Rant #2

[vraiblonde]

Virginia just raised their college tuition fees by an average of 8% across the board. The average annual tuition is now something like $12,000 a year, which isn't bad when you're talking about benefitting the rest of your life.

But I'm curious how many of you feel that your college degree was really worth it? Lots of people do well in life without a degree (I'm one of them) so I'm wondering if you really needed a degree to hold the job you have now.

The next thing I'm wondering is how federal assistance will change to accommodate rising tuition costs. Will this make it harder for poor kids to go to college, or will the rest of us be kicking in with our tax bucks to help fund them? Which I don't mind, frankly - that's one of the things I gladly give my tax bucks for, so some kid from nowhere can make a better life for himself. MUCH better deal than welfare and stupid crap like that.

But why raise tuition? Why not cut expenses instead? State colleges get federal money anyway, so I'd like to know why they raised tuition rather than just hitting the feds up for more $$$.

 

[jazz lady]

If you're a government contractor like I am, for certain positions it is a MUST you have a bachelor's degree. That was the big push for me getting it because I couldn't get hired for the IT positions I wanted without it (I only had an AA) so it was definitely well worth it for me. I got the position I wanted three months before I graduated.

 

[Nanny Pam]

Vrai has rants in her pants today.

 

[jazz lady]

The next thing I'm wondering is how federal assistance will change to accommodate rising tuition costs. Will this make it harder for poor kids to go to college, or will the rest of us be kicking in with our tax bucks to help fund them? Which I don't mind, frankly - that's one of the things I gladly give my tax bucks for, so some kid from nowhere can make a better life for himself. MUCH better deal than welfare and stupid crap like that.

But why raise tuition? Why not cut expenses instead? State colleges get federal money anyway, so I'd like to know why they raised tuition rather than just hitting the feds up for more $$$.

Usually the assistance goes up to match the tuition in my experience. I'm not sure if it makes it harder for poor kids to go to college, but I'm sure there would be less availability if there's only a set $$$ limit per year. Actually, I think most of the funding for state colleges comes from the state, not the feds, but I'm not positive about that. Anybody know?

I do know while I was going to UMUC in the early/mid 90's, Maryland slashed its assistance to colleges in the state. The tuition rose from $97 when I started to $157 a credit hour by the time I finished in 3.5 years. I was paying my own tuition by then, so it had a significant impact on ME.

 

[vraiblonde]

Vrai has rants in her pants today.

And today is unlike any other day because....?

 

[Kizzy]

Virginia just raised their college tuition fees by an average of 8% across the board. The average annual tuition is now something like $12,000 a year, which isn't bad when you're talking about benefitting the rest of your life.

But I'm curious how many of you feel that your college degree was really worth it? Lots of people do well in life without a degree (I'm one of them) so I'm wondering if you really needed a degree to hold the job you have now.

The next thing I'm wondering is how federal assistance will change to accommodate rising tuition costs. Will this make it harder for poor kids to go to college, or will the rest of us be kicking in with our tax bucks to help fund them? Which I don't mind, frankly - that's one of the things I gladly give my tax bucks for, so some kid from nowhere can make a better life for himself. MUCH better deal than welfare and stupid crap like that.

But why raise tuition? Why not cut expenses instead? State colleges get federal money anyway, so I'd like to know why they raised tuition rather than just hitting the feds up for more $$$.

Peter Jennings never graduated from college and look how he turned out. :shrug:


Thought you'd appreciate that.

Anyway, I understand what you’re saying. The cost of tuition is insane, and most of these colleges waste tons and tons of money every year. These days you have to have an education unless you are going to head for the military, go to a trade school, or run your own business, otherwise your options are limited.

I have 6 credits towards my Masters and decided hell with it. It isn't going to put me ahead, so why even bother trying to spread myself thin working full-time and taking care of kids? I'll still make the same pay and none of the positions that I could promote to require a Masters Degree. However, I do feel that my B.S. Degree was worth it. It allowed me to move up.

 

[Oz]

But why raise tuition? Why not cut expenses instead?

Because their gasoline tax is too low...

 

[SamSpade]

Peter Jennings never graduated from college and look how he turned out. :shrug:

Dead at 67?

And *Canadian*?

 

[Larry Gude]

Hold up Vrairant...

I'm not so sure how much $ goes straight from the Fed piggy bank to institutes of higher learning.


Some schools are private, like Duke, run as the owners see fit.

Some are public and run by the state which subsidizes tuition usually just for state residents, like NC State and Maryland.

I think the vast majority of Fed money is in the form of federally backed student loans like ours with Sallie Mae.

So, to answer the question, we need more for school, the feds loan it to us, we die, like Peter, the day after the last payment is done.

 

[czygvtwkr]

People waste alot more money on junk than college tuition.

How much money do people spend on beer and smokes a year, new rims for the Honda Civic?

Is a college degree necessary? Well it depends on many things including where you live. Here in southern Maryland there are lots of opportunities for people with out college degrees provided they are willing to work and aren't stupid. But in other places the only good jobs are to be had by someone with a degree.

I have a BS degree that I paid for myself and I decided to stay in school for my MS while getting paid by the state and a NASA grant to do my research project but I think they were both well worth it and paid off almost immediately.

A college degree also makes you way more versitile. Some degree fields you will work in your field and others are sort of just to get some general skills and prove your not a moron. Without a degree its much harder to break into a "lucrative" field.

Back home the job every one wanted was to work for the gas company, they literally had thousands of applications per job available. It was a good paying job that required no college degree but the chance of getting a call for an interview were slim to none.

Someone can get alot of very good and marketable skills in the military provided they don't just become a grunt, get into aviation if at all possible.

 

[Kizzy]

BTW, I saw some really cool rims on a car the other day. It was stopped at the traffic light and the rims looked like they were still going round and round.

I thought it was pretty neat!

Ok, I'll hold my sign.

 

[RoseRed]

BTW, I saw some really cool rims on a car the other day. It was stopped at the traffic light and the rims looked like they were still going round and round.

I thought it was pretty neat!

Ok, I'll hold my sign.

Spinners. I saw them on a riced out station wagon a couple of weeks ago. Funny as all get out.

I have seen them on plenty of other cars though too.

 

[Mikeinsmd]

My admin asst. asked me if I knew anyone hiring. She was asking for her son who she said has an AA in "graphic arts". Well at the risk of pizzing off some Ppl, I bit my lip to keep from saying; "Well there's the problem. His degree is in would you like fries with that?" I politely told her "No I did not". I don't have a degree but I have a trade under my belt. If need be, I can always leave my gravy desk job to go back into the field. I believe if you get a degree in some sort of trade that is in demand (Arch, Engineer, Law, etc....) you will never be unemployed. I watch a lot of money go into worthless, 4 year degrees only to see the kid graduate, can't find a job, (or makes trivial $$) and wind up selling cars.

 

[kwillia]

My admin asst. asked me if I knew anyone hiring. She was asking for her son who she said has an AA in "graphic arts". Well at the risk of pizzing off some Ppl, I bit my lip to keep from saying; "Well there's the problem. His degree is in would you like fries with that?" I politely told her "No I did not". I don't have a degree but I have a trade under my belt. If need be, I can always leave my gravy desk job to go back into the field. I believe if you get a degree in some sort of trade that is in demand (Arch, Engineer, Law, etc....) you will never be unemployed. I watch a lot of money go into worthless, 4 year degrees only to see the kid graduate, can't find a job, (or makes trivial $$) and wind up selling cars.

Exactly... I have a 12 year old that can tear a lawn mower completely apart... I mean completely including dismantling the entire engine and can put it back together again and have it running in a matter of a couple days. He rebuilds carborators for fun. He also had a great aptitude for computers. I am really guiding him towards going for an education in big Cat engines rather than the computer route because I feel that is a huge money making talent that could always come in to play throughout his entire life.

 

[Kizzy]

selling cars.

I have clients that do that and make more bucks than I do.

As a matter of fact, I have a tax client that makes more then my husband and I combined selling cars.

 

[vraiblonde]

I have clients that do that and make more bucks than I do.

As a matter of fact, I have a tax client that makes more then my husband and I combined selling cars.

It's not that selling cars is such a bad job, it's that he didn't need to spend all that money on college to do it.

I bit my lip to keep from saying; "Well there's the problem. His degree is in would you like fries with that?"

Not true. Tell him to call various publishing companies, newspapers and other media outlets. Also the Recorded Books place up in Prince Frederick is always hiring artists for their covers. Tell him to contact the advertising agencies as well. His pickins will be slim in SoMD, but up in DC he'll be golden.

PS, he should start his own business for RE agents and builders, doing renditions of houses that they can use in their marketing materials. I keep telling my ex-wife she should do this and she keeps putting it off. If I could draw more than stick figures, I'd have done this a long time ago.

Remaxrealtor, wouldn't you commission someone for, say, $100 or $200 to do a line drawing of a house that you can then print to change-of-address cards and give to your buyers as a thank you present?

 

[Oz]

As a matter of fact, I have a tax client that makes more then my husband and I combined selling cars.

Employment ad in today's Enterprise said that car salesman make over $100K at Southerns. A good salesman can make that in many fields, but car sales is still one of them!

 

[czygvtwkr]

My admin asst. asked me if I knew anyone hiring. She was asking for her son who she said has an AA in "graphic arts".

Well an AA isn't really a degree and well graphic arts that just goes unsaid.

 

[Pete]

College is a rip. My college used to change the books required for classes every other semester with the idea that your "Marketing in America 4th edition" you just finished with was now useless to someone who is going to take marketing because they needed "Marketing in America 5th edition". You were now stuck with a $170 book and goober has to run to the bookstore and buy a new one they will be stuck with. Come to find out the only difference between the 2 were chapters 6 and 7 were swapped.

Graduation fees, lab fees, transcript fees, tuition all so they can build huge halls and fancy buildings. Mine still sends me endless crap begging for money.

 

[czygvtwkr]

Oh yea the publishers are in bed with the colleges, books are the worst. Books have gone up faster than tuition. In the mid-late 90's I thought $100 for a book was bad. I found out the latest version of that very book used at CSM now costs $189

Not to mention the many classes that I ended up not needing the book at all.