Posted on 04/30/2011 7:47:27 PM PDT by Captain Peter Blood
Today I had lunch with my sister and nice to discuss college plans. She will be graduating next month and we haven’t finalized plans on where she is going.
She is a very good student with 3.5 GPA but is not a good standardized test taker, in that she takes after her uncle.
Her first choice for school is the University of Arkansas in our home state. Main problem has been that the university requires a minimum of 19 on the ACT and her best score of the several she has taken has been 18.
So we have been exploring other options on where to go, mainly schools that have a lower Act requirement.
My Sister and niece have been looking at out of state schools, which is fine, but you then have to factor in out of state tuition costs.
So today I get an idea of the costs involved in going to college and sticker shock hit me.
Today’s college costs bear no resemblance to those I experienced when I was an undergrad. Costs have been going up but it’s obvious that the rises in costs outstrip even those of medical or inflation.
I find out today that to go to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, carrying a full load, 18 hours, will cost approximately $20,000 a year. To go to ,say the University of Mississippi at Oxford, about $30,000 a year.
As some of you might know the only growth in loan activity, which has exploded, is student loans. Sallie Mae loans are now totally controlled by the Federal Government thanks to bill passed within the last two years and signed by Mr. Obama.
The fact of the matter is that unless you have a college fund started when a child is born or very wealthy parents the cost of going to college are out of reach for the majority of those that want to go.
Ergo the only choice you really have is student loans, which you become saddled with for the rest of your life, unless you pay them off in a timely manner.
The average kid is probably looking at about $100,000 or more of student loans when they leave school. Of course they give wonderful easy payment options as I found out when I checked the Sallie Mae website. Also they make very easy to apply and get those loans.
As far as I am concerned it’s an insidious plot designed to put these kids on the hook. The Federal Government has become the local loan shark of last and only resort.
It’s not possible for a kid to work and put themselves through school in this day and age without having financial help in some aspect.
Because of the easy loans and the mantra being bandied about that everyone should be able to go to college it’s an easy trap to fall into, or rather shoved into.
Still have to sort all this out but I would say that in the end it’s like Las Vegas, the odds are with the house i.i. The Federal Government, we may have to consider those student loans if my niece wants to go and have that opportunity for a college education.
Student Loan Debt Hell: 21 Statistics That Will Make You Think Twice About Going To College
I am so sorry for your loss and I’m glad that the debt was forgiven.
“People always complain about how much docs make, but by the time we actually become debt-free, other people have been in their careers for close to 20 years. “
I hear you; docs have my total sympathy.
I think maybe those interested in medicine should go outside of our country to get their degree?
Anyway, I don’t complain about the salary of doctors. I think it is the hardest degree and one of the most difficult jobs a person can have, and if people think they are overpaid, why don’t they go to med school and become one I wonder?
I say that about anyone who complains about somebody being “overpaid.” For example they complain prison guards are over paid. Well, then, why don’t they become a prison guard? Obvious reasons.
NO, nobody do that! I make less as a lawyer than I did teaching public school. I am LUCKY to be employed as a lawyer. I am better off than most of my ex-classmates. Things are much worse now than when I graduated, too. Only go to law school if you get a free ride. (Or, if you can go to Harvard.)
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