On the contrary, I think it is tragic. It really SUCKS for me to go to orientation every year KNOWING that 80% of those kids won't make it through. And if your thinking that I do that whole Paper Chase thing (look to your left, look to your right...) I don't. I bend over backwards to help these kids out. Most, however, are not ready for college and have been forced into it by their parents. These are the ones eating up financial aid money so that serious students who need it to continue can't get funding. As I tell people who are about to graduate, they should be VERY proud of what they have accomplished, most start this path, few finish.
It doesn't have to be college. It can be trade school like Air Conditioning maintenance, truck driving, radiological assistant, veterinary assistant, or anything that affords people a better job. "Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained." James A. Garfield, July 12, 1880
mrpaige, I know exactly where you're coming from. I did the same thing, graduating mid-term (when you could still do that) and starting college straight away. It was one of the dumbest things I ever did. I should have decompressed until the fall, at least. I ended up changing my major more than once and wish I had done it much differently. But going to the university back then was a few hundred dollars a semester. Rents were cheap and you could work part time, have your own place and, with some help from the folks, go to college pretty easily (at a state school). Now, it's a huge financial commitment. Parents are up against a wall. Middle class parents who want their kids to have a degree and every opportunity are finding it straining their bank accounts to the breaking point..
Yeah, my sister and I never tapped into the financial aid well, so at least we don't feel bad about taking money out of the system for something that was something of a waste. College wasn't as expensive when I went originally (from 1989 through 1992), but it wasn't as cheap as it had been in the past. I also picked up some basics at community colleges over the years. It seemed silly to pay full boat for a first year Geology class I had to take for this BA degree I got this summer, so I took the class online through Grayson County College. There was also a literature class I needed, so I took it at Collin County Community College over the Wintermester. I think I figured the savings at just over $400 per course over taking those courses at UT-Arlington. As long as you plan ahead, you can go to a community college and take the basic courses you need that will transfer to a 4-year school and save a fortune. Plus, most community colleges have much smaller class sizes than the larger universities. I remember a Geology class I had at Texas Tech had over 150 people in it. No class I've ever taken at a Community College ever had more than 30 people in it.... and most of the time, it was far fewer than that. Community Colleges can be a nice way to keep from getting overwhelmed with the transition from High School to University.
My ex-wife eventually became an X-Ray tech through a two-year program at the local community college. She makes a good salary and has good job prospects where she lives. Actually, her salary and job prospects are likely far better than that of the average Communications graduate from a 4-year school.
mrpaige, when I went to UH, one semester was less than what you saved on that one course. You could get a hell of a lot more for your dollar, however. I had a garage apartment by Hermann Park for 65 bucks a month, bills paid. My Dad was a department chair at the University. I think I drove him nuts. (hell, I know I did!) Applying for financial aid never entered the picture, not that we were rolling in money. My sister went to UT, which was more expensive. I didn't go there until years later. Man, I feel old.
Listen, I have two extremely bright kids. Both are in the GT program, my 7th grader is in the Junior National Honor society, my 2nd grader reads at a 5th grade plus level... and I have their tuition paid for through the Texas Tomorrow Fund. We signed up the first year. Their tuition is paid for regardless of how high it goes up. (and it's not through rising) That option is now shut down. The state has closed new admissions to the program from lack of funds. Much of the reason is the stock market, but the state also chose not to budget money to keep it available. So we're lucky. The option is shut down because it was a dumbass idea - it was unfundable if you looked at it realistically. If college costs rise 10% a year in real-dollar terms, the state would basically bebankrupting itself with the Texas Tomorrow Fund. It's nice to be able to do, but what it involved was the state guaranteeing you a ridiculously high rate of return -- one that they couldn't fund -- for your money. It was a great idea politically -- because the leaders today won't have to deal with the financial consequences of 15 years from now, but it's a terrible idea when looked at in terms of the economics. If the money was actually to be transferred from the state to the universities, taxes would have to skyrocket to pay for that. If the people were just admitted at discounted tuition, then the university was going to have to raise rates enormously on everyone else to cover their costs. Exactly. College may not be for everyone, but everyone deserves some kind of higher education. But that's still feasible for anyone. With the amount of loan and work study options out there, if someone is really committed to going to college, there are plenty of ways to make it happen.
Maybe a dumbass idea to you. That dumbass idea is going to pay for my kid's tuition. So, at least here, I must not be a dumbass... no??
There's more than enough universities to handle all the students that want to attend. Hell, just think of all the public schools here in Texas. Some schools would love to increase enrollment. You've got: Texas Texas A&M Texas Tech Houston Houston Clear Lake UTEP UTA UTD UTSA UT Pan AM UT Brownsville Texas Southern Prairie View A&M Kingsville A&M Corpus A&M Galveston West Texas A&M North Texas East Texas SFA Sam Houston Texas State So there's plenty of room for everyone in this country to attend college. Sure, not everyone needs to go, but those 4 additional years of school go a long way to advancing one's education. It benefits our society as a whole to be better educated. If everyone went to 4-years of college we'd have a lot fewer uneducated yokels running around.
I think you may have missed the point. There may be plenty of room (not at UT, it is jammed packed) but there is not plenty of available money, which is what we are discussing. The more students who are not right for college go just because there happens to be room, the less funding there is for people who should be there.
Unfortunately, the budget constraints on the Public University Fund are terrible. This is what you get when you have continuous tax cuts for the richest 1%. Tax dollars are being misappropriated and diverted to the wrong place. There's not enough money to educate the people, and, as a result, we are falling behind as a nation. Ideally, everyone should have the chance at getting a college education in this country who wants to.
Those were the days! My sister stayed in a dorm her first couple of years, so the costs were higher. You couldn't have paid me to stay in a dorm... not back then.
1) The bottom 2/3rds also had their taxes cut. It was the upper-middle class that got screwed. 2) Is there a connection between college costs and federal tax cuts?
The option is shut down because it was a dumbass idea - it was unfundable if you looked at it realistically. If college costs rise 10% a year in real-dollar terms, As said before, in many other middle class countries college is tution free. As usual policy choices that may not be the best for the average person are presented as immutable like the law of gravity. It just ain't so. You can try to bolster this by using words like "realistically" over and over, but it is just a choice and we should probably make a different one.
2) Is there a connection between college costs and federal tax cuts? I think the link is tenuous, but its there. You could argue that as the federal gov't reduced funds, they shifted the burden of some services to the states. That means the state has more things to fund with the same number of dollars, meaning less money for college. I don't know if that's really happened at the federal-state level since they are just running huge deficits, but it has certainly happened at the state-local level. The way the state balanced the budget was simply to shift many costs to local entities. Overall, though, the fund cuts are more a result of the weak economy and rising education costs than any type of tax issues.
As said before, in many other middle class countries college is tution free. Where? And what are those countries' average tax rates? And if you take the additional taxes they pay and give it back to the individuals, would it be enough to cover the costs of tuition for their kids?
