orgaknight Posted October 30, 2006 Report Share Posted October 30, 2006 (to borrow a bit from an old movie)Beware the Student Loan!For it is the devil's pawn!Among this nations traditions, it is applied for in hope, in trust, by lead.Yea it will take away your later opportunity, and shackle you!Let it not breed in great numbers, for it made a desert of my life, and will yours!Shun it! Drive it back into it's false lair!For it is the harbinger of DEBT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnInMN Posted October 30, 2006 Report Share Posted October 30, 2006 It is funny that people think nothing of paying $200-$300 per month on a vehicle lease or car payment 4-6 years, sometimes at ridiculous interest rates. For the lease, they have nothing to show at the end of the term...for the sale, if they are lucky they get 10-12 years use. Yet an education is for life. There is nothing wrong with student loans, if they are borrowed and used wisely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orgaknight Posted October 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 Too many students find it way to easy to take these loans and borrow way more than they need. When they graduate with their degrees, they often find that their earning expecatations are not met and are now saddled with paying these high monthly payments that are essentially causing them opportunity cost. I would much rather see students get GRANTS and low tuition education and prosper in their adult lives. I'd rather see that payment go into their retirement fund so they can afford to live when they are no longer able to use that sheepskin to pay the bills! Education costs are getting out of control, with student loans becoming big business, book costs rising to ridiculously high levels as well as tuition. I am beginning lobbying effort to get community colleges to offer 4 year degrees and graduate degrees, just to help control costs and perhaps get the bigger universities to bring their tuitions back in line with reality. Wake up folks. Your kids may not be able to afford to go to college without getting horribly in debt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnInMN Posted October 31, 2006 Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 I am beginning lobbying effort to get community colleges to offer 4 year degrees and graduate degrees, just to help control costs and perhaps get the bigger universities to bring their tuitions back in line with reality. Wake up folks. Your kids may not be able to afford to go to college without getting horribly in debt.Community colleges will never offer 4 year degrees...that is the function of the state public universities. CC's are generally small colleges, generally with "instructors" instead of professors. To fund a degree program worth the paper it is written on, requires a teaching staff that is not affordable by the local CC. Public University is affordable if one makes it. A lot of students here will go to the two year CC and then transfer over to the University. Kids also have to learn to live at home whenever possible. I saw too many local kids moving into the dorms "for the college experience" that lived within easy commuting distance. Many of these where dependant on aid to fund this. We had work study funds to burn, but the students were "too busy". Funny things is, a lot of jobs we offered were desk monitoring jobs that they could easily do their studying at!The majority of the defaulted loans I saw during my collection career were for students who attended private or career colleges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orgaknight Posted October 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 With all due respect and with no intent to flame, this is an area that I can speak with expertise. Some Public Florida Community Colleges are indeed starting to offer 4 year degree programs. They are as of yet, small in number but I expect the demand to grow as Universities price themselves out of the market. Tuition is raised more times and at a higher percentage than people recieve in raises within their jobs. It's only a matter of time before the wallet will be stretched to the limit. I am in school yet again but am shocked at how much expenses have risen in just the past 20 years. Textbooks that used to cost under $50 used, are now near or over $100 per book on the average. I refuse to pay that and now resort to Amazon.com and ebay for the same books at half the price to offset this gouging. Orgaknight, AA, BS, MSW, MPA 45K in debt with Student Loans, working three jobs and going BACK to school to defer payment until the childsupport obligation ends and I can afford the SUV sized monthly payments for 10 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orgaknight Posted October 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 Just some info to support my assertion. Sit back and watch the trend unfold. Between online learning and Community Colleges getting into the act, hopefully Universities will rethink strategies of jacking up tuition and encouraging students to get into deep debt and maybe reforms will come to make education more accessible to those who seek it, and not just based on economic station.Chipola Community College: http://www.chipola.edu/Secondary%20Education/index.htmAn Article: Florida Community Colleges Apply to Offer New Bachelor’s DegreesFive Florida community colleges have applied to offer new bachelor’s degrees, reports The Palm Beach Post Staff. University officials are concerned that the two-year colleges are competing with local universities that offer the same four-year degrees, potentially duplicating programs, stretching higher education budgets too thin and setting up a third tier of higher education. Indian River Community College and Florida Atlantic University are an example of the friction between community colleges and universities in Florida over this issue. IRCC applied for bachelor’s degrees in nursing, math and science education, special education and organizational management—all of which are degrees offered by Florida Atlantic University. A 2001 law allowed community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees in certain situations. Lawmakers clarified that the state Board of Education, which oversees kindergarten through community college, has the power to approve community college bachelor’s degrees. The law doesn’t require colleges to seek partnerships with universities before requesting their own four-year degrees, but collaboration is encouraged by the Board of Education policy. There is also a struggle between the Board of Education and the Board of Governors.Last year, six community colleges offered bachelor’s degrees. Some of these colleges dropped “community” from their name in order to be known as more than just two-year schools.The community college proposals are expected to be voted on early next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PolarBearnCO Posted November 1, 2006 Report Share Posted November 1, 2006 CC's are generally small colleges, generally with "instructors" instead of professors. Just for fun...I started at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, KS out of high school. There were more than 40K students, traditional and non. They offered classes from 7am to 10pm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
direred Posted November 1, 2006 Report Share Posted November 1, 2006 Just for fun...I started at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, KS out of high school. There were more than 40K students, traditional and non. They offered classes from 7am to 10pm.I started at Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo, CA. At the time, they had 24,000 students, which may well be much higher now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PolarBearnCO Posted November 3, 2006 Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 I started at Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo, CA. At the time, they had 24,000 students, which may well be much higher now.If I ever have kids and don't "need" their student loans to help them to college, I'm going to get the student loans anyway if they are subsidized, then simply put the money away into a CD that matures when they should graduate. Free money! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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