The cost of college

[Astro14]

Scholarship

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No Scholarship

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However -

The guy on top never actually got an education, and average career in the NFL is two years. He is destined to be broke.

While the guy on the bottom?

In the end of the movie, the voice over says: John Blutarsky – Married Mandy, was elected to the Senate, and became President of the United States.

 

[JTK]

A job is out of the question?

Instead of going to college? This had been discussed and done right, is a possibility. He'd have to get his own car, car insurance, etc..

His older brother chose no college, is making ~$16/hr at a local taco joint. No car. Little ambition. Lives with us still. It's a sore subject and has been a major source of contention in the household. Another topic all together.

I really wanted the college bound son, both of them in fact, to go the military / GI bill route. They are both in good shape, played sports and work well in a team effort. My wife wasn't huge on it and ultimately they were not either.

Our 21yr/old daughter lives with us, is working full time and going to college to be an RN. Third year of college. ~$16K/yr. She's paid it all herself. I got her a used car pre covid, when ~$7K would buy you something decent.

Also have an 11yr/old son.

 

[Passport1]

In the end of the movie, the voice over says: John Blutarsky – Married Mandy, was elected to the Senate, and became President of the United States.

Yes, had forgotten about that. A surprising denouement. Maybe Dean Wormer's admonition to Joe College fell on fertile ground.

 

[y_p_w]

Instead of going to college? This had been discussed and done right, is a possibility. He'd have to get his own car, car insurance, etc..

His older brother chose no college, is making ~$16/hr at a local taco joint. No car. Little ambition. Lives with us still. It's a sore subject and has been a major source of contention in the household. Another topic all together.

I really wanted the college bound son, both of them in fact, to go the military / GI bill route. They are both in good shape, played sports and work well in a team effort. My wife wasn't huge on it and ultimately they were not either.

Our 21yr/old daughter lives with us, is working full time and going to college to be an RN. Third year of college. ~$16K/yr. She's paid it all herself. I got her a used car pre covid, when ~$7K would buy you something decent.

Also have an 11yr/old son.

I remember there was a volunteer at my high school who coordinated the volunteer peer tutoring program that I participated in. It was really weird because he lived across the street and his son was actually one of my classmates. He told the story about how his father encouraged him to apply for the US Naval Academy and he even ended up getting a nomination from his member of Congress. Only he decided he didn't want to go and he ended going to a regular college at his family's expense. Then he joined the Navy and retired after maybe 28 years as a Captain. He said he was young and he didn't really think too much about the costs and that he wanted to have fun in college.

I went to school when the University of California was relatively cheap. For in-state students, they claimed there was no "tuition" but there was a charge for "fees". My first year was less than $1400 for those fees and I lived at home. Those were the days. Still - I heard about a student revolt back in the early 70s when the registration fees went up after the Governor of California worked to cut funding.

 

[JTK]

I remember there was a volunteer at my high school who coordinated the volunteer peer tutoring program that I participated in. It was really weird because he lived across the street and his son was actually one of my classmates. He told the story about how his father encouraged him to apply for the US Naval Academy and he even ended up getting a nomination from his member of Congress. Only he decided he didn't want to go and he ended going to a regular college at his family's expense. Then he joined the Navy and retired after maybe 28 years as a Captain. He said he was young and he didn't really think too much about the costs and that he wanted to have fun in college.

I went to school when the University of California was relatively cheap. For in-state students, they claimed there was no "tuition" but there was a charge for "fees". My first year was less than $1400 for those fees and I lived at home. Those were the days. Still - I heard about a student revolt back in the early 70s when the registration fees went up after the Governor of California worked to cut funding.

There's a lot of forces working against kids today. So many more than when I was a kid. In addition to that, public schools are not what they used to be at all IMO. We live in a small, reasonably affluent district and it's still getting worse every year. So bad that I've been trying to convince my wife to home school our 11yr/old. I'd do it myself if I didn't work 60+hrs/week. Sorry for going OT, but it is the preface in a way, to this thread.

Public schools can work for that ~10% of kids who really excel in scholastics and sports. The rest just get shuffled through.

I feel for young adults today. Not only for the cost of college. A one bedroom studio apartment in a bad neighborhood in my area is over $1000/mo. Then transportation, student loans, etc.

 

[PWMDMD]

There's a lot of forces working against kids today. So many more than when I was a kid. In addition to that, public schools are not what they used to be at all IMO. We live in a small, reasonably affluent district and it's still getting worse every year. So bad that I've been trying to convince my wife to home school our 11yr/old. I'd do it myself if I didn't work 60+hrs/week. Sorry for going OT, but it is the preface in a way, to this thread.

Public schools can work for that ~10% of kids who really excel in scholastics and sports. The rest just get shuffled through.

I feel for young adults today. Not only for the cost of college. A one bedroom studio apartment in a bad neighborhood in my area is over $1000/mo. Then transportation, student loans, etc.

I don’t disagree but then again in my mind the sad state of education is an opportunity for my kids. Less competition and they have no excuses - their peers can’t read cursive or divide fractions and they have two loving stable parents who are home to every night, both college and graduate school educated. Have a question in biology, chemistry, physics, math, etc I can help. My wife covers the humanities as well. For the last year or so they have been able to watch my own process as I work my way through my MBA. They’ve seen me go into my home office at 8:30am on a Sunday and only come out to eat and not finish whatever I was doing until 5 pm - talk the talk and walk the walk.

In spite of the above, he is not me. He really wanted to go to UMass Amherst for business and it was a hard pill for him to swallow that I kind of applied on a whim because I was bored and he did not get in. That was a teachable moment - I pointed out I have much better grades, I had already proven myself, and that currently I was a much stronger student academically. It’s my hope by the end of college that will no longer be true.

I also want to make the point to my kids that assuming average intelligence/ability doing well is just a choice. That choice may lead to a lot of work and investment in time but it is a choice. Will he make that choice? We’ll see…he’s certainly capable of making it.

 

[chrlsful]

yep.. random luck has probably provided more success for more for the world than all the hard work put together.

stats show the income on 1st job is where the employee stays (if hi paying it stays there thru jobs/life)

 

[chrlsful]

What does it mean for kids who go to an affordable state school vs a super expensive elite school? It means a lot of smarter harder working kids would end up in affordable state schools instead of super expensive elite schools because of ROI or affordability reason. These elite schools may turn into luxury brands instead of quality indicator in the future instead.

Personally as a middle class parent, I'd keep those money for the kids and start their retirement / home purchase fund early instead. It is a better investment. I would avoid the worst schools still to avoid bad influence, but I don't believe elite schools are the way to go in the future, not with huge loans for a non high income generating degree.

going to 'those schools' leaves it on the kid. This is due to those school's advantage (besides: "O0o, U went there, we'll hire U as U must B smart") is the contacts they make. Captains of Industry send their children there. For that benefit our kid needs to network so as to meet/keep after grad those folks as close (them, therefore their families).

 

[RedSpider]

My father went to medical school fall 1951 to graduation spring 1955. His total cost per year was $2600-$2800. Total cost. Tuition, books, room & board. Education has turned into a racket and should be treated as such under RICO and other laws.

According to google, $2800 in 1955 is the equivalent of $31,431 in todays dollars. Still cheaper than most today, but not as rosy as it sounds.

 

[chrlsful]

National Health Service Corps = join after grad, get assigned some where (WVa, Mississippi, ME etc) for
2 yrs/pays off ur med ed.
College is a money makin venture (for all). Colleges make $ off room'n board (etc) not the $ for class (hi personnel costs there) so community colleges really just scrape by (different mandate anyway). The hi cost of schoolin came AFTER more was done to lower costs (all the financial institutions, corps R for money makin after all) as in the 'Bennett Revelation' :
https://www.acenet.edu/Documents/Heller-Monograph.pdf
The availability of federal loans—particularly subsidized loans offering a below-market inter-
est rate and payment of interest as long as the student is enrolled in school—provides “cover” for colleges to raise their prices, because students can offset a price increase, or at least a portion of that increase, with federal loans.
This one sentence became perhaps the one thing for which Bennett is best known, and it is commonly referred to as the “Bennett Hypothesis.” (colleges & loaners)
If getting some contacts in college (volunteer, work study, work for credit, 'field placements', other students, etc) and one of the higher paying jobs @ graduation (C my above comment) it can add 100s of thous $ to life time income. Skip that, or skate while in means forgoing these possibilities. (students)
College is a business as profs make new products & services there (incubators or whatever they're called) using students & their product/research to spin-off these new endeavors. (professors). And the list goes onto the town surrounding (rent, restaurants, bars, etc), government (chancellors, etc). I like the Land Grant U.s as they have a mandate to give back to the local & can B less expensive to attend:

List of land-grant universities - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

For the usual rural areas they're in - PILOT would be an additional help

Payment in lieu of taxes - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Yet even w/all this I still claim the system is broken.

 

[alarmguy]

Life has never been more easy than it is right now here in the USA, nothing is broken, anyone can be anything they want. If anything life is way too easy, people spoiled thinking someone else/something else is responsible for their misery, laughable.
If you want to be a free individual pick yourself up and make it happen, no one else should be responsible for your happiness.

 

[PWMDMD]

According to google, $2800 in 1955 is the equivalent of $31,431 in todays dollars. Still cheaper than most today, but not as rosy as it sounds.

The cost of education has easily outpaced inflation over that time.

 

[LDB]

Apologies. My bad. But 50 year old memory doesn't always work well. My father paid $2800 for 4 years of medical school, not per year. And about $100-200 per year for books, equipment etc depending on courses, the higher end when he bought his microscope. And I don't know how much for room and board as I don't think he lived on campus.

 

[chrlsful]

400$ a yr for me (early thru late '70s) till moving out of state 2X (VT, 1200$; WVa, grad school 2400$). In grad I worked for credit, in my field, and broke even (getting 30cr free, -0- rm/board costs). Adjust w/300% inflation to today? Back then prices increased 3 - 8%/yr/

 

[Creekside]

I was lucky to qualify for a program in Missouri that covers 2 years of tuition. Still had to cover everything else out of pocket though (books, etc.). The most frustrating part was I took night classes with adjunct instructors that had little to no supervision as far as curriculum. One of the required books was a CD that was like $300. We never used it. The night instructors weren’t trained on that material by the head of the program and at the start of the semester didn’t even know about it. They just winged it and we were stuck with an expensive CD that couldn’t be returned.

 

[Dave Hess]

I was lucky to qualify for a program in Missouri that covers 2 years of tuition. Still had to cover everything else out of pocket though (books, etc.). The most frustrating part was I took night classes with adjunct instructors that had little to no supervision as far as curriculum. One of the required books was a CD that was like $300. We never used it. The night instructors weren’t trained on that material by the head of the program and at the start of the semester didn’t even know about it. They just winged it and we were stuck with an expensive CD that couldn’t be returned.

Yep. Crazy expensive books not used you ‘have’ to buy for class…. only to find out it’s not needed.

 

[Ws6]

I got a pretty decent scholarship. Covered classes and allowed me college apartment w/roommate living for $100/mo rent, for the first 2.5 years of college. The last 2 years, I paid about $2k/semester. Borrowed it from my Dad, cut him a check after I graduated to pay him back. Just asked him what I owed him and wrote it for that amount.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

There is still a disconnect with some parents.

I was born in 1963 and my brother in 1970. My parents were not thinking of their kids going to uni, because when they married and my dad went to work, uni was out of the question and they knew few who went. This was in the early 1960s. Dad got a decent job right out of high school.

My parents, and many others in the working class, were in the same boat. They thought that the really good students received some kind of scholarship to pay their way through uni, but until well into the 1970s they didn't think seriously of their kids going to uni in the first place. Nobody was telling these parents the reality. My parents were shocked when in the end I qualified for almost nothing in aid and scholarships, despite academic honors in high school and high SAT scores.

The idea that everyone who does well in K–12 will get big financial aid is still out there. So is the folklore that billions of dollars in scholarships go unawarded every year. I was still hearing both in high school. All of this still colors parents' perceptions in some parts of the US.

As we've seen in this thread, some older parents and grandparents seem to be clueless about inflation and costs going up over the years. Just read a story about a grandparent who made a big deal of giving a granddaughter a big lump sum to help her buy a house. That big lump sum was a whopping $1,500, which might pay one month's utilities. It certainly didn't make a dent in buying a $350K house.

Similar out-of-touch notions are still common among older people about uni costs. Even community college can be five figures per year now. Working during the summer to pay for uni is not practical, as the amounts earned in a part-time job are about what they were 30 years ago. You might make more per hour, but you work fewer hours. Nobody is making $40,000 in a summer job, which is a typical uni cost per year. Many of the older crowd don't comprehend that.

 

[TiGeo]

My story. Father of 3. My oldest is in a small state college (sophomore). Here in VA, that is about $27K all-in for a year which is the best way to look at it IMHO, many focus on tuition only. Tuition alone is about $13K so room/board is actually more. When I went to a small VA state school in 1991, my parents were paying about $8K all-in for a year. My wife and I's parents both paid all of our college expense less spending money/summer job. I paid my own grad school/masters but living at home/working. We pay for his with college savings we started when he was born plus money gifted us by parents and it has worked out to just about cover all of it. My middle son is a senior in HS and will be working/not going to college; he is a technician in training at a GMC dealer and he went the technical route in HS. My youngest is 13 and we'll figure that out when the time comes. The reason college in-part costs what it does, to me, is based mainly on the fact that loans exist to pay for it easily so what economic/market driver is there for it to not cost what it does? If there were no student loans, I can assure you it would cost much less than it does. Just like vehicles. Just like houses. Just like health care.

Trade schools are a pretty good bargain these days.

Half a brain and no schooling needed. Many businesses have apprenticeships. Plumbers, electricians, HVAC, etc.
Just have a good work ethic and they will train you. Few years into the job and you can make some fairly good $.

Not DR. $ for sure, however you can make a decent living.

This post is classic...."half a brain"...maybe if folks didn't say garbage like this more kids would look at trades but b/c folks like this like to comment, effectively, that it's for the dumb kids...well....everyone should go to college right? And so the cycle continues....

 

[SC Maintenance]

Yep. Crazy expensive books not used you ‘have’ to buy for class…. only to find out it’s not needed.

That hasn't changed much unfortunately - except now its an online subscription that you can't pass along at the end of the semester.