College education in America is a bad joke. Instead of preparing the next generation of leaders for the jobs of tomorrow, the college education "industry" has become a giant money making scam. We constantly preach to our high school students that they "need" to go to college and we tell them to not even worry about how much it is going to cost because a college education is "always" worth the money. Then we lend them outrageous amounts of money so that they can pay the gigantic bills for the "education" that they are receiving. But the truth is that the quality of education at America's colleges and universities is absolutely abysmal these days. I spent 8 years at U.S. universities, and most of the courses that I took could have been passed by the family dog. Sadly, once our young people graduate they quickly discover that there are way too many college graduates and not nearly enough good jobs. Today, we have millions upon millions of young Americans that are enslaved to student loan debt for the rest of their lives. They were promised a bright future, but instead most of them are discovering that they are going to be working really hard to pay off financial predators for decades to come. Unfortunately, for most college graduates a diploma is simply a ticket to a crappy job and a lifetime of debt slavery.
The following are 35 shocking facts that prove that college education in America has become a giant money making scam....
The Student Loan Debt Bubble
#1 After adjusting for inflation, U.S. college students are borrowing about twice as much money as they did a decade ago.
#2 According to the College Board, college tuition is absolutely soaring. The following comes from a recent CBS News article....
Average tuition and fees at public colleges rose 8.3 percent this year and, with room and board, now exceed $17,000 a year, according to the College Board.
#3 Average yearly tuition at private universities in the United States is now up to $27,293. That figure has increased by 29% in just the past five years.
#4 In America today, approximately two-thirds of all college students graduate with student loan debt.
#5 In 2010, the average college graduate had accumulated approximately $25,000 in student loan debt by graduation day.
#6 According to the Student Loan Debt Clock, total student loan debt in the United States will surpass the 1 trillion dollar mark in early 2012.
#7 The total amount of student loan debt in the United States now exceeds the total amount of credit card debt in the United States.
#8 Over the past 25 years, the cost of college tuition has increased at an average rate that is approximately 6% higher than the general rate of inflation.
#9 Back in 1952, a full year of tuition at Harvard was only $600. Today, it is $35,568.
#10 The cost of college textbooks has tripled over the past decade.
#11 One survey found that 23 percent of all college students actually use credit cards to pay for tuition or fees.
#12 According to recent Pew Research Center polling, 75% of all Americans believe that college is too expensive for most Americans to afford.
#13 College has become so expensive that it is causing many college students to do desperate things in order to pay for it. For example, an increasing number of young college women are actively advertising on the Internet for "sugar daddies" who will help them pay their college bills.
#14 The student loan default rate has nearly doubled since 2005.
#15 Approximately 14 percent of all students that graduate with student loan debt end up defaulting within 3 years of making their first student loan payment.
The Quality Of College Education In America Stinks
#16 The typical U.S. college student spends less than 30 hours a week on academics.
#17 According to very extensive research detailed in a new book entitled "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses", 45 percent of all U.S. college students exhibit "no significant gains in learning" after two years in college.
#18 Today, college students spend approximately 50% less time studying than U.S. college students did just a few decades ago.
#19 35% of U.S. college students spend 5 hours or less studying per week.
#20 50% of U.S. college students have never taken a class where they had to write more than 20 pages.
#21 32% of U.S. college students have never taken a class where they had to read more than 40 pages in a week.
#22 U.S. college students spend 24% of their time sleeping, 51% of their time socializing and 7% of their time studying.
#23 Federal statistics reveal that only 36 percent of the full-time students who began college in 2001 received a bachelor's degree within four years.
Not Enough Jobs For College Graduates
#24 Only 55.3% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 were employed last year. That was the lowest level that we have seen since World War II.
#25 According to the Economic Policy Institute, the "official" unemployment rate for college graduates younger than 25 years old was 9.3 percent in 2010.
#26 One-third of all college graduates end up taking jobs that don't even require college degrees.
#27 In the United States today, there are more than 100,000 janitors that have college degrees.
#28 In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.
#29 In the United States today, approximately 365,000 cashiers have college degrees.
#30 In the United States today, 24.5 percent of all retail salespeople have a college degree.
#31 The percentage of mail carriers with a college degree is now 4 times higher than it was back in 1970.
#32 Right now, there are 5.9 million Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 that are living with their parents.
#33 According to one recent survey, only 14 percent of all Americans that are 28 or 29 years old are optimistic about their financial futures.
#34 Record numbers of Americans are going to college, but incomes for young American adults just keep falling. Since the year 2000, incomes for U.S. households led by someone between the ages of 25 and 34 have fallen by about 12 percent after you adjust for inflation.
#35 Once they get out into the "real world", 70% of all college graduates wish that they had spent more time preparing for the "real world" while they were still in school.
So is going to college always a bad idea?
Of course not.
But it is a huge gamble.
There is no guarantee that all of the time, money and effort that you put into getting a college education is going to pay off with a promising career.
If you want to go to college, my advice would be to get someone else to pay for it. Failing that, try to get the best quality education that you can at the lowest price possible.
And try to go into as little debt as you possibly can in the process.
Today, there are millions of college students that wish that they had done things differently.
For example, the following student loan horror story comes from a recent Business Insider article....
"I am the first in my family to go to college. Without family support, I self-financed three college degrees (BA, MA and PhD) at state colleges between 1988 and 2005 using Pell Grants, multiple jobs, scholarships and $90,000 in subsidized and unsubsidized student loans.
My loans have been bought and sold so many times it is impossible to keep track of changes in rates, balances and terms of service since I have never had to resign any promissory notes. Eventually, I was able to consolidate the loans with Sallie Mae at a 7% interest rate. My loan payments have ranged from $400-600/mo. depending on the loan provider and lowest possible payment option available.
...I am currently a public school teacher with an income of $50,000, barely enough income to pay the interest-only payments. I have never missed a payment in over ten years ... and my loan balance stands at $105,000. To date, I have paid over $40,000 in loan payments and because my income restricts me to interest-only payments, and the 7% daily capitalized interest rate, I now owe $15,000 more than I borrowed....
My student loan situation has nothing to do with a lack of financial responsibility.
I have never missed a student loan payment and I have paid off $20,000 in credit card debt and a $10,000 car loan since graduation. I have no mortgage or any other outstanding debt, just my student loans. I have a credit score of 820. However, because of the usurious interest rates, capitalization of interest and the sole option of interest-only payments, I will never be able to pay off my student loan.
It’s just not possible, unless I win the lottery."
Please learn a lesson from those that have gone before you.
Student loan debt is very cruel and it can ruin your life.
So do you have a student loan debt horror story to share? Or do you have an opinion about the money making scam that college education in America has become? If so, please leave a comment with your opinion below....
“we dont have education, we have inspiration and if i was educated i’ll be a damn foo”
Watch this YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpZtX32sKVE
After seeing it, on one in their right minds will even think of going. This is all part of the NWO: to make people dumbed down and in debt forever. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the Bilderbergs is either sitting on some college board or is commanding the Presidents of major colleges and universities.
A message to the NWO: we have a better chance of making a million dollars by selling home-grown organic veggies (laws against it be damned) than going to your money scam colleges or accepting jobs you produced!
I have 2 degrees. Work in security for Uncle Sam. Pull down about 85K a year. But I have been going to trade school part time for 10 years increasing my skill set with skills that I can use after we stop fighting the fake war on terror and drugs. Trade jobs are hurting for skilled workers. Google it.
JJ The Fed
Scam is WHY the FEDS made you have to PAY THEM UNDER “ANY” CIRCUMSTANCE; ie declare bankruptcy, income tax refunds etc. All IN ON IT TOGETHER. DEBT SLAVES …every LAST one of us who DIDNT have a rich daddy to pay the tuition!
Gold Sachs, Chase, Bank of America dont RUN our govt, they ARE our govt. WAKE UP!
Times have certainly changed and my sympathy is with all students and parents who find themselves in serious financial debt. I have four degrees, including a doctorate, am a retired community college administrator, and place strong value on education for both developing a well-rounded person and getting a job. That said, we Americans have been duped into believing that all people should have a college education (presumably a bachelor’s degree at least), and that simply isn’t true. And we are victims of a number of phenomena that contribute to the demise of American education (and, to some extent, that WE have created.)
The facts presented in the article are startling, but they certainly aren’t the whole story. There are a number of factors that have led to this situation, and I’ll list only a few:
1) As a poster above has implied, mass education has led, over several decades, to a “dumbing down” of the entire educational system in America. Observe the number of schools in America which cannot meet federal and state standards on testing. For that matter, examine why testing standards were implemented in the first place: too many students were graduating with below-par skills in the 3 R’s, as well as knowledge about their own country’s history and way of governing, as one reason. If you question why so many college courses seem so elementary, look at the extreme number of students entering ANY higher education institution who have to take 1 or more remedial courses in reading, writing, and math–even the top academic institutions. Perhaps this is a major reason why so few graduate in four years or at all.
2) Beginning in the ’60s, the implementation of civil rights legislation which has ultimately led to “entitlement” to passing students, regardless of actual academic performance, on to the next level. I’m NOT saying that this legislation was wrong, by any means, but there has been a great deal of negative fall-out from these programs that the average American citizen seems unaware of. Having taught and worked in both the public school system and the community college system, I can bear witness to the many students and parents I’ve had to deal with, who complained about their children receiving F’s for plagiarism or other cheating, for not turning in work, for poor quality work, for having to do too much homework (such as writing papers, since I was once an English teacher), etc. I have been asked by parents and students (in public school, in community college, and in graduate school classes I taught) to give outrageously special considerations (or ignore the problem) to students on the basis of 1)socioeconomic standing, 2)personal problems, 3)being out of school for a long time, 4)race, and 5) disability, just to name a few. For example, I have been asked repeatedly to allow students required to take a remedial reading course to have the test administered orally because they had a mild learning disability (not because they were sight-impaired); in other words, they read below 5th-grade (yes!!) level and were wanting to get a college education!! I have been asked to give extra credit points for just coming to class. My grandson was allowed to pass a math course he was failing by getting extra credit points for bringing in soap bars for the poor. We live in an excuse-driven world.
In addition, these various legislative programs have put extreme financial burden on the educational system to provide for the various needs of students. Disability legislation is just one example. Again, I am NOT against such legislation, just pointing out that the American public is generally not aware of these costs for schools and institutions.
3) In general, there has been a certain “snobbish” attitude toward trade school education, with parents and even guidance counselors ushering kids with lower skills toward these schools and the more academic students toward universities. Yet some of the best jobs available (such as nursing, computer support, electrical repair, aviation technician, plumbing, welding, and construction) require higher levels of skill and end up in good-paying jobs. We Americans need to change our attitudes about what constitutes an educated person. The cost of attending public technical schools, community colleges, and trade schools is FAR less than attending a public or private university.
4) We have such intricate “due process” laws in this country that it is extremely painful and cumbersome and costly to fire a teacher or professor for poor performance (or other reasons), and administrators at all levels shy away from doing so. In most universities, performance evaluation is based less on actual teaching ability and results than on other “proof” of productivity. I understand the necessity of such protections, but they have become extreme–and we also live in a very litigious society. These lawsuits cost the American educational system and create a financial burden.
5) Parents and students have placed increasing emphasis on students enjoying all the benefits of home and all the benefits of protective legislation. I don’t have figures to support my claim, but it doesn’t take a person with a degree to understand the costs of dorms, lounges, athletics, tutors, special programs, equipment, etc. and how those costs contribute to the rising costs of education.
6)Generally speaking, neither parents nor students take the time to educate themselves about the costs of education or to prepare financially for the expenses of that education. How many parents with what would be considered good or very good incomes have actually saved for their children’s educations, but live in very nice homes, drive new cars, have boats or RV’s, take expensive vacations, wear the latest fashions, have nice jewelry, etc? How many are willing to sacrifice some of these things along the way to save toward their kids’ futures? How many students are willing to work their way through college, as I did? How many work hard in high school to make good grades, participate in activities, broaden their skills and interests so that they qualify for scholarships? How many parents expect or require that their kids stay focused on doing well in high school so that their college years will be easier academically and financially?
7) In the last few decades, there has been a growing emphasis on “immediacy.” We want to be financially successful immediately after college graduation; we want fine houses, new cars, the latest fashions, status jobs, etc. immediately. We don’t seem to be teaching our kids the notion that it takes time to build toward these things, and it takes effort or work, and this effort has to start early in life.
There are many other factors as well, but I’m presenting a negative view that bothers me and I’ll stop listing them. I went to great universities and learned how to be independent, how to study and learn, how to analyze and think for myself, how to enjoy other cultures and ideas, how to work toward a goal. I was exposed to some really great teachers, who were demanding in their requirements and tough in their evaluations (and I had to study my butt off, even while I worked to pay for some of my expenses). I earned a good education that provided the basis for a great career and life (but certainly not one without hardships). I made great friends, enjoyed the social activities, and thrived on the bull sessions. I am saddened by the fact that so many students who are missing out on all that, for whatever reason.
You grew up in a different era, where college was cheap and a degree actually meant something because not as many had it. The college system now has been hijacked by the bankers to make new debt slaves for the NWO – it’s really that simple. They can’t get the Gen Y’ers in houses, so they had to find another viable option.
Those are very valid points you make, but let’s not forget that colleges in present times (public state schools included) have turned into general pyramid schemes which send false statistics and promote worthless degrees in their curriculum to naive families – hoping they will jump the bandwagon for another 40k. They are not so innocent.
You generally seem to be defending the college system – understandably so. You were a professor. You’re pension and future life comes from it. It’s human nature.
A reason why you see so many “dumbed down” students in colleges is because financial aid is now available to every damn person in the world, ghetto and poverty-stricken kids included (who have 5th grade reading levels). They are told, afterall, that you must go to college to have a decent life. But don’t generalize that notion around the nation to all colleges. There are plenty of Harvard graduates with 100+k in debt – without jobs or underemployed at Pizza Hut. BTW, the entrance requirements for Harvard and other Ivys are much more difficult than they were 30 years ago.
People need to be aware what they get into with college, but most are indoctrinated from K-12 that it is the next stage in life – the norm. The college system simply plays along with the game, of course, because they make money from it. They work hard to make sure students and their families don’t know the dirty details behind the game.
To All Reading This:
I have a Bachelor’s degree and have one of the *************-paying jobs with the State you can imagine — b/c I got it later in life, okay.
But here is what I think is REALLY needed in my opinion, except, of course, for the scientific jobs that require meticulous classroom attendance:
(1) Disband all trade schools that cannot back up job claims and salaries with graduates who have gotten jobs within the past year — make them file truth-in-advertising claims, such as the court reporter schools that steal people’s money and have no job statistics to back them up;
(2) Raise the salaries of college professors;
(3) Outsource ALL college administrative jobs, (community college and state colleges), as many of these administrators get by on “Community College Lifetime Teaching Credentials” or other outdated credentials, and these people have little more than a degree in “Education,” “Sociology,” or “Psychology,” yet make upwards of $250,000 per year with lifetime public employee retirement system benefits that drain our economy;
(4) Simplify the legal language of college loans and standard civil litigation in our country to unravel the legal vagueness(es) that require too much time and money spent in interpretation — thus creating a morass of support personnel such as lawyers and judges at exorbitant additional salaries, time and expense;
(5) Offer high tax incentives to all state and public universities that offer non-critical classes online and require verification passwords and security questions so that students cannot cheat on their assignments — ask Mark Zuckerberg or Reid Hoffman (Linked In) for help. Such classes should include: Psychology; Sociology; English composition; all liberal arts courses; all education courses.
Core technical courses such as science courses, pharmacology, mathematics, engineering, trade courses such as graphic arts, auto mechanics and air craft technician, etc should require physical classroom attendance, with science and technical curriculum courses requiring mandatory weekly class presence to pass the course(s).
Again, huge tax breaks and financial incentives to all colleges that can do this — fire all useless high-paid Ph.D. or Master’s degree personnel in education and psychology — at an annual cost of $245,000 per year or better plus pension costs and see what happens.
Thank you for listening.
A word for the teacher in the story, there is a way to take a break from making those payments and save money. Most teachers find that they need to “refresh” by taking classes during the summer when they are off. I know one who does this every year without fail. their education. As long as she is in school no payment is required.She now has a masters and is working on a Phd.
All those “Yes we can/Yes we have no bananas” chanters et chanteuses – how you enjoying your socialist nightmare now? Enjoying paying your socialist professors so they can have the summers off and retire at age 53 (when you won’t EVER be able to retire?)
I spent eight years at university, two grad degrees, and basically wasted just about all of that time, not to mention money.
There is a place for education, but if there is anyone out there who actually thinks a degree in art history, queer studies, women’s studies, ad nauseam (think that woman who was in the news complaining about her $100k loan, after graduating from NYU with a degree in Women’s Studies!)is something useful, well, you’ve been duped.
Part of the dumbing down has to do with the constant flow of entertainment via social networking and acquiring the latest gadgets with the most features. It saddens me how the head of every other driver who just stopped at a red light immediately tilts down to “their God” forsaken cell phone. What a joke. At least a circus doesn’t pretend to be something else.
Ola! Endoftheamericandream,
This might be off topic, however, No Profile Comment
Cheerio
In America: governments, businesses, individuals are now buried under a mountain of debt. A mountain of debt that will never be repaid.
Who will borrow when they can’t make the payments on the debt that they have already? The math alone calls for a system reset, a debt jubilee.
Investors are already losing… in a rigged monetary casino that rewards usury, speculation, and currency manipulation while looting main street.
There is a moral principle that debts should be honored. That is, debts between businesses that buy and sell real products, not bundled ponzi schemes, debts between individuals, between friends and businesses that know each other to be rational and moral, debts based on investments where there is a rational expectation of return.
There is also a moral principle that unjust debts should be cancelled, and usury legislated against. Debts that are ‘odious’, debts based on fraud, debts to dictators, debts arranged by oligarchs without the consent of the general population (the 99 percent who have been left out of the equation), debts based upon compound interest upon compound interest, that should have been written off long ago, the debts need to be cancelled in a general jubilee. Think outside the box. It’s time for a jubilee.
As an unemployed American citizen natural science Ph.D., I agree that today’s college education is a likely pathway to lifelong indentured servitude. The article has not mentioned that visa holders are given preference for employment. Massive loopholes were designed into the work visa programs such as H-1B and OPT that allow employers to hire a foreign national for a small fraction of what they would pay for a comparably qualified American citizen. Look at my website link for documentation about how employers systematically exclude American citizens from employment. The video is excerpts from a series of 2007 YouTube videos prepared by Cohen & Grigsby, a Pittsburgh, PA-based immigration law firm. This massive scam started in 1976 when the Association of American Universities hired U.S. Representative Joshua Eilberg to pass the Eilberg Amendment. The Eilberg Amendment allowed colleges and universities to import unlimited numbers of college professors and researchers. The private sector cited the Eilberg Amendment as a precedent for creating the analogous H-1B Visa in 1990. Greedy employers such as Microsoft were able to procure 3 employer-friendly changes to the H-1B Visa law between 1995 and 2000. Learn more from my 2007 investigative article The Greedy Gates Immigration Gambit. Recently, the OPT (Optional Professional Training) extension to the J-1 visa was opened up to unlimited numbers of foreign college graduates in many fields. The employer sets the wages for these visa holders. I believe that all of these legislative changes involved corruption and should be rolled back. Learn more at NumbersUSA
Meh.
I’ve paid off ~$20k in student loans… twice.
Maybe the student loan system has changed considerably since when I accumulated that debt; the student loans I had were low-interest (< 5%) and fairly flexible (I had a $7/hr job for awhile, and I got a 'financial hardship reduction' where they doubled the term of the loan so I could afford to make payments).
A lot of people that I've met who complain about the onerous cost of paying off student loans don't do without anything. They drive a nicer car than I do, enjoy cable programming on their big-screen TV, and spend their evenings surfing the internet via a very fat broadband pipe using their uber-performance gaming rig. Ask them why they don't do without, and you'd better be wearing asbestos underwear.
I'm sorry, but when you take on debt like that, it means that you've got to plan on scrimping for a few years. Expect to drive a crap car, and to do your own maintenance on it. Expect to enjoy a relaxing weekend watching your (free) PBS station and communicating via a $5/month dial-up connection.
Now, that doesn't make actions of the banks engaged in predatory lending, adjustable-rate loans, arbitrary alteration of the terms of a loan, etc., okay, but it's kind of difficult to highlight how the banks are being evil when the contrast is provided by people whose weekend liquor budget exceeds their monthly student loan payment.
Also, when you pick a school, you're told, up front, what the expected costs will be. Computing what your education will cost is simple arithmetic, something simple enough so that even today's math-challenged students ought to be able to work out. If you're not willing to accept the crushing debt-load of going to Harvard, why, don't go to Harvard. Go to a community college. It's a ton cheaper, and you'll still get an education. If you're smart enough to get into an ivy-league school, you're smart enough to pick a major that will allow you to pay off your student loans, or to go somewhere much cheaper in order to major in something relatively useless.
As for folks who think that education is useless — well, what you get out of a college education is proportional to what you put in to it. I have acquaintances who went to the same state university (cheap!) at the same campus at the same time I did (before we met), and their recollection of the college experience is vastly different than mine. They didn't get anything out of it, and I got all sorts of benefit from it, and the differences seems to have been one of attitude and application.
College is an opportunity… to learn, to broaden one's horizons, to meet people, make relationships, and so forth. Don't lose track of the people you got along with in college… if you did good work, they'll remember, and "Yah, I had classes with $yourname and they were good." from a trusted employee is solid gold to a manager when it comes to hiring. (And "Yah, I remember $yourname, they were a flake and a jerk." will roundfile your resume so fast it'll dent the bottom of the trashcan.)
And, finally, my biggest mistake was going straight to college out of high school. That was the American Dream, the fast-track to success, etc. etc…. but what I *should* have done is to taken a year off to take the money I saved during high school, and travel. Backpack across Europe. Take a tramp steamer to Australia. *Something* other than "go straight to school before learning why college is useful.
That way I would have only have had to pay off one set of student loans.
I got my MA in elementary education. I couldn’t stop reading my textbooks and supplementing my education with further, non-required reading. I was completely fascinated with my field of study. I got a job in my field 6 months after graduating. I worked really hard at my job, often going on very little sleep, to meet the demands of the job, and exceed them. However, there was one drawback. I am a Christian, and I was a fish out of water. Without going into the full story, after two years, I was let go due to budget cuts and told that I should go work at a Christian school. Really, I am fine with this because now I home school my children, and that is God’s will for me. I am happy in educating my children. However, my story shows that must is expected to fit in with the company culture, or their job is at risk. If you have morals and values that make others feel uneasy, then you could lose your job for that reason alone, even with great evaluations and performance. I am not bitter, but just giving my perspective on the issue. I am now rich in other ways that money can’t buy! (My husband is our breadwinner.)
His words will bring everyone to awed attention.
toibry.blog.com
My BS in engineering: worth it.
My MS in Engineering Management: worth it.
My PhD in Systems Engineering: The trip was a blast. I enjoyed every minute of it, but did it make financial sense? Nope. When I put that degree to work, I’m going to take a $60K per year pay cut ($150K down to $90K).
I KNOW A GUY WHO SAYS YOU CAN MAKE ALOT MORE MONEY BEING A DRUG DEALER AND LEARN IT IN TWO WEEKS AND MAKE MORE MONEY ON ONE SATURDAY NITE THAN MOST COLLEGE GRADS MAKE IN A MOHTH. JUST ASK A PRO FOOTBALL PLAYER.
BYE BYE AMERICAN PIE TOOK MY CHEVY TO THE LEVY BUT THE LEVY WAS DRY GOOD OLE BOYS DRINKING WISKEY AND RYE SAYING THIS’LL BE THE DAY THAT I DIE. DON MC CLANE.
Im a high school drop out . I got married when I was 21 .Im now 36 years old and run a successful company that I started when I was 18 years old .Im debt free .Ive known all along that secondary education was a big scam . Unless you are going to college or university to become a doctor or lawyer or learn an actual skill like welding or mechanic – your wasting your time and money . Having a degree doesn’t buy you success .having ambition and drive is what its all about .
It’s still possible to get a good education at a reasonable cost, but you have to really work at it. Case in point: My last kid graduated last year with a IT degree with no college loans and money left over in his savings account. Never touched his savings bonds. He paid less than $7,500 for four years of college. How? He attended a charter high school at the local community college and graduated high school with his A.A degree. Didn’t even have to buy his college textbooks in that program — they were provided by the charter high school. During that time, he earned the Bright Futures scholarship (thank you, Florida Lottery players for funding his college education). Most Florida high school students seem to earn these scholarships. This scholarship would pay about 75% of his tuition at the next level, which for my son was a regional public university. He attended just one semester on campus and chose on his own to finish his degree from hom via distance learning courses. I still believe in a good college education, but the only really educated people in my opinion are those who really wanted to be educated and took the time to educate themselves. As a Christian, I have also come to realize that one’s basic values and worldview are the real determinants of how well one is truly educated. There is a great difference between job knowledge and wisdom. I would choose wisdom any day and I would rather be at peace with the One True God than be adept at calculus or physics.
i’m surprised no one has mentioned the possibility of default fraud yet.
i was making my payments. faithfully. i tried making double-payments to pay things off more quickly (as per financial advisor). i was living very simply and within my means (small house, used car paid cash, no credit card debt, no vacations– even put off having children for years).
was making double payments that the bank kept putting into a “hold account” and then would decide to somehow not deduct anything, then say I wasn’t making my regular payments. Then sell the debt, i would go through and make sure they had a right to collect, etc, and then reset the payments, and get turned around again, and so on.
Ultimately, one of these companies decided that I had “defaulted.” I had all the evidence that I hadn’t defaulted (e.g., accounting from my bank since i’d set up a specific account for auto-withdraw from them), but the credit company said that they had “no evidence.” I faxed the evidence, tried to reconcile, etc. No dice.
i am currently with a debt collection agency. My credit score says “default” — even still, some 8 years later. When I attempt to increase my payment (e.g., double playments) to start paying down the debt, they say that they’re going to take me to court. I call to find out what the deal is — why they won’t take a higher payment — and i get some strange run-around.
So, i make interest-only payments right now and save my money in an account so that I can pay the debt in full once I have the money saved. I’ve been doing this for 4 years, and i’m about 1/4 of the way there.
I did decide, finally, to have a child, and we downsized our housing to save money, and I grow my own vegetables. We don’t own a TV, etc. Simple living is where it is at.
At the current rate, i will have only paid $10k in interest IF they allow me to pay the debt in full. I think that if they do decide to take me to court instead of paying the debt in full, I will “win” because I can simply show the court that I’m willing to pay the principle of the debt AND i’ve been faithfully paying my auto-payments every single month from the same account for the last 10 years.
I do not doubt that, at some point, there will be an investigation into “fraudulent default” just as there is now a situation of “fraudulent foreclosure” in the housing market.
I have also learned from friends who went to school with me that they were also making faithful autopayments, and when they tried to pay more (we graduated in 2002 and all went to work — so we had extra cash), they also ended up in default!
I think this is because of how the banks and collection agencies make money.
The collection agency that holds my debt currently sells the debt bundles as investments. These make popular investments because this collection agency has a high return rate. They are — from a business stand point — a ‘good’ collection agency. They keep good records overall.
Every few years, they do something “hinky” and I chase them down. I make sure to ask questions and get documentation. But, otherwise, they are “good.”
So, investors want to make investments with them, speculating on the collection of the debt.
Thus, they don’t want you to pay the debt. Once you do, there’s no more “asset” on their books. And without the “asset” — then they have nothing to sell as the investment.
Hence, when I go to pay, they might just push me to court — trying to scare me I guess. But, I will have the money and the paperwork by then, so the court will simply have to settle it with whatever I can pay, i guess.
Anyway, that’s my thought on it.
I know a lot of people think that those of us with a lot of debt or in default were “stupid” — and sometimes i feel that way, and I didn’t know better — but I’m certainly trying to be responsible about my debt AND living simply and austerely in the process (more kids would be nice, but more kids would be hard to feed if i’m budgeting to pay off this debt! so, no more kids for us!).
Anyway, just putting it out there.
Education equals Indoctrination.
I think people are neglecting the big fact here
“In 1999, average annual earnings ranged from $18,900 for high school dropouts to $25,900 for high school graduates, $45,400 for college graduates and $99,300 for the holders of professional degrees (medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians and lawyers)”
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/moneymatters/a/edandearnings.htm
Over a lifetime an individual with a college education will earn substantially more. I understand that tuition’s have never been higher but that reflects the overall trend of higher emphasis on secondary education.
Our country is reaching a point now where a BA is the starting point. Although I think it is great that we are headed towards a higher standard in education, we also need to educate our youth about debt. We need to alert them to the predatory for-profit schools that provide little value for the ten or possible hundreds of thousands of dollars they invest.
Its not a matter of not going to college, its now a matter of orienting yourself to have a great education and as little debt as possible. The best of both worlds.
The financiers ran a Ponzi on sub-prime mortgages for reasons obvious by now. Then the sub-primers defaulted. They went back to their rental rooms while the financiers took a hit. And promise not to do it again.
The financiers ran a pyramid on Alt-A and other mortgages. Then millions of these defaulted.
The financiers ran a fraudulent bond scheme with names like CDO, MBS and other complicated stuff. Then the whole thing blew up and everybody defaulted. What happen? Congress passed laws prohibiting the financiers not to do it again.
The financiers ran a milk-a-student debt-for-life scheme on the college system. So that the total college debt now exceeds those funny mortgages.
What would happen if students default en-mass because the scheme is predatory?
Nothing. The financiers go bust and promise not to do it again.
In life the screw can be turned both ways. Students should be educated on that! Get my drift?
This link will bring you to a very interesting poll that lets you cast your vote about this very simple question: Is the end result of getting a college degree is worth the cost and time that it takes to get that degree! http://bit.ly/thNLg0
[...] Why does it take gigantic mountains of money to get a college education in America today? According to the Student Loan Debt Clock, total student loan debt in the United [...]
[...] Why does it take gigantic mountains of money to get a college education in America today? According to the Student Loan Debt Clock, total student loan debt in the United [...]
[...] Why does it take gigantic mountains of money to get a college education in America today? According to the Student Loan Debt Clock, total student loan debt in the United [...]
My advice is to take out a loan equal to what you would use to go to college, and use it to start a business. You may not even need the same amount but a significantly lower amount like $10,000 – $15,000 for start up costs. Find out what you are good at and then find out if there is a market for it. If there is no market, you can reinvent yourself. If the economy keeps getting bad, you should investigate local farming type businesses that support local farms or farmers markets. As food prices get higher, these businesses will be a god send.
Colleges, professors and books are now a thing of the past. We are now entering the age of super computing where robots carry all the knowledge. No need for humans to read, write or learn. Let the robots do that stuff and work for us. Good day to all Americans.
[...] warning on student loan debt Wanted to pass along this article concerning student loan debt: 35 Shocking Facts That Prove That College Education Has Become A Giant Money Making Scam Imo, avoid it at all costs. And from what I'm realizing now, my 5% or so interest rate seems like [...]
[...] United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees. #16 Right now, there are 5.9 million Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 that are living with their parents. According to recent [...]
I was insulted by this article.
As a full-time computer science student with an honors comp sci class, two upper-level math courses, a geology course, an internship class and a job, I do not want to hear about how easy student life supposedly is and how people my age are supposedly spending “50% less” time studying. When these kinds of statistics come out, colleges seem to overcompensate (ESPECIALLY in the engineering fields..oh, how I respect those students) and tack on more and more requirements to become a ‘well-rounded graduate.’ I work at the Writing Help Center at my university, and I have seen students come in with tedious, ridiculously time consuming major essays that do nothing but get in the way of their coursework. We get a lot of engineering students who have to put up with the “University Writing Requirement” and spend precious hours writing about business ethics (rather than learning from experience and common sense throughout their careers) instead of doing their physics homework. In one instance, we had an influx of students from a CHEMISTRY LAB who had to WRITE AN ESSAY ON PLAGIARISM. Some might just blow it off and throw something on the paper in 20 minutes, but for the truly dedicated, detail-focused students who never slacked off and led colleges to this in the first place, burnout ensues.
In short, I’m blowing off steam. Did my parents spend all day on campus, studying or working if not in class, when they were in college? Maybe. Did they come back to their dorm/apartment after dark, only to study and cram in as much homework as possible? Maybe. But did they completely lose the notion of “weekend” and resort to waking up at the crack of dawn every Saturday and Sunday, bringing lunch to the library and studying (just to keep up) until dark once more, so much that they actually like weekdays better because class is now a “break”? Probably not.
There are only a few reasons why someone would get to this state. One is that they’re just not cut out for college. WIth a 5 on all 9 of the AP exams I took and a 2270 SAT, I don’t think that’s the issue. Another is that they choose to work too hard. Admittedly, I do, but it feels like I’m just getting by. Another is that…school’s a b*****. Yes, I kill myself over studying, but I feel like (outside of my own ability to tone it down), I shouldn’t have to. The growing concerns about slacking students have led to SO MANY additions of requirements and coursework that the high achievers pay a dire price.
And when the slackers continue to perform sub-par (and still move right on along due to grade inflation), they find that they can’t make it in the real world. Their employers complain, the colleges demand more, the slackers keep slacking, and the horrible cycle continues. We are making school a miserable place for the most dedicated students.
AH ha ha ha ha. College. You little jackanapes need to focus on exercise, eating right, breathing clean air, learning to make clothes from hemp, and so forth. How’s aboot you STFU all together for a start, you just might listen to yourself for once. There’s your education.