The best way to make anything incredibly expensive is to tell gov't to make it "affordable"!
Posted on 09/23/2011 12:30:37 AM PDT by Libloather
Day of Action ends in violence, two arrests
Calm protest punctuated by violent episodes
By J.D. Morris & Javier Panzar
Updated Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 11:33 pm
**SNIP**
Once inside, protesters continued to rally, their clamoring cries of “They say cut back, we say fight back” and other chants reverberating down the halls. After marching the length of the second floor hallway, demonstrators eventually gathered in room 2308.
In the classroom, the tenor of the demonstration cooled to a largely calm discussion — save a few tense reactions to the presence of police officers and local television media — in which the demonstrators introduced themselves to one another and shared thoughts about the condition of the university and the state.
“My dad is a gardener, my mom is a maid — I come from immigrant families, and how the hell am I supposed to afford this education?” asked freshman Stephanie Benitez.
Should the UC Board of Regents approve a multi-year plan that could send tuition and fees skyrocketing to over $22,000 by 2015, Benitez said she would no longer be able to afford her enrollment.
After discussing mounting student debt, the conversation shifted to building momentum for a planned walkout in early November.
Several protesters stressed the need for a thorough organizing effort in order to get large numbers of students to turn out. The walkout is being organized for Nov. 9 and 10 by United Auto Workers Local 2865, a union representing UC graduate students, readers and tutors.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycal.org ...
“My dad is a gardener, my mom is a maid — I come from immigrant families, and how the hell am I supposed to afford this education?” asked freshman Stephanie Benitez.
What do your parents’s incomes have to do with anything? They’ve been supporting you all along. Get a job, SAVE your money, apply for the countless numbers of grants and scholarships out there—you know, WORK for what you want.
I can tell you first hand as someone who until recently worked at a school and who now works with school-age kids, there is TONS of money out there for those who truly want an education—you just have to look.
I guess that’s me being an eeeeevil capitalist, though.
The key element of American society...is that you run your own life. You build the steps to a successful career. If you X amount of money, then you take that and squeeze it for as much education as possible. If you can only afford a local community college situation for two years...then do it and find a real job afterwards. If you push your position in life up a notch in five years....fine, start with night-school via a local college or distance-learning, and go after the bachelor’s degree then when you can afford it.
This is the American system. Tens of millions did it this way in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Fantastic careers were built step by step. What I see from the current crowd of naive youngsters....is that they want someone else to cover costs...like a free ride. They figure that a great job will result out of the four-year degree. In some cases, you just might end up as the local manager of a car-rental enterprise...making as much money as the guy who was there before with a year of some community college.
Part of the education bubble.
Fantastic post—post of the day, in fact.
I work with ‘troubled’ kids and lately am thinking of throwing in the towel, because they just don’t want to lift a finger to improve their lives.
I live at a much, much lower level economically than my friends, but that’s my choice, and I am living a life I love (while my friends who make 3-5 times what I make are miserable).
THAT is the American Dream—you get to CHOOSE your own life. It isn’t about America GIVING you things. It’s about America being a platform from which you can TRY to be anything your talent, desire and perseverance can make you. No guarantees—it’s about opportunity, not ‘giving’ you your dream life.
You said it perfectly: “The key element of American society...is that you run your own life.”
The problem today is that we have people who come here or are born here with the mentality not of 1984 but of Brave New World—they aren’t afraid of Big Government running their lives—they’re afraid Big Government WON’T run their lives.
Among the options is simply to go Galt on the pricey schools. They’ll cut their costs, the redundant research subsidies, etc. that make a schooling far more expensive than it has to be, if their student customers dry up.
I’d argue that college is much more expensive these days.
And I’d argue that it is much like the housing industry. When you have government backing easy money loans and grants to buy a house or an education, it drives the price up on those things. It makes the higher costs more “affordable” so the housing industry and the education industry milk it for all they can get.
The difference is the housing industry is having its correction. The education industry hasn’t had its yet. But it will. And when it does, those who paid through the nose now are going to be bitter about left holding the debt bag - along with the taxpayers...
See #7.
Community colleges in CA cost $540 a semester. If you can't afford the Cadillac you just have to drive the Ford.
Slogans are great social policy ~!
Lets simplify it- "They say no more money for me, I say GIVE ME MONEY OR ELSE"
This sounds to me like a rich opportunity for new private colleges to open.
Charge $5K a semester- no frils- and provide serious study, and you’re golden. No politics, no extra-curricular activites, work-study means you actually work cleaning up the school or mowing the laws there...
We have a WINNER!
The cost of college is ridiculous. Everyone complains about the cost of healthcare, but college has gone up even faster, for no good reason. Waste is rampant. They need to get rid of unions, and lower saleries, especially adminstration, dump the political indoctrination classes, put classes online, etc. to bring costs down to where people can afford it without going into hawk for the rest of their lives just to get a degree.
I say to young Ms. Benitez that there is this wonderful little thing called the GI Bill, which in getting you also get some wonderful side benefits as well.
I have never heard of anyone begrudging a serviceperson the GI Bill.
OK, so you don't want to pay for it, but you have no problem having someone ELSE pay for it, Steph? How about community college! How about getting a job and earning the tuition yourself, you lazy, freeloading commie!
Her parents are probably illegals and she may be as well. Further, it is obvious from her snivelling that she has never worked for anything in her life and the world owes whatever she wants.
I see this sort of thing and recall decades ago, at the table with my then-Democrat parents (they became Republicans with Reagan) and their Democrat parents. All of those Democrats would have demanded an illegal be tossed out of the country, and such a whiney baby get a job and get a life.
Now I get into these ridiculous discussions with Democrats and it's like I'm talking to Martians.
That is not the point. You all with your “get a job” mantra....
The point is that the “university” is stealing by creating bloated budgets and salaries for those liberals in academia and making a college education available only to the elites due to the expense.
When I was in school, I earned $90 a week at my job as a hostess at a restaurant, got student loans and paid $750 a semester not counting books. I graduated with $5,000.00 in loans. These days those numbers are laughable.
My parents part in the deal was I lived at home the first year and they gave me $10 a week. They worked for Catholic newpapers.
The best way to make anything incredibly expensive is to tell gov't to make it "affordable"!
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