Is the younger generation destined for financial failure?

[Callum]

^ That's quite a statement, blaming the government. People need to have some personal accountability. There's no "one source" to blame. Second-rate universities that are basically diploma mills are to blame, faculties are to blame, the economy is to blame, improper regulation is to blame, but, most importantly, students themselves are to be blamed. No one forced you, or anyone else, a gun to their head to sign off on student loans. Yes, it's stupidly expensive and people should be actively encouraged to seek opportunities elsewhere. Why not vocational schools? As an example, Canada is bleeding tradespeople. There are not enough plumbers, electricians, welders, mechanics etc to fill the void of retiring baby-boomers. Grants are literally thrown at people. In Ontario, you can wipe 90% - yes, NINETY PERCENT - of your college expenses just by gaining an apprenticeship in a trade via government incentives.

We have this warped notion of the need to attend university, rather than the reality that it's incredibly unnecessary for a lot of careers. There are so many students and graduates of universities in Canada that it's the most educated country on the planet, and people can't find jobs, or can't be employed because of ludicrous requirements.

A job in my local paper wants someone to be an assistant manager at a factory warehouse. They want you to have a degree, for $12/hr, and five years of experience using Microsoft Office. Five years? You can master that shit in less than a month. Let's examine some mathematics behind this. If you max out your student loans in Ontario, which is capped at roughly 12k a year, you'll have approximately 48k in student debt. With an interest rate of 3.5%, and the standard repayment rate of 96 months (8 years), the student will have to pay $634 a month to pay back their loans. So, by making $12/hr the student will make a gross of $1920 before taxation, which is probably minimal (I don't know the tax bracket rate off the top of my head). So, let's assume (for simplicity) they'll lose $400 of that to taxes. That's $1520 a month in net income. From personal experience apartments in Toronto - for something decent - are around $900 to start. $900 (rent, no utilities) + $634 (monthly loan repayment) = $1534. $1520-$1534 = $14 shortfall. No food or bills or personal expenses tossed in. Can't afford to live. Working while in school would obviously offset the cost, perhaps halving the $634 to $317, which is more affordable. Yet, since an undergraduate degree is about as common as toilet paper, how are the students going to afford graduate studies to become competitive against their fellow students? They likely aren't. This is where I foresee the collapse in student debt -- we're going to have indebted BAs/BScs so commonplace that people cannot afford to progress even further into graduate studies for something that we, culturally/educationally, see as necessary (the graduate degree, when we eventually see an undergraduate degree as useless).

Until we wipe the absurdity within job recruitment itself, and the cultural importance we place upon post-secondary education, we aren't going to progress on the political end of realistic education reformation. Perhaps a temporary fix would be government subsidization toward 'useful degrees', much like how the current subsidized education plan in militaries work. An example: a free-ride for those intelligent enough to pursue an engineering degree. Once such spots are claimed, a different degree stream in a different year is sponsored. Naturally, this would kill any hope of obtaining an arts degree, but that's an entire discussion into itself...

(Oh, and free grants and scholarships are available to ANYONE with an Internet connection. Come on, learn to Google.)

 

[njcollegekid]

part of the reason cost are so high is that many people are required to have degrees to compete for jobs that dont actually need the education. most secretaries and receptionists i know have degrees. i dont know why.

but its a balancing act of how much you can invest, vs how much you will reap from your future field. if you are studying the sociology, philosophy, english, or art history, good luck making money in your field. lawyers can make good money, but if you dont go to a top law school like harvard or yale, you wont make a cent. economics is a risk, but can have a good payoff. computer sciences are in high demand. hard sciences are always important in any society. i know a guy getting a degree in philosophy, have fun buddy.

maybe im a bit more privileged than average, but me and a lot ot my friends who are in college have only very tiny debts or no debts at all. im always surprised to hear how much some people owe. IMO its normal for parents to have a college fund for their kids, they have 18 years to invest in that fund (and i mean invest, that money should be growing). i understand if you are from a blue collar family, then the parents dont have much to spare, but a middle class family should be able to save up a good amount of cash over 18 freaking years. maybe im missing something?

 

[youfiad]

I agree that no one "forced" us to go to school, but it doesn't help with government agencies brainwashing kids into thinking that it's the only way to succeed in life. I couldn't even begin to count how many times we had colleges come into our high school classes. How many times we were told that going to college is necessary to find a job, how many times false statistics were used in order to entice kids into going to school. I think that should be outlawed. I think those talks should be illegal in high school, personally. We don't have banks coming in telling kids to invest their money in this or that, we don't have investors coming in telling kids to invest in whatever company they feel is going to make great profits in the future. Why do we have colleges coming in to lie to us, our kids?

It's true, there will be a huge college tuition bubble. Students are defaulting on their loans and there is absolutely no relief, no looking at what the problem is. How is it even possible that tuition is raising at this rate??? I don't believe it's the government not investing in higher education.. I don't think that's the problem in the slightest. I wouldn't want to government to invest in this education, if this is what we consider quality.

At this rate though, student loans will be at nearly 2 trillion within the next 5-10 years.. Yet, no relief..

Pitiful.

 

[Telstra]

Education should be free or cheap if they want a clever country.

 

[outofleft]

As a 19 year old just having completed a year at an arts program at a liberal arts college, I have to say that the issues talked about in this thread regarding the practicality of college are most definitely considered by we who are getting degrees. Every single day I think about exactly what I'm doing. I almost transferred last year. Because honestly, going to college -isn't- the most practical way to go about living a stable life. If you're not of particularly high intelligence or drive, it's pretty clear that you're better off learning a trade skill and going to work in the lower-middle class sector (and it's definitely better to start early if you're planning on moving up into management or the like in a local business).

If you -are- intelligent or very driven, then going to college (and possibly grad school) and getting a practical degree in engineering or law is a slightly riskier option with a much higher payoff. If you happen to love math and science, or you're lucky enough to be enamored with legality or accounting, this is a great route. But so few of us love blue-collar trades like plumbing or construction, or white collar careers like accounting, law, or engineering. Maybe we don't mind them; maybe we even enjoy them enough to get us through school studying them. But in 30 years, after working so hard to get into a field that we didn't even particularly like, what happens? We end up with a comfortable middle class home, some disposable income, and an awful midlife crisis (probably. The potential for failure is always present, and the greater workings of the world are not under our control)

But who are we to complain, right? There are children starving in Africa, there are laborers in third world countries working for nothing, even our own ancestors trudged over here in boats and built a nation out of nothing. In the grand scheme of things, we're all spoiled rotten. All of us. Even the plumbers and construction workers of today have it a hundred times better than their equivalent counterparts a hundred years ago, or even compared to people living across the ocean in third world countries. Even the unemployed, those on wellfare still have food. Hell, even the goddamn homeless can scrape out a living that's not half bad compared to the horrors some people have faced in the past, or in other places around the world.

But that's the thing, isn't it? Someone always has it worse than you. And we have been raised since birth and told that we're special, that we should shoot for the stars, try and achieve our dreams, because most people don't have the privilege to do so. Nobody is happy staying where they were born; it's hardwired in our biology to go out and find something better than what we were born with. Staying in the same town you grew up in, working as a plumber isn't moving forward. Even moving to a city working in a white-collar career just like your parents so you can raise children in a comfortable home who will go on to have white-collar careers just like you, what is that? That's just a single life set on loop.

Holy shit, I've gotten into some unpleasant stuff about the nature of life. My point is, we who choose to study "stupid" things like art or history or literature and rack up debt do so because we've been taught to follow our own path, and to do what we love. From day one we were told fairy-tales about achieving our dreams and shooting for the stars, and it's nearly impossible to let go of those dreams and still be happy. We're young, so we figure we'll at least try. Worst comes to worst, we end up failing. Then, we get a "practical" job and go on with life anyway. It's not that we're just stupid, it's that we recognize the futility of every path we could take... so we take the one that might actually lead to fulfilling what we were told we could have.

Whoo, that's some angsty ranting. But unfortunately pretty true, I think.

 

[Callum]

I agree that no one "forced" us to go to school, but it doesn't help with government agencies brainwashing kids into thinking that it's the only way to succeed in life. I couldn't even begin to count how many times we had colleges come into our high school classes. How many times we were told that going to college is necessary to find a job, how many times false statistics were used in order to entice kids into going to school. I think that should be outlawed. I think those talks should be illegal in high school, personally. We don't have banks coming in telling kids to invest their money in this or that, we don't have investors coming in telling kids to invest in whatever company they feel is going to make great profits in the future. Why do we have colleges coming in to lie to us, our kids?

Well, that's another issue too. Secondary schools need sweeping overhauls, from curricula to SAT/ACT/etc. I was absolutely dumbfounded when an American classmate told me the rigours and importance placed upon high school grades and extracurriculars. I actually didn't even believe him. What someone does from 13-16 should have zero bearing on their future in academia. We're kids then. Just look at grade twelve marks, that's it. No essays, etc. I go to one of the highest ranked universities in the world, ranked higher than half the Ivies, and I never wrote an entrance test, essay, personal statement/life-line. Never had to volunteer anywhere special or work somewhere to get into it. Just my top six marks in high school. Sure, I had colleges and universities come into my high school for information sessions, but they were 100% optional and I had to sign-up to attend.

Some courses I took in high school were utterly useless, but were requirements. 'Calculus and Vectors', a grade twelve math course...I haven't used a single fucking thing from it. I was never taught to balance a check-book, never learned about mortgages, different bank accounts, how to invest etc (thankfully I learned about this on my own, since I knew it would be important to my future). But I can tell you all about the Cheerios effect I learned about in grade twelve physics. Useless.

Sadly, it seems post-secondary institutions have adopted a "big business" model to the bane of students.

 

[youfiad]

^^ Avoid sciences if you want a job. I don't know one science major that has found a job out of college. in something that actually used their major.

 

[maxpowr9]

part of the reason cost are so high is that many people are required to have degrees to compete for jobs that dont actually need the education. most secretaries and receptionists i know have degrees. i dont know why.

but its a balancing act of how much you can invest, vs how much you will reap from your future field. if you are studying the sociology, philosophy, english, or art history, good luck making money in your field. lawyers can make good money, but if you dont go to a top law school like harvard or yale, you wont make a cent. economics is a risk, but can have a good payoff. computer sciences are in high demand. hard sciences are always important in any society. i know a guy getting a degree in philosophy, have fun buddy.

maybe im a bit more privileged than average, but me and a lot ot my friends who are in college have only very tiny debts or no debts at all. im always surprised to hear how much some people owe. IMO its normal for parents to have a college fund for their kids, they have 18 years to invest in that fund (and i mean invest, that money should be growing). i understand if you are from a blue collar family, then the parents dont have much to spare, but a middle class family should be able to save up a good amount of cash over 18 freaking years. maybe im missing something?

A good chunk of these people are the ones that attend a low-tier private college ["diploma mills" is what they are typically called] that costs nearly twice as much as a public school for most likely a worse education than the public college. Hell, many of them probably couldn't get into said public colleges for poor academics which should have been a telltale sign said individual is not meant for higher education and should go to a trade school instead.

On the same token, would not be surprised if many of these individuals were ones that took a bunch of random electives their senior year in high school and then went off to college "undecided" and want someone else to tell them what to do with their life. They end up being on the "extended" program and do not finish college in the typical four-year period usually with some "BS" major like psychology. The major problem with that is that you lose much of your aid after that period and you also lose your aid if you go "part-time" too [which most colleges say is less than 12 credits or 4 classes]. So when you have students paying "in-full" for a semester of school because they messed up, it is a hefty price tag to pay.

 

[njcollegekid]

I agree that no one "forced" us to go to school, but it doesn't help with government agencies brainwashing kids into thinking that it's the only way to succeed in life. I couldn't even begin to count how many times we had colleges come into our high school classes. How many times we were told that going to college is necessary to find a job, how many times false statistics were used in order to entice kids into going to school. I think that should be outlawed. I think those talks should be illegal in high school, personally. We don't have banks coming in telling kids to invest their money in this or that, we don't have investors coming in telling kids to invest in whatever company they feel is going to make great profits in the future. Why do we have colleges coming in to lie to us, our kids?

It's true, there will be a huge college tuition bubble. Students are defaulting on their loans and there is absolutely no relief, no looking at what the problem is. How is it even possible that tuition is raising at this rate??? I don't believe it's the government not investing in higher education.. I don't think that's the problem in the slightest. I wouldn't want to government to invest in this education, if this is what we consider quality.

At this rate though, student loans will be at nearly 2 trillion within the next 5-10 years.. Yet, no relief..

Pitiful.

well i dont think its the same exact thing as business salesemen. schools are non-profit you know. that isnt to say that they dont care about money, but they are education institutes, and they are pretty important to society.
how did they lie to you?
i wasnt lied to. we had a college fair where they threw stats at us, but they seemed perfectly reasonable. now im in college, according to my academic advisor well on track to getting into a veterinary school, and then a career.

governments cant just make up money. they can print it, but money is a stand in for resources - the more you print the less each bill is worth, you cant just make the value go up. government bailing out someone is really everybody bailing them out, since the money comes from taxes.
since the more you earn the more you pay (with the exception of if you are old money and earn from investments mainly), those who succeed need to hold up those who fail.
i dont want to pay for the sociology majors i know to be worthless. their own fault. let em be bankrupt and flip burgers for a living with their worthless degrees.

Education should be free or cheap if they want a clever country.

sweetheart, education is expensive to fund, regardless of whether its the government or individual. someone needs to pay for the professors, and the education they needed to be able to teach at that level, and the equipment, and buildings, and housing, etc. taxes, or college funds your pick. but nothing is ever free. this is a finite world. X things exist and Y people live. fight for what you want.

^^ Avoid sciences if you want a job. I don't know one science major that has found a job out of college. in something that actually used their major.

really?
im an animal sciences major. tons of career openings. though i intend to go on to vet school. and if you get into vet school (large cutoff at that point), you can get a job as a vet without too much difficulty afterward.

A good chunk of these people are the ones that attend a low-tier private college ["diploma mills" is what they are typically called] that costs nearly twice as much as a public school for most likely a worse education than the public college. Hell, many of them probably couldn't get into said public colleges for poor academics which should have been a telltale sign said individual is not meant for higher education and should go to a trade school instead.

On the same token, would not be surprised if many of these individuals were ones that took a bunch of random electives their senior year in high school and then went off to college "undecided" and want someone else to tell them what to do with their life. They end up being on the "extended" program and do not finish college in the typical four-year period usually with some "BS" major like psychology. The major problem with that is that you lose much of your aid after that period and you also lose your aid if you go "part-time" too [which most colleges say is less than 12 credits or 4 classes]. So when you have students paying "in-full" for a semester of school because they messed up, it is a hefty price tag to pay.

i know people who dont get much aid and after four years will owe over 50k. one of them is majoring in poli sci... sucks.

 

[whitedavo]

I went to college for seven years because I went so sporadically and took so few classes each semester. I had to work most of the time I was in it and frankly didn't enjoy it. I did 10 semesters instead of the regular 8, so I had to pay around $3000+ for the last two. Thankfully I paid it in cash.

What did I get from a college? Something that puts me ahead in generic industries. Working a white collar job is not my dream, but rather a means. Having grown up poor, a decent life is all I'm looking for. There are some luxuries I like to partake in but I can thankfully say that I was taught to be very smart with your money and to try and make the best of every opportunity. I rarely do the latter, unfortunately.

College is what you make of it but I do feel for the people who do really well and then have nothing to show for it.

 

[JPGhost]

Im glad I have the stereotypical asian parents. They dont kick their children just after legal age and they're also very secure with security (our well being)
it's bitter sweet but the sweet stuff is for the economy.

Im working at grocery right now but I can decide whenever I want to quit to start my business..

 

[youfiad]

really?
im an animal sciences major. tons of career openings. though i intend to go on to vet school. and if you get into vet school (large cutoff at that point), you can get a job as a vet without too much difficulty afterward.

Animal science major?? Tons of openings? I'm going to call bullshit on that one. I graduated with biomedical sciences with a 3.74 GPA and years of research under my belt and not qualified for pretty much any job; and the jobs that I am qualified for are severely lacking.

Yes, college is expensive to fund, which you wrote to another user. However, looking at how much many European countries spend on education/student and then looking at how much we spend/student, is appalling. I have many French friends who pay like 500 euros/year on their education and in most cases it's far superior to the education that you'll receive in the USA.

Also, my point about colleges lying is very valid. They make false promises about 95% of students graduate and find a job within their respective field. How is that even possible when over 50% of college graduates are unemployed? The most popular job after college graduation is retail.... Now, you may blame the students for "not working hard enough", which I'm sure is the problem for some. However, I know many incredibly intelligent science students who worked their asses off and are in the same boat.

In my opinion, higher education is just a scam. It's served its purpose and it may serve a purpose in the future. However, until we actually sit down and address the problem objectively, instead of merely spewing out random phrases about how important education is to be successful, our economy will fail again, and this time, much worse.. The bubble is growing and it doesn't show signs of stopping until one day it will be a' poppin'

 

[njcollegekid]

Animal science major?? Tons of openings? I'm going to call bullshit on that one. I graduated with biomedical sciences with a 3.74 GPA and years of research under my belt and not qualified for pretty much any job; and the jobs that I am qualified for are severely lacking.

Yes, college is expensive to fund, which you wrote to another user. However, looking at how much many European countries spend on education/student and then looking at how much we spend/student, is appalling. I have many French friends who pay like 500 euros/year on their education and in most cases it's far superior to the education that you'll receive in the USA.

Also, my point about colleges lying is very valid. They make false promises about 95% of students graduate and find a job within their respective field. How is that even possible when over 50% of college graduates are unemployed? The most popular job after college graduation is retail.... Now, you may blame the students for "not working hard enough", which I'm sure is the problem for some. However, I know many incredibly intelligent science students who worked their asses off and are in the same boat.

In my opinion, higher education is just a scam. It's served its purpose and it may serve a purpose in the future. However, until we actually sit down and address the problem objectively, instead of merely spewing out random phrases about how important education is to be successful, our economy will fail again, and this time, much worse.. The bubble is growing and it doesn't show signs of stopping until one day it will be a' poppin'

call what youd like. one of my friends is working as a vet tech and already got to DO a surgery wit hteh vet assisting (great experience). thats also a job a lot of middle aged people have and do ok with. im working with a prof on his research - the pay isnt spectacular, but its better than the retail you were talking about, and i will be published in scientific journals before my graduation. my very close friend is a chem major and working with a different professor, and actually getting very good pay - also still an undergrad who hasnt even completed his degree yet.
the school you go to and its rep in that field is also a very large factor.
most of my friends in the field also plan on going to either vet school or med school. after which its not a question of if you get a job in you field, but which one you get.

over 50% are unemployed? where did you get that stat? does it include community college grads?

they still pay a similar amount for it. just in the form of taxes.
i cant say anything on the quality of french universities.

come on. there are lots of positions which dont need it, but more that do.
anything in the financial industries, biotech, medical, farming (rutgers has a large farming-related degree base, and a scientific approach is what lets us produce so much food), education, computer science (massive field, btw), law/politics.

 

[youfiad]

When I'm talking about unemployed, I am not talking about "having a job" I'm talking about actually having the job they were promised; using their degree.

http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollec...e-2013-College-Graduate-Employment-Survey.pdf

this was a quick find. It's quite known that it's almost rare for an recent grad with merely a BS or BA degree to have a job, I usually just take it for granted to memorize the studies put out.


And no, European schools do not even pay a fraction of what we do even with taxes. That's completely untrue. Additionally, you have to think, what you pay for tuition is usually only HALF of what the total cost is per student.. State governments usually pay half of the tuition for the student.. So that 15,000$/year public university really costs 30,000$. Ask any out-of-state student how true that is. They are forced to pay the whole sum. There is no comparing what we pay in the USA and Canada with the rest of the world. They pay SIGNIFICANTLY less on higher education, overall. Additionally, I can speak for French universities, because I went to one for a year and know many French students. The quality of education there is much higher for many programs than it is in the USA.

 

[JohnnyAnger]

I really have to agree youfiad about the point of education being free. In the UK until fairly recently we had a free education system with pretty good grants going to pretty much everyone. Now we still don't pay anywhere as much as you in the states, we have taken steps towards privatising the university system - up the cost, up the number of students, cut back on research. It is horrible and why I left the country to study further. Now if I had planned it more I would have probably gone for Scandinavia as education is free at all levels, whereas I went to the Netherlands. I am still making a huge savings on my education than the UK (where a masters is at least 10 grand a year). I would never ever consider going state side for my education just due to the high cost and the position of importance you place on education, and will probably stay on the continent while my home government tries to set about ruining our own education system.

Also the French education is tre good, just I don't speak French so could not go there! It is very interesting how good Europeans as a whole are at research very quickly. We all choice our subjects at 18 here and only study them, but Europeans are already doing good research by themselves by 19/20/

 

[youfiad]

Also the French education is tre good, just I don't speak French so could not go there! It is very interesting how good Europeans as a whole are at research very quickly. We all choice our subjects at 18 here and only study them, but Europeans are already doing good research by themselves by 19/20/

Well from what I was told from my European friends, they found it weird that I was doing research during my undergraduate and I was told that it's not possible to do in their countries until a masters program. So I'm not sure if what your talking about is applicable on Europe as a whole. In the USA, if you don't do research in undergraduate, or you aren't active with your major, you're even more fucked. You might as will kiss your chances of ever getting a job goodbye.

For me, as previously stated, I majored in biomedical sciences. Now, with that, I was told that I would be able to get a job or go into further studies. The reason I liked the major is because it attacked everything I wanted; I'd be able to work, then proceed into a grad program, or medical school. It looks to me as though I might have to go to medical school earlier than I was hoping without taking that couple years off to work, get experience and enjoy life a little.

 

[Callum]

Eh, I'm skeptical on the employability of an animal biology major too...mostly because they're better off becoming doctors. Have to take the MCAT to be a vet in Canada (don't know about the USA). Although, with the average score being 26.38Q at our most prestigious vet school, they wouldn't have a hope in Hell for medical school anyway...kind of caters to the lowest common denominator.

Can just go to college for a year to be a vet tech and save yourself tens of thousands of dollars (if not over a hundred grand) in debt.

There is no comparing what we pay in the USA and Canada with the rest of the world.

To be fair, I don't pay anywhere close to what Americans do. My student accounts invoice since yesterday states I have to pay $4771.82 in tuition after my internal scholarships and bursaries have been calculated. That's it, and I'm doing two degrees...it's just over 7k for most people. Comparably, it would cost an American $34,133.50 to pay for the program I'm in (but they're classified as 'international students'). I'm guess 34k is still probably cheaper than out-of-state public and/private schools. UCLA is at 52k. USC is 60k, as a private example. Better off leaving America for an education! Ha...

 

[youfiad]

4771.82 is that for a semester? If so, I paid less than that/semester without any scholarships or grants. I have some Canadian friends who paid over double what I paid for tuition, so it must be circumstantial.

I paid at my school I think 210$/credit. It was 190$ wen I started. I took around 12-14credits/semester. I would have taken more, but I was working full time and doing research, so more would have probably killed me

 

[youfiad]

Wait, maybe it was 280$/credit. I'm not really sure.. I just remember that it was about 4000$/semester with all fees included...

 

[Just_Believe18]

^ That's quite a statement, blaming the government. People need to have some personal accountability. There's no "one source" to blame. Second-rate universities that are basically diploma mills are to blame, faculties are to blame, the economy is to blame, improper regulation is to blame, but, most importantly, students themselves are to be blamed. No one forced you, or anyone else, a gun to their head to sign off on student loans. Yes, it's stupidly expensive and people should be actively encouraged to seek opportunities elsewhere. Why not vocational schools? As an example, Canada is bleeding tradespeople. There are not enough plumbers, electricians, welders, mechanics etc to fill the void of retiring baby-boomers. Grants are literally thrown at people. In Ontario, you can wipe 90% - yes, NINETY PERCENT - of your college expenses just by gaining an apprenticeship in a trade via government incentives.

We have this warped notion of the need to attend university, rather than the reality that it's incredibly unnecessary for a lot of careers. There are so many students and graduates of universities in Canada that it's the most educated country on the planet, and people can't find jobs, or can't be employed because of ludicrous requirements.

A job in my local paper wants someone to be an assistant manager at a factory warehouse. They want you to have a degree, for $12/hr, and five years of experience using Microsoft Office. Five years? You can master that shit in less than a month. Let's examine some mathematics behind this. If you max out your student loans in Ontario, which is capped at roughly 12k a year, you'll have approximately 48k in student debt. With an interest rate of 3.5%, and the standard repayment rate of 96 months (8 years), the student will have to pay $634 a month to pay back their loans. So, by making $12/hr the student will make a gross of $1920 before taxation, which is probably minimal (I don't know the tax bracket rate off the top of my head). So, let's assume (for simplicity) they'll lose $400 of that to taxes. That's $1520 a month in net income. From personal experience apartments in Toronto - for something decent - are around $900 to start. $900 (rent, no utilities) + $634 (monthly loan repayment) = $1534. $1520-$1534 = $14 shortfall. No food or bills or personal expenses tossed in. Can't afford to live. Working while in school would obviously offset the cost, perhaps halving the $634 to $317, which is more affordable. Yet, since an undergraduate degree is about as common as toilet paper, how are the students going to afford graduate studies to become competitive against their fellow students? They likely aren't. This is where I foresee the collapse in student debt -- we're going to have indebted BAs/BScs so commonplace that people cannot afford to progress even further into graduate studies for something that we, culturally/educationally, see as necessary (the graduate degree, when we eventually see an undergraduate degree as useless).

Until we wipe the absurdity within job recruitment itself, and the cultural importance we place upon post-secondary education, we aren't going to progress on the political end of realistic education reformation. Perhaps a temporary fix would be government subsidization toward 'useful degrees', much like how the current subsidized education plan in militaries work. An example: a free-ride for those intelligent enough to pursue an engineering degree. Once such spots are claimed, a different degree stream in a different year is sponsored. Naturally, this would kill any hope of obtaining an arts degree, but that's an entire discussion into itself...

(Oh, and free grants and scholarships are available to ANYONE with an Internet connection. Come on, learn to Google.)

It is true that there is no one source to blame, but the control of rising tuition costs is the fault of the state and federal governments, which is contributing to the back-breaking debt that is exasperating the problem of financial failure for young adults.

Education is the great social mobility for people to lift themselves out of poverty. Yes, we should add emphasis to vocational and trade schools; however, the importance of higher education will always remain critical to the health of this nation. There are flaws in the process of transitioning from higher education to employment, but you cannot discount its importance entirely. Higher education is the backbone of developing a middle-class.

As a society, we need to fund education again. The concept of student loans as it is applied today is a very modern notion. We need to provide as many opportunities as possible to fund and support students pursuing a college education.

There's also no need to be condescending as you know I can use Google. Again, many students do not have access to free grants and scholarships for a variety of reasons. Their parents could make "too much" money to be disqualified from most grants and scholarships (even though their parents have no intention to support their college education). Many grants and scholarships have conditions such as applying for certain majors or long-distance universities. Furthermore, there are many students who do not have the experience nor resources to access this funding. There is generally no experienced adult to show them what to apply for, and online applications for funding are often cumbersome and unclear.

For myself, I tried applying for these broad, online scholarships, and ran into many of the same difficulties. The only scholarships I received were local to my community and university. I did not qualify for any grants or larger scholarships because the government/organizations deemed that my financially strapped parents made too much money. True, my parents did help me with living expenses while I worked part-time as a full-time student. However, they were in no position to pay my pre-recession tuition bill every semester. As a result, I am tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt so I could earn two degrees uninterrupted. It was an essential financial sacrifice to make so I could pursue the career I wanted and build the life I have now. However, what upsets me is that now a college student just a few years later has to pay nearly double for the same college education and degrees as I did. A few years difference. That's unacceptable.