Paying off student dept...
- Thread starter Henro
- Start date
I wonder. . .
How many of those people involved in designing the new Martian lander do not have an advanced degree?
How many scientists that worked on developing the various vaccines for covid didn't go to college?
How many lawyers that work for the Innocence Project graduated law school?
How many design engineers at Kubota are 'really' engineers with a degree?
Does the surgeon that did my kidney transplant really have a doctorate degree?
Would the world be better without those of them that couldn't afford higher education?
How many of those people involved in designing the new Martian lander do not have an advanced degree?
How many scientists that worked on developing the various vaccines for covid didn't go to college?
How many lawyers that work for the Innocence Project graduated law school?
How many design engineers at Kubota are 'really' engineers with a degree?
Does the surgeon that did my kidney transplant really have a doctorate degree?
Would the world be better without those of them that couldn't afford higher education?
No, it would not be better off. Somebody gotta dig the ditches and pump out septic tanks. The bottom line is, as Skeets said, I didn't cosign their loans. How should I be held responsible for them?
Some have suggested pulling universities back in line with the tuition costs. Good idea, but don't you think that tuition costs are based on demand and availability of money? Universities are marketable businesses, and they know it. They recruit, especially among those who have easier access to money. They're connected with banks to transfer their profits into debt for students. Every cat and his dog will loan money for education, meaning there are a lot more folks that "can afford" to go to school, with no real plan to repay the debt. The Universities don't care if they get the degree or not, as long as the University collects its fees. Here's an idea. Publish the rates of graduation as well as post-graduation employment statistics from each individual university. They're all usually state run, so it should be a matter of public information anyway. I don't care who the graduates are, what color, which days of the week they stand on their heads, but that they graduated. Then HOW many of them obtained employment related to their major? Now, rate the University based on how well their placement office does in helping individuals obtain that employment. Next, ask the prospective employers which they'd rather have: a person that worked their tail off to get through school, or one that had everything paid for and now doesn't want to earn it back for their benefactor, and which one they actually decided to hire. I know which I'd rather have, the kind like me. I wasn't a top honors student, but was selected over 8 other candidates for my first job at GE. Mostly because I already had a work ethic and a drive to succeed. I didn't go home on holidays or between terms and sit in my parent's basement playing XBox all week while they were bustin their butts to put me through school, or hocking the next big chunk of their life that they earned to pay for it. I busted my can at whatever job or jobs I could get to save up for the next round of education expenses. Being between terms was not a vacation, it was an opportunity to maybe get a third job. I pumped gas, I flipped burgers, I ran a Chinese backhoe (shovel), I mined coal, I did ANYTHING I could get hired for to make a buck.
The way banks loan money now is completely irresponsible. It's no different if it's education costs, or for a house that young couples really cannot afford. I've seen at least 5 different affluent neighborhoods become slums because people overextended themselves on mortgages, and the banks wound up with houses they would not take care of. Several caved in completely after the roof started leaking. Now suppose you owned the one next door to a repo that was neglected that way? Would you expect the rest of the community to help you pay to clean it up so that your property value isn't affected by it? They're liable to tell you to expect in one hand and crap in the other to see which one fills up first. It was 10 years after getting my education before I finally built enough credit rating to get a bank to loan me money for a mortgage. Wasn't that I couldn't afford it, I just had no debt, ergo, was somehow considered a bad credit risk, regardless of my bank balance or payment histories. No credit is a lot worse than bad credit, it seems. Now any kid outta high school can get loans.
And how many of the people you interact with daily are cut out for those jobs?
Nobody is suggesting that NOBODY should go to college. But NOT EVERYONE needs to go.
Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. I'm not saying that everyone should/wants to go to college. Of course we need plumbers, electricians, carpenters etc. That doesn't preclude them from getting a college education also - if they want to.
I work in an industry that caters to the tradesman. The vast majority, like most people, are fine individuals. Most of our really successful customers are college educated. One would hope you go to college to get an education.
There are some people who are in circumstances, financial or otherwise, that preclude them from going. In some cases society is worse off for it.
I know a lot of farmers. A field not usually associated with higher education. Many of them without degrees are smart enough to 'have figured it out'. However, an appropriate college education gives them a tremendous advantage. To run a successful farm today requires a lot of knowledge, not the least of which is how to run a business.
One of my customers in the heating business was the smartest person I ever met at solving problems that others were stumped on. He was never 'successful' in usual sense. Half the time he wouldn't charge for his service if it only took 15-20 minutes. His son eventually took over after going to community college. You can guess the rest. Very successful yet not half the man his father was tech wise. Nobody spoke badly about him because he wasn't his dad.
I have an engineering degree. I never worked professionally as an engineer. My education taught me how to think and solve problems. It has served me well throughout my life.