Havana Medical School Sees First Grads

the Gaurdian ^ | Sunday August 21, 2005 3:01 AM | By VANESSA ARRINGTON

[LauraleeBraswell]

You'll be paying off those loans for the rest of your life.

[cyborg]

Yeah and sacrificing one's family in order to work to pay that and the malpractice insurance too.

[Shawndell Green]

You get what you pay for. My daughter could have gone to the University of Houston on a full scholarship, but chose instead to go to Rice and work and take out loans. Of course we are helping out too.

You pays your money and you takes your chances.

Since different people have different priorities, there is no single correct answer to the question of whether to go to a state school or a private school.

[LauraleeBraswell]

The college system screws the middle class. You can get in if your poor, you can get in if your rich.

[cyborg]

YES.

[Shawndell Green]

She will pay them off the year after she graduates.

[cyborg]

The 'you get what you pay for thing' is not true all the time. I think the salesmen of private universities like to say that a lot in order to make more money. You are right about priorities. Some people do have different priorities. It's nice that you can help your daughter out financially but not everyone has that blessing. Some people have to work,etc. to pay bills too. That's life.

[Shawndell Green]

Bull. I am not poor and I am not rich and my daughter got into a good private school and it is no great financial burden on us or her for her to get a good education.

She was home-schooled and went to the local community college at fifteen. After three years at the local community college at $300 per semester, she transferred to Rice. By May, she will be a chemical engineer with a degree from Rice University. You talk socialist nonsense and we are in the process of getting 'er done.

[Shawndell Green]

"Some people have to work,etc. to pay bills too."

We have bills too. It is all a matter of priorities.

[Clock King]

I agree. Two other things. There is nothing to stop the creation of private universities outside of the confines of the US. If Government were to socialize say, Yale, then the new spot for the rich elite would be Oxford or Heidelberg. It won't change anything. Second, it would severly devalue a college degree, even moreso than it is now. You would need a Bachelor's just to get a job as a garbageman. This has already happened to some extent: a Master's is becoming the minimum for upper-middle class jobs, and the vaunted M.B.A. is so common, nobody cares anymore. Like much in life, value is based on how hard an individual is willing to work for it. If it's just given away or "free for all", then it becomes valueless.

[cyborg]

Well okay it's apparent you're not wanting to understand what I'm saying so I'm going to leave this thread alone. Have a nice weekend.

[LauraleeBraswell]

Well that's all fine for your daughter, but for many other people they are limited. If you have the test scores you should be able to get into any school you want. But for many of us, that's not possible. Don't you understand, We [The tax payers] subsidize these schools tremendously already.

[takbodan]

"How can one not afford Harvard Med?" One could be a military doctor for a few years and uncle sam would pay off the loan or practice in an underserved rural area and have it paid off. Sounds a little to cute to be the whole story.

[Coleus]

Harvard med. to Cuba? couldn't they find a cheaper medical school here in the states.

[CaptainK]

SUNY professors are almost always Ivy League PhDs. It was my experience that the SUNY four year colleges do not rely on adjunct professors as often as private schools do. Cliché, cliché ...you get out of college what you put into it.

[cyborg]

I don't get it either but the person wasn't a citizen. Hence, they paid out of state tuition. Going to a SUNY school at out-of-state tuition rates is a CRIME *lol* I think this person just had very selfish family who figured they made it with nothing in America and so can she. So sad.

[cyborg]

I remember that too for a microfraction of the tuition of NYU or Columbia. My biology prof was a nobel prize winner.

[CaptainK]

I have two relatives who went to Ivy Leagues and have the crushing debt to prove it. The people in the family who are best off financially have all spent time in the state university system.

[conservatrice]

I have worked at a public 4 year college and I have worked at a very similar private 4 year college. I found that the private school WASTED more money than the public school. I'd say that the public school was just as good but cost at least $10k less per year. The only differences were that the private school had manicured lawns, beautiful dorms with big screen TVs, heavily subsidized clubs, and better "services." The private school had even more adjuncts than the public school. Which one is better for a student? I guess it depends on the students priorities.... but both provided similar educations.

This example is not uncommon. More and more schools are boosting their amenities to attract students, not their educational programs. Between the two, I'd send my kids to the public university any day. College is an education, not a resort.

[CaptainK]

There are professors in the state schools with stellar scholastic backgrounds. The best of them always made themselves accessible to the students and that is more important than any amenity that a private school could offer.