"Only two jobs? Why that lazy lima bean."
Posted on 09/04/2015 11:08:19 AM PDT by Academiadotorg
*Professorial types are excited by a plan, courtesy of Michael L. Hays of New Mexico, to solve the college debt crisis. The irony is, it would put the onus of responsibility for college loans on some of the most irresponsible institutions in the United States today—colleges and local and state governments.
“We need to put college funding on a sensible basis,” Hayes, a PhD, writes.
“The government should not lend money indiscriminately to anyone who wants it for college: serious students, students unsure of their purposes, students for whom college is a substitute for unemployment, students who want a two- or four-year vacation, etc. Instead, it should lend to colleges based on their demand for funds; in turn, the colleges would make loans to students whom they believe, on the basis of their already existing application processes, would be likely to benefit from college and repay their loans; in turn, the colleges would use their repayments to repay the government. Schools would assume the costs of their mistakes—perhaps some small allowance (ten percent?) for the inevitable mistakes—;
Otherwise, states would be guarantors of the loans of public colleges and universities. Private, especially, for-profit schools, would also assume the costs of their mistakes and require private-equity guarantors of their loans. For-profit schools, usually living off the federal dole and providing a poor education, would be forced to upgrade themselves, or be driven, out of business.”
When I was a kid, in my first job out of college I sold cable TV door to door when it was first being installed in my home town.
I got so sick of the elderly telling me they were on a fixed income. This is while I was scraping by on $5-10 a sale. They would whine about being on a fixed income while wanting a discount and driving their new Cadillac. I did not hate them, but it got tedious.
The other day I felt that feeling again.
I was on a web forum and some kid was describing his job and he tossed out that he has lots of student debt. It really did not have much to do with the conversation.
I went on to ask him if anyone explained that loans needed to be paid back in order to those coming along to be able to get loans too. He was not able to answer me directly.
Every semester for the past seven years, I sat down with my kids at the end of the school year and we discussed the balance of their loans, the potential income from their jobs and ways they could work through the summer to minimize their need to take out loans.
And I even hear it from my kids. [[[[sigh]]]]
READ the DAMN CONTRACT before you sign away your future.
With Obama ranting against professional licensing as a barrier to low-income people, I wouldn’t be shocked if college debt actually shrinks quickly. Young people today know that government & business will conspire to suppress wages (especially as Asians are trafficked here to replace white-collar workers in the same manner braceros from south of the border were brought to suppress blue-collar wages), and they are less likely to invest the time & money in a degree just to end up working as a 7-11 cashier.
There are many stories today about colleges trying to attract foreigners; that was being done in my day as well (25 years ago), but the pace is picking up due to Americans’ hesitation to squander the time & money.
Mrs. Bears and I took the highly unusual step of paying for the college education of both of our sons.
Both took longer than the customary four years to complete their undergraduate degrees, so I sometimes question the wisdom of decision.
Regardless, our oldest, now working, has come to realize the great gift he was given as he listens to his peers complain about their student loan debt. The youngest, recently graduated, knows but won’t admit it just yet.
One job I also had was working with many colleges throughout New England. These little teeny tiny colleges that were private and expensive all started changing their names from “College” to “University” because they found the could not attract foreign students. I guess “colleges” are considered lower in status than a University.
I thought the whole thing was stupid. These kids were not getting ivy leave degrees and this change meant nothing.
One of the best gifts we can give our kids. The old days of working summers for tuition are long gone as tuition outpaced wages over a few decades.
Think these kids loaded with debt will care about paying for their elders care down the road?
Parents need to look at maintaining as much wealth in the extended family as possible, that is the new reality, with this economy. And if it means helping their children with their education or even helping with the purchase of their first home, if it keeps more wealth within the extended family, that is the proper course to take.
That is exactly how we look at it going forward.
We are also paying for both. My son decided to live at home so he will have money left when he graduates. Plus he is working two jobs.
"Only two jobs? Why that lazy lima bean."
IIRC, there are requirements to be designated a “university” (that may be tied to size, number of campuses, etc.). Private schools here in NJ are in trouble because many of them that grew quickly as enrollment swelled during Vietnam are coming down to earth since nobody needs draft deferments anymore. The same things that have forced Jerseyans to cut back on everything else (as their discretionary dollars dried up) is also the death knell for those small private schools.
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