The high cost of a college education continues to rise

[Mr981]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-24/u-s-colleges-raise-tuition-4-8-outpacing-inflation.html

Apparently, universities have decided that their customers will just have to come up with the cash however they can, rather than the schools freeze or reduce tuition costs.

When I graduated from a fairly expensive private school in the mid-70's tuition ran about $50/hour; that same school charges about $950/hour. In 2012 dollars, my ending tuition rate was $235/hr--leaving $700/hr to pay for stuff which I suspect we didn't have.

The ability to borrow from private lenders/Feds has helped fuel this run up, since I doubt students could finance this on their own (summer jobs/parents).

[kensb2]

My BS IT degree from UMass (which will be done completely online) is going to run me right around $40k ($360/CH). That doesn't include the cost of books. I'm eligible for $9750 per school year in TA/reimbursement via the Army Reserves and my civilian job. I'd say I'll end up maybe 5K out of pocket tops when all is said and done. There's no way I could ever pay that out of pocket if loans weren't available to me. My wife, on the other hand, is going to a local university for her MSBS, and is only paying $191/CH on campus. I looked into ITT, they're running around $76k for an online BSIT degree, and over 100k at one campus! :wow:

[JMS]

You might find this interesting as well...
http://jalopnik.com/5953080/how-inflation-has-jacked-up-the-prices-of-your-favorite-cars/gallery/1

[HOTHEAD]

50k for Daughters BS Chem Eng from RIT. She got a 50% scholarship.

:crying: It hurts BAD

[Fox184]

And the big problem is the education isn't paying off much once people graduate with a degree.

Get a 50 grand a year job to pay for a 50 grand education, or become an apprentice in a trade and work up to 50 or 60 grand, but not have any student debt?

[Chesafreak]

And the big problem is the education isn't paying off much once people graduate with a degree.

Get a 50 grand a year job to pay for a 50 grand education, or become an apprentice in a trade and work up to 50 or 60 grand, but not have any student debt?

Or... join the military and have them pay for college while getting some experience.

[RJ1670]

And the big problem is the education isn't paying off much once people graduate with a degree.

Get a 50 grand a year job to pay for a 50 grand education, or become an apprentice in a trade and work up to 50 or 60 grand, but not have any student debt?

I wish I could find a $50k/yr job. I have an Accounting degree and 4 yrs of military service. I can't even sniff $50k.

[TK-421]

My brother has a bachelors in some video game degree, like $70k of debt I think, and the only job he can find is working in the back at PetSmart. Kids these days are leaving college with tens of thousands in debt, and have to spend a few years looking for a job to pay them back. It's crazy.

[Chesafreak]

Skyrocketing college costs and graduates’ trillion-dollar debt have become a campaign issue, with President Barack Obama (http://topics.bloomberg.com/barack-obama/) promoting his efforts to provide lenient payment plans for borrowers and challenger Mitt Romney (http://topics.bloomberg.com/mitt-romney/) expressing concern the government is postponing financial pain.

Obama is focusing on student loans to get the sympathy and votes from college students/graduates and draw attention away from his failure to improve the economy. What good does a degree do you if you can't find a job?

[Chesafreak]

I wish I could find a $50k/yr job. I have an Accounting degree and 4 yrs of military service. I can't even sniff $50k.

What would it take for you to be certified a CPA?

Many law firms are looking for tax paralegals. My employer usually has openings for them. They average 58k a year salary.


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[NeverMore1701]

Lots of people who don't need to go to college are anyway.

[Glock20 10mm]

It's called indentured servitude. The put a nice carrot in front and if you take it, they own your ass for the rest of your life.

[heliguy]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-24/u-s-colleges-raise-tuition-4-8-outpacing-inflation.html

Apparently, universities have decided that their customers will just have to come up with the cash however they can, rather than the schools freeze or reduce tuition costs.

When I graduated from a fairly expensive private school in the mid-70's tuition ran about $50/hour; that same school charges about $950/hour. In 2012 dollars, my ending tuition rate was $235/hr--leaving $700/hr to pay for stuff which I suspect we didn't have.

The ability to borrow from private lenders/Feds has helped fuel this run up, since I doubt students could finance this on their own (summer jobs/parents).

University north TX for my freshman is $6,000 tuition per semester. Highway robery

[holesinpaper]

Or... join the military and have them pay for college while getting some experience.

"Them pay?" You mean "us" (taxpayers).

[fnfalman]

If people think that higher education is expensive now, they should go back and recheck the cost of college education a hundred plus years ago.

[boomhower]

People are just paying two much. Go to community college for two years for dirt cheap. Then transfer to a four year for your final two years and get your degree. You've spent almost half the money for the same degree.


Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk

[fnfalman]

"Them pay?" You mean "us" (taxpayers).

That's part of the deal. GIs don't make squat for base pays, so they have other perks.

Either that or draft everybody's asses and make everybody serve.

[aircarver]

I blew $350K on four daughters through college... :frown:

.

[Viper16]

I struggled between going and not going. I am very mechanically inclined and everyone wants that piece of paper to let you know that you know how to follow directions and have patience to learn. While I could've used some of the mathematical training...it was nothing I couldn't grab up a book and teach my self with aid.

I ended up getting associates and then couldn't hack the teenagers disrupting me, the teacher, and the rest of the class that wanted to learn. Teach had no backbone, and let them walk all over him. I think the one that really got me was a professor was more interested in telling us how much he hates his wife than teach his math class. I swear the first 10 classes we focused more on his personal life than getting into the class subject.

Anyways...6 years later and make more than most graduates with bachelors in my career field and other similar career fields. not bragging, just saying with patience and hard work, it can be done.

It seems nowadays everyone wants someone to be experienced from the date of hired...hard to do when you are a fresh grad.

[fnfalman]

I struggled between going and not going. I am very mechanically inclined and everyone wants that piece of paper to let you know that you know how to follow directions and have patience to learn. While I could've used some of the mathematical training...it was nothing I couldn't grab up a book and teach my self with aid.

I don't know why people think that everything needed to be learned from school either. There are libraries out of the wazoos. Sure, chances of regular folks learning quantum mechanics on their own is rather tough, but algebra? Trig? That ain't nuthin'.

I ended up getting associates and then couldn't hack the teenagers disrupting me, the teacher, and the rest of the class that wanted to learn. Teach had no backbone, and let them walk all over him. I think the one that really got me was a professor was more interested in telling us how much he hates his wife than teach his math class. I swear the first 10 classes we focused more on his personal life than getting into the class subject.

I was glad that my math classes were taught primarily by foreign graduate students. I can't understand their Hindglish or Chinglish, but what the hell, you're there for the numbers and the squiggles, and not English lessons.

Anyways...6 years later and make more than most graduates with bachelors in my career field and other similar career fields. not bragging, just saying with patience and hard work, it can be done.

Gotta be smart and work smart. Degrees may help you get a job easier, but it doesn't mean it'll help you get a high paying job later, or even advancement at all. It's camel's nose under the tent, no more and no less.

It seems nowadays everyone wants someone to be experienced from the date of hired...hard to do when you are a fresh grad.

Nope. It's always like that. :wavey:

[Viper16]

That's part of the deal. GIs don't make squat for base pays, so they have other perks.

Either that or draft everybody's asses and make everybody serve.

To add to the above...

Well the whole...college paid for is a bid of a stretch. Now, they do straight up pay for tuition. Now tuition is tuition only, not the fees that are sometimes 3-4 times larger in cost than just the tuition itself. But they do pay you a monthly deposit with the kicker(s). This makes your college to almost come out free, except you would still need to have a job to help pay for your living and food, and a buffer to help start off with the books and the fee prices.

I think kids nowadays get about 600-1000/mo from GI Bill and Kicker depending on service given. Which isn't too bad! but as you have seen the wide cost of $xxx/CH is variable and will drain your GI Bill and Kicker in just fees and books.

[HarlDane]

And the big problem is the education isn't paying off much once people graduate with a degree.The cause of that problem is too many graduates with worthless degrees and/or sub par grades.

I just graduated and I can tell you that those with hard science, engineering and accounting/finance degrees aren't having a hard time finding a decent job. On the other hand, those who skated by with a 2.3 GPA in Communications, Liberal Studies, Criminology, Sociology or any of the various Ethnic Studies degrees are finding out that their 40K in tuition (that they haven't even started paying off) didn't buy them a career.

Get a 50 grand a year job to pay for a 50 grand education, or become an apprentice in a trade and work up to 50 or 60 grand, but not have any student debt?I know a lot of guys in the trades, most of whom are small business owners. They're welders, plumbers, tile/stone guys, HVAC, electricians, etc., and without exception they all have a blown out knee, bad back or some other physical ailment related to their jobs by time they're in their 40's. It's a good living, but it's a younger mans game.

[RJ1670]

What would it take for you to be certified a CPA?

Many law firms are looking for tax paralegals. My employer usually has openings for them. They average 58k a year salary.

In PA you must possess a Master's degree to sit for the CPA exam. I'm starting my MBA program in the spring.

[sputnik767]

My brother has a bachelors in some video game degree, like $70k of debt I think, and the only job he can find is working in the back at PetSmart. Kids these days are leaving college with tens of thousands in debt, and have to spend a few years looking for a job to pay them back. It's crazy.

College is an investment, and just like all investments, some are good and some are bad. But let's put it this way, if you are in a 4 year university, you're spending the same amount of money on a BS in basket weaving as you would on a BS in science or engineering. But one clearly offers much better opportunity than the other, despite the same cost. In the end, the choice is yours to make. It sounds like your brother wasted 70k plus interest on a non-marketable skill, and is now back to where he started when he graduated high school. But this is not the fault of the school, the government, or anything else except his fault. Part of the reason why college costs are going up is because colleges are making space for garbage degrees that are in high demand. And demand is not getting smaller despite rising costs. I don't blame easy student loans for that because in the end, those loans have to be paid off. They can't even be discharged through bankruptcy. When I graduated in 2007, I had a job within 1 month. But I got a degree in biology with a minor in chemistry. My friend got a degree in computer science at the same time, and it took him longer to find a job but he was working within 6 months. This was during the time of the crash. My friends who got their degrees in history, English, etc went back to doing exactly what they were doing before college.

[Haldor]

I looked into ITT, they're running around $76k for an online BSIT degree, and over 100k at one campus! :wow:

ITT Tech is a total scam. Credits unlikely to transfer...

Kindergarten for adults

[fnfalman]

ITT Tech is a total scam. Credits unlikely to transfer...

Kindergarten for adults

Pretty expensive education for the same level as a VoTech associate degree.

[Dennis in MA]

And the big problem is the education isn't paying off much once people graduate with a degree.

Get a 50 grand a year job to pay for a 50 grand education, or become an apprentice in a trade and work up to 50 or 60 grand, but not have any student debt?

I struggled between going and not going. I am very mechanically inclined and everyone wants that piece of paper to let you know that you know how to follow directions and have patience to learn. While I could've used some of the mathematical training...it was nothing I couldn't grab up a book and teach my self with aid.

I ended up getting associates and then couldn't hack the teenagers disrupting me, the teacher, and the rest of the class that wanted to learn. Teach had no backbone, and let them walk all over him. I think the one that really got me was a professor was more interested in telling us how much he hates his wife than teach his math class. I swear the first 10 classes we focused more on his personal life than getting into the class subject.

Anyways...6 years later and make more than most graduates with bachelors in my career field and other similar career fields. not bragging, just saying with patience and hard work, it can be done.

It seems nowadays everyone wants someone to be experienced from the date of hired...hard to do when you are a fresh grad.

False and false. I've been told time and again here that college will make you more money. :rofl:

[.264 magnum]

50k for Daughters BS Chem Eng from RIT. She got a 50% scholarship.

:crying: It hurts BAD

That's an awesome thing for her and you. She should do fine and that $50K will be a great investment. Two of my wife's sisters are engineers, one mechanical the other electrical, both are in their late 40s and since school between them neither has ever been unemployed for a single day so far as I know.

[skew12]

And the big problem is the education isn't paying off much once people graduate with a degree.

Get a 50 grand a year job to pay for a 50 grand education, or become an apprentice in a trade and work up to 50 or 60 grand, but not have any student debt?

Or... join the military and have them pay for college while getting some experience.

This is about the best way to go these days for the average college student. Unless youre the 4.0 type with a free ride. It's almost gotten to the point that you have to have some form of engineering or medical field degree or bust.

I started off going to college and eventually realized I needed to reevaluate what i was doing there. Already seeing people with useless degrees and a mountain of debt. I ended up going into a trade school apprenticeship, quality assurance, and it has worked out rather well for me so far. I busted my ass for 6 years and found a promotion into a higher form of QA that's far more white collar than blue. It pays a good bit more than $50k, but it's no $100k that some of you guys make. However that potential is there. More ass busting to get there though.

Although I'm giving a lot of debate to finishing a mechanical eng. degree. Long term, part time though.

My point is there are quite a few jobs out there that don't require degrees. Sure you may have to do some hard work for it, but it can definitely pay off and send you to much better avenues. Although getting a degree requires a lot of time and energy so I definitely wouldn't say it's easier. Most college kids hit the books for 60+ hours a week. That's not easy either.

If I could do it all over again, it'd be the military for 20 years, a gov't job for another 20 years, and then spend the last few as a contractor in a related field. That's multiple retirements and a very great wage for someone with no college degree. Throw a degree in that mix and it'll yield even more money.

[Task_Force]

Yeah, it's completely retarded.

I have a room-mate who has a bull*****, useless-as-hell associates degree from some unknown for-profit tech school in El Paso and is 19K in the hole for it. He says with all the interest and fees the payments run him around $500 a month! I know of tons of people from college (a lower-tier state school near Houston) that can't find jobs and are saddled with at least 20K in debt.

Of all the people I know from college, I only know of 1 (ONE) that graduated, has a job and owns a home. Just one.

[collim1]

I was in college for five consecutive years. My first semester's tuition was $1200, my last was $2700.

Thats more than double at the same university in a five year period. The tuition cost freeze expired and they increased it every year.

It took alot of work at the expense of my GPA, but I managed to graduate with zero debt.

[GRIMLET]

My oldest son is in Afghanistan. He is enlisted and in the Ms NG. He volunteered to go so his education benefits along with his basic pay will allow him to finish his degree at a state college and have no debt.

Dont get me started on students who get gov grants who dont pull the weight of being a citizen.

[holesinpaper]

That's part of the deal. GIs don't make squat for base pays, so they have other perks.

Either that or draft everybody's asses and make everybody serve.

Entitlement program started 1944.

[kensb2]

I think kids nowadays get about 600-1000/mo from GI Bill and Kicker depending on service given. Which isn't too bad! but as you have seen the wide cost of $xxx/CH is variable and will drain your GI Bill and Kicker in just fees and books.

In case anybody is wondering, the Chapter 30 (old) GI bill currently pays $1426/mo if you served at least 3 years. That is without having paid in for the kicker, which I think is another $600/mo IIRC. The post 9/11 GI bill, pays 100% of books and tuition up to the most expensive public school of the state in which you attend college. It also pays the active duty equivalent of E-5 (sergeant) Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) for the zip code of the school, pro rated from 60-100% depending on the number of hours taken each semester. That means: when my wife starts her Master's degree in January, she'll be taking 3 classes. This qualifies her at 100% full time, and she will receive a check for $996/mo she is in school, on top of tuition and books being paid. Just some food for thought.

[Eurodriver]

In case anybody is wondering, the Chapter 30 (old) GI bill currently pays $1426/mo if you served at least 3 years. That is without having paid in for the kicker, which I think is another $600/mo IIRC. The post 9/11 GI bill, pays 100% of books and tuition up to the most expensive public school of the state in which you attend college. It also pays the active duty equivalent of E-5 (sergeant) Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) for the zip code of the school, pro rated from 60-100% depending on the number of hours taken each semester. That means: when my wife starts her Master's degree in January, she'll be taking 3 classes. This qualifies her at 100% full time, and she will receive a check for $996/mo she is in school, on top of tuition and books being paid. Just some food for thought.


Due to kicker payments and high BAH, I get paid almost $40,000 a year for my GI Bill (tuition included).

I don't think civilians understand just how much of a free ride our vets get. Its such a joke. I haven't had a job since I EAS'd almost 2 years ago. Just going to school full time. And since I dont have a job, I qualify for grants from my university. I also qualify for food stamps and a slew of other social welfare programs (I don't use them) because all of my GI Bill money is tax free.

[Viper16]

In case anybody is wondering, the Chapter 30 (old) GI bill currently pays $1426/mo if you served at least 3 years. That is without having paid in for the kicker, which I think is another $600/mo IIRC. The post 9/11 GI bill, pays 100% of books and tuition up to the most expensive public school of the state in which you attend college. It also pays the active duty equivalent of E-5 (sergeant) Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) for the zip code of the school, pro rated from 60-100% depending on the number of hours taken each semester. That means: when my wife starts her Master's degree in January, she'll be taking 3 classes. This qualifies her at 100% full time, and she will receive a check for $996/mo she is in school, on top of tuition and books being paid. Just some food for thought.

Welp, sorry, I was thinking for Guard/Reserve who cannot have a full 3 years service up front. I see more Guard/Reserve paid college advertisements than the AD.