the education. I used this as an example after hearing a women on the radio talking about helping her daughter go to school. The kid wanted to go to Columbia I think. She wanted to be in NYC to "experience" the lifestyle. She could get a free education in one of the FLA universities. She also had a free ride or almost paid for education at very good school in/near Chicago. But she wanted to go into debt to got to NYC. The mom was going into debt as well to help her.

That is stupid. She had other great educational options that would not drag her down for finacially for years but she wanted to live in NYC. The mom should have just told her to take a year off of school, go wait tables in NYC and then go study.

And I do think we should have more liberal arts education. The lack of history is a major problem in the world. But time is money. While education for education sake is a good thing one still has to pay the bills and that expensive education does need to pay for itself since most of us don't have the money of a Gates or Buffet.

I have a technical degree but I took a huge number of hours in History classes. I would have loved to have gone and gotten a PHd at Duke, Penn State or University of PA. Even with Penn State, a PHd in History would be expensive and as the Old Man rightfully said, "A ticket to starvation." My father is now retired, but he was a Professor/Chairman, for most of his life and all my memories are him in school either as a student or a teacher. We used to argue, errr discuss, education frequently. He did not like the idea of college being a vocational school. Nor do I but the reality is a degree is a huge investment of time and money. There does need to be a money return for most people.

Later,
Dan

 

[MarkV]

My daughter paid for her Bachelors and Masters degrees by going to school part time and working full time. It is what she wanted to do and got straight “A’s” while doing it. (she must have gotten that from her Mother) Naturally we are proud of her. What she did was work for a company that valued higher education and would pay tuition cost at the end of a semester for any employee that completed the semester with a B or better average. There are actually quite a few companies and government jobs that will do that and it is a good plan for those who don’t have the resources to pay out of pocket.

I have two nephews that were guaranteed a free education by their Grandparents as long as they received passing grades. Both made it through less than one year of extreme party 101 and lost their free ride. Both have matured a bit and now go to a Community College part time while they work full time to pay for school.

I think many kids would benefit from taking a year off and working some of the lousy jobs I have for a year before going to school. Something about killing yourself day after day for little money can make one realize this is not what they want the rest of their lives. A year off working and saving also provides a sort of ‘pride of ownership’ when their savings is paying for part of the school bill. It is a lot harder to screw off with your money than it is with someone else’s. Finally I think a year in the work world helps kids define what their actual goals are for school. So many kids hit college without any idea what they want school to teach them to be. If they just keep taking basic study courses without a goal in mind, they can’t see how it is getting them closer to their personal pot of gold. It is hard to stay motivated when you can’t see where it is going.

MarkV

 

[N80]

Evenin George,
Yeah, but didnt you guys get together with the local female college up the road for friday night dances ..... etc ???

Well, yes. It is called the College of Charleston. It is an all girl school (the guys there don't like that assessment but what can you do when you're a girly-man?)

In fact, I married a College of Charleston girl. (She actually transferred there after we'd been dating a good while.

The city of Charleston is what made enduring the rigors of military school worth it. Fantastic city. Lots of fabulous ways to get in trouble.

 

[N80]

Most people ask "why?", the Engineer asks "why not?", the person with the liberal arts degree asks "Do you want fries with that?"

Yes, tell that to Pat Conroy. Author. Citadel graduate. Multibazzillionaire. English major.

See posts to follow on further discussion regarding major selection.

 

[N80]

While education for education sake is a good thing one still has to pay the bills and that expensive education does need to pay for itself since most of us don't have the money of a Gates or Buffet.

I think the problem is that we're assuming that the nature of the degree will dictate the financial success of the individual. This is not the case, the individual will dictate their financial success, not their degree. Believe me guys, I know doctors who have been through med school and residency who are now selling used cars. Literally. And they are not good at that either.

Many of the English majors that I knew in college are now lawyers. My wife majored in art history ! ! and now works as a reporter/columnist. My brother was a History major. He has a masters in history and in education and teaches in the South Carolina public school system and makes a very decent living along with his wife who was an English major and is now an attorney.

Let's face it. A lot of kids go to college for fun and for the 'experience'. If the money is there, who am I to criticisize them or their parents. A lot of kids go just so they can make a buck when they get out and college is nothing more than a financial investment. I won't criticize that either but I personally don't think it is any better than the first.

And going back to my initial paragraph I used the term 'financial success." That term has a lot of meanings to a lot of people. To some it means being able to buy all the stuff they want. To others it means having enough to get by and living in dignity. I know I'll be in the minority here, and likely to be called a hypocrit, but money isn't everything. Just look at how unhappy so many of the people with everything are! There are too many people in this country for whom college was a good financial investment but a horrible investment when it comes to living and understanding life and why we are here at all.

If the only reason we are here is to buy stuff, then the technicalization of the university system has been a grand, extravagant success! I want my kids to be able to support themselves when they get out of college but I want them to be better people for the experience too. If all college is going to be is a step to a good job, as I mentioned before, our excellent local tech school can provide a much better return on investment than a 4 year state or private university.

 

[hazmat]

Well said George.

Judging by the couple recent plumbing bills I've paid, I would be $$$ ahead if I went to a vocational high school and Dad gave me $25K to start my business vs. the >$100K that my engineering degree cost...

 

[dmccarty]

Judging by the couple recent plumbing bills I've paid, I would be $$$ ahead if I went to a vocational high school and Dad gave me $25K to start my business vs. the >$100K that my engineering degree cost...

And they can't offshore the plumber's job....

Later,
Dan

 

[TrippleT]

That is like the Dr who called a plumber, and the guy worked about half an hour and sent the Dr a bill for about one hundred dollars. The Dr got on the phone and called the plumber and said, I am a Dr, and I don't make that kind of money!
The plumber said, I didn't when I was working as a Dr either.
Seriously, don't get into one of these loans with floating interest. My daughter borrowed eight grand and we have paid on that thing for thirteen years and still owe six grand and owed more last month than the previous month. It is a never ending situation. No wonder so many students default on their loans.

 

[hazmat]

...
Seriously, don't get into one of these loans with floating interest. My daughter borrowed eight grand and we have paid on that thing for thirteen years and still owe six grand and owed more last month than the previous month. It is a never ending situation. No wonder so many students default on their loans.

Sounds like you are overdue to refinance that one