Posted on 07/26/2006 7:51:01 PM PDT by Bubba_Leroy
s access to graduate education in America exclusively for the upper class?
As a first-year graduate student struggling to make ends meet, I believe the answer is yes. In my experience, searching for funding to pay the extensive costs of my higher education has been an upward climb leading only to dead ends.
I am a single mother who qualifies for the maximum amount in federal aid for graduate students. But this amount barely covers my tuition; paying for housing, books and living expenses is up to me.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
STUDENT LOANS.
I see lots of haggard, graying PhDs with very young families. They got what they wanted first. The youngest of my 3 sons turned 18 a few days before my 49th birthday. The middle son graduates from college this Saturday. The oldest son is 26 and still living at home. At least he's still living after 4 open heart surgeries, 2 artificial valves and a pacemaker. He gets up and goes to work 5 days a week.
You are absolutely correct. I'm finishing my Master's degree right now. I got a stipend of about $21,000 a year and my tuition, fees, and student health insurance paid. Plus I got scholarships and loans. I don't know what this chick is talking about.
Don't worry I'm getting my Masters in Public Affairs w/ a concentration in Public Admin just to stop little socialist just like her.
Of course, from all her comments about entitlement, I suspect she doesn't know how to budget and her inability to pay the bills is due to her wanting to live some extravagant lifestyle.
Is it our fault that she is a single mother who can't afford to raise kids AND go to graduate school?
Maybe she shouldnt have had a fatherless child. Her choices put her where she is.
Hmmm...daughter of a welfare queen?
I think you forgot the "sarcasm" tag on that portion of your post. Show me where the Federal debt was zero during the Clinton years. Running a three or four year transitory surplus of billions while you owe TRILLIONS means there was nothing to squander.
The wench in the article should do what I did to get through grad school. I got a grad assistantship (working 20 hours per week in a bio lab) and worked 20-30 hours per week as a Teamster, busting my hump unloading trucks.
Yes, I really come from an upper-class background, but decided it would be more fun to live in a state of perpetual exhaustion for three years and do permanent long-term injury to several vertebrae, rather than have my filthy-rich family pay for my education.(/sarc)
I notice she does not list an email address in the article. She would not like the replies she would get.
She can't make the payments on the Volvo.
If she were willing to delay graduate school for four years, her daughter would be in school all day, and she could do her classes and some part time work then. She would only have childcare expenses for a few hours after school. That is supposing she doesn't decide to have another child in that time frame without the benefit of marriage.
Our second son got partial grants for his first two years in college, and loans for the rest of it. He finished with a double major in 3 1/2 years, then was concerned about paying for Grad school. SirKit laughed and said you DON'T pay for Grad School; you get grants for that. He's in a 6 yr. PhD program in Computer Science, and DID get a grant for all six years. So when he finishes that program, he'll start paying off his undergraduate loans.
We are very out of the mainstream when it comes to college expenses. WE don't pay for our kids' college; we already paid for private schools, or homeschooled the younger two for the high school years. When it comes to college, they can get loans. We help them with day to day expenses, and put it on the family tab. We've given them a cap of $10,000 each for 'gifts' while in college. This way they don't have to work and expend that mental energy away from their education. The rest is on their dime. We believe that they will pay more attention to their studies if THEY are paying for it.
We told them a long time ago that we'll not put ourselves in poverty while in retirement just so they can go to college. Besides, we paid for our own college (at least SirKit did; my Mama worked at the Univ., so I was able to go tuition-free, and lived at home). He did Grad School on a grant and got a Masters and Phd, while I worked to help pay the rent, maintenance on the car, etc. and put a little in the bank. We had our first baby in his last year of Grad school, so that helped winnow down that savings. But we planned for that.
Oh, get out the violin. My son got his bachelor's degree in Mathematics (that he paid for himself, since he was too lazy in high school to qualify for a scholarship, desipite his high SAT scores), who then went into the Peace Corps for a couple of years, and now is going to Grad school basically free of charge (teaching undergraduate math in exchange for free tuition). It can be done, but you have to make the choice - and as a 'single-parent' the author has already made their choice - now they have to deal with the consequences of it.
"Sha da da dah.sha da da dah ; yip,yip,yip, yip -GET A JOB!".
"We are failing to redistribute the wealth in America"
I MISSED THE MEMO ON THAT ONE!
What a pantsload. I am currently in two graduate programs (GWU and GMU), neither of which I am paying for. Previous graduate programs include GMU, EMU, and MSU. My employers paid for those, too.
Thank you from the Mom of a daughter, with family,
who will be in the hole to the tune of 120K + by the
end of her ride in 2007.
BUT, that's not THE end.
She will spend another year specializing.
OH!
She has the highest GPA in her class.
But, very few monies are available to her.
What a hoot.
"(Indicting ham sandwhiches since 2002)"
Nice to see another young conservative barrister here.
I'd like you to meet bourbon.
He's brilliant.
No pressure, though...;o)
BTW, that's "sammiches". lol
Bush has squandered Clinton's surplus and there is really no money left to administer,
I don't agree with you at all on this. Plus why should we give money for education. Maybe she should join the military and earn a degree while supporting her country. There are plenty of opportunities out there without just handing her money.
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