Bernie, AOC and some of the new flaming liberals have a long list of shit they want to change. I’m with them on most of it, but not one… Fuck Free College.
We don’t want to repeat “senioritis” from high school with bored kids hanging out for a decade in “college” to avoid getting a job and real responsibilities.
College “kids” are really young adults. And like all adults they should pay for the services they use. Nothing focuses the mind like watching most of your paycheck go to tuition.
I’m not defending the current bullshit system of astronomical costs and unforgiveable loans. That’s fucked-up and only works for the top 10 percent of earners.
The current system is perpetuated by the rich who can use high tuition as a barrier — so their dumbass kids don’t have to compete with superior students who have inferior bank accounts.
“My kid gets in, because I bought a new wing for the library.” Or cheat like hell on SAT’s or bribe a coach for fuck’s sake.
All that shit is ridiculous, but if you are paying $200k so your kid can major in theater, you are buying your way into an exclusive club too.
Along with the benefits to rich parents, the banks and the federal government profit off “the unforgiven” – those student loans that must be paid in full with interest.
Banks are in business to make a profit, but they don’t need to make their profit off poor students — they can take a little more risk on the young. And there’s no reason the federal goverrnment should profit on student loans.
People should be able to walk away from student loans like it’s a credit card or a house. There are serious punishments in place for defaulters on any loan, bad credit rating, no credit cards, harder to get a job…
Only the scumbags will walk away from those loans on purpose. But the college-loan shit we have now is creating modern-day indentured servants and economic slaves. That’s no good for anybody — including the banks.
“Affordable College”
We definitely need to change the system and maybe the call for “free college” is a good place to start the negotiations. But the real goal needs to be affordable college.
A shit-ton of good things have to happen just to make it affordable AGAIN:
- Colleges have to squeeze every dollar to reduce costs — no more massive recreation centers, country club dorms and glossy new stadiums
- State schools should live up to their name and fund colleges at 80 percent of costs — most are now down to less than 20 percent
- Banks (and the federal government) need to set low rates and allow students to default on those loans like any credit card
- The feds need to restore grants, the GI bill, and service projects and other ways to cover the costs for those without wealth.
That’s just on the college side. We also need to raise wages and reduce housing costs for young adults, so they can afford to work part-time and get through college with minimal loans.
That may seem “impossible”, but it’s not. We have done it before. That’s exactly the system we had from 1950-1980 (or so). We just slowly eroded support for higher ed and kept setting higher and higher expectations for student housing and services, while freezing the minimum wage. The combination moved education further and further out of reach.
But if we want to continue having one of the best higher education systems in the world, we need to make some changes.
High costs are wasting talent. Many of our best and brightest don’t get the chance at higher education. It’s not going to be pretty, and it’s not going to be easy, but fuck that idea that college should be free.
The real goal needs to be to make college affordable for those who really want to go. Ohh and let’s think about technical and trade schools too. Not everyone is cut out for college, and there’s plenty of opportunities in the trades.
But fuck free trade school too.
Yes, I see a pattern of course. When I went to College in Chicago, city college, the city paid half and the state paid half. Grading was stiff. When I went to Illinois, State paid half. Still, I was able to make enough playing semi-pro baseball during the summer to pay for the entire year, rent, and expenses. Obviously, the State supported education more than they do now! SAT? Well, for me it was a great approach as I scored very high and that was because no idiot teachers were involved to decide they didn’t like my asking of questions — especially when they didn’t know what the hell they were talking about. Today, legislators cut way back. Bastards. Trend started with Reagan.
SAT’s were never designed as a test for who would succeed in college and they suck at predicting success. But I hear you on at least it’s “objective” in some sense.
They are about 47% accurate in predicting graduation. Higher for women. Gpa’s seem more predictive for males, less for women. No idea why unless it’s comportment. The best predictor is family income, but no body wants to go there and they shouldn’t.
47% accurate — so less than a coin flip. I would say that’s not accurate at all. Family income = opportunity and support, motivation and expectations, and more tangible rewards for graduation. It’s always going to be an advantage — it just shouldn’t be THE deciding factor.
Should not be a factor at all in admissions.
My husband went to University in the Netherlands and it was almost free. His cousins lost jobs in industries that weren’t doing well and the government put them through new university training to make them productive members of the workforce. It worked. Fast forward 20 years. He lives in the states and we both went back to school in our 40’s to upgrade our careers. Add 200+K student loans to our almost debt-free existence. We are less than 20 years from retirement and the gov will hold your SS if you still owe on student loans. It’s an impossible system and ridiculous. My education was online and I never stepped into a school and still owe an astronomical amount not congruent with my income out of school. We can afford it in this country, at least to make it affordable, but only if they make some real and radical changes to root out this corruption and gouging. Indentured servitude is pretty accurate.
I’m for free college (assuming you’re able to get in). My cousin in the UK got both of his degrees without cost back in the 90s. Or at least make it affordable. The current system is ridiculous — we’ve turned education into a business (just like health care) and naturally, the greedy fuckers are making as much money as possible. I got my BA from ASU back in the day and it cost me around $5,000 (I took the optional 5th year). Now it would cost me ten times that amount. And ASU is one of the cheaper options. It’s obscene that we saddle young people, who are just starting out in life, with a crushing level of debt.
Just my experience when you give people scholarships or for free, apathy sets in and it becomes high school all over again.
But I think we both can agree on the current system is completely fucked up.
Absolutely…
I would disagree. My parents paid for my first couple of years and I still took it seriously because I wanted to be there. Some people might not take it seriously but they’re still going to have to apply to get in. And if they don’t apply themselves they get the boot or a shitty GPA. My cousin got his two free degrees in journalism and had a good career traveling the world covering stories. I’ve also known people in the U.S.who took out shitloads of loans and were indifferent students (or drunk). Some of them never graduated.
Yeah. People are complicated. But I know in my current situation we stopped giving full scholarships. Because folks who got in for free didn’t value it. And there’s a huge difference in teaching high school versus college. I think tuition is a big part of that.