Politics

[Ray B]

I see another loser just got the IGNORE button. In case you're wondering, it was the HORRIBLE/BIDET voter that repeated a fake media lie.

 

[lwaters]

Go Navy!!

 

[Royal27]

For the record, I dont think you are the suckers and losers the president thinks you are.

Well that's an ignorant statement.

You also show your total lack of respect for those you're claiming to support.

 

[Ray B]

On the high end.. there are schools charging $70-$75K per year for just tuition alone Univ of Chicago around $75K..

My Oh My; I went to U of C 1973-1977 when Milton Friedman and Gary Becker were on faculty and before the school sold the economics department to some left-wing hedge-fund billionaire with a penchant for owning the most expensive house in several cities and other symptoms of low self esteem. They have Austen Goolsby as a professor and retroactively claim B Rocko 'Bama was a professor (he wasn't- he was a lecturer- a person hired to read a professor's lecture so that the professors time could be put to better use).
I don't recall what the costs were at that time but since I wasn't a just out of high school freshman I didn't have the other costs. I stayed in university housing, basically an apartment. Everything else was up to me. I had been in the military so had GI Bill + I had worked a couple years and saved, also worked part time in the statistics dept of the Chicago Tribune. After I graduated I started paying on the loan and had it paid off in the early 1980s.
It is likely that I wouldn't be able to do that with today's fees, but from what I see of the U of C as well as other universities, I would be better off to remain in the family meat packing business.

 

[LivingTheDream]

I remember my freshman year, they had us each get an advisor to help us with our career path through college and we would have to meet with them once a year to make sure we were "on track". On my first meeting they wanted to make sure I had the "right" major for me. I asked them for the majors that had the best hiring rate and what the average salary was. I remember her looking at me and saying that is an odd way to approach your education, what are you passionate about. I replied, what I am passionate about is irrelevant can I please see stats. I did end up changing majors.

I do think that I made an impression because my senior year when I walked, she even said I know this meeting is a formality because you have your shit together.

I got my MBA online, and it was a great experience. I did this through a brick and mortar college just the online track and I saved a significant amount of money. Unfortunately, I had to pay for my MBA with my credit cards and I had my MBA paid off in a year after graduation. I think if most students had to put at least one semester of school on a credit card they would soon learn the debt trap that the student loan program is putting on them and we might not see so many 5th, 6th, 7th year seniors.

 

[mdwest]

School has gotten outright insane in terms of costs...

My first semester of college in 1987 cost $860... the dorm was an additional $425 a semester.. my "meal plan" was about $200 a semester.. and I paid about $200 a semester for books.. there was no additional fee for a parking pass if you lived on campus like I did..

So.. to attend the University of Memphis (a reasonable state school).. the cost per year was roughly $3300-$3500.. and you could get a bachelors degree for less than $14K all in...

Take into account inflation rates and the change in value of a dollar from 1987 to 2020 (purchasing power of $1 then = $2.33 today).. and a bachelors degree should cost no more than about $32.5K if the student lives on campus, eats on campus, etc.. for a commuter student living at home with mom and dad like many urban dwellers do today.. you should be able to get a bachelors degree from that institution for less than $20K...

The University of Memphis costs $26K for tuition alone per year now though.. If you want to live on campus, eat on campus, etc and "experience" college life.. youre looking at almost $40K a year..

So inflation in the US since 1987 has seen "costs" in the US go up roughly 233%...

But the cost to go to school has gone up 12,500%...

And the quality of education has largely gone down.. we're getting left behind in critical programs.. while ridiculous programs are at the forefront of what universities push to our students that bring no value to the workforce or the economy..

Academics would tell you nothing is wrong with our system though.. this is what our kids NEED...


Personally I think education (to include everything from primary school to PhD programs) is the only thing more broken in this country than our politics..

(this being stated from someone that has spent the better part of his adult life as a "student" in some capacity.. someone that holds 3x degrees, and is currently working on a doctorate... it absolutely makes me want to vomit when I think about all that I have seen change in the last 20 years and where things have been heading)..

 

[wesheltonj]

Tuition is relative to the Value of a Dollar.

In the ice age that I lived in. Texas semester tuition was $212 and fees were about $30, basically $500 per year, $2k for a bachelors degree. Now $10,600 a year for $42,400.

My Masters degree, private school was about 10k give of take a couple of hundred. Today that is $33,000.

My law school was $45,000. Today that’s $95,700.

That’s 3 degrees zero debt and which I paid for. My parents did pay for one semester of Law School as a wedding present, so I would not be a complete burden on my new wife.

Currently, my daughter is at Texas Tech and going to study who knows what, it was Environmental Science but no more. All her classes are now on zoom, but she is getting the full experience, I should know as she keeps charging her AMEX card, like a “drunken sailor.” (No disrespect to the sailors here.). So now I am paying for a fourth degree out of my pocket. And she refuses to take my advice and get a science degree and go to medical school. Instead, she said she want to go to, God forbid, law school.

 

[Dragan N.]

Seems to me that there are two reasons for college with regard to employment. A BA in science/math/finance can lead to employment in the field. The other route is to take "easy to get an A" courses with the goal of getting into a graduate school, which is another way of saying a trade school that teaches medicine, law or advanced studies. The catch with the second option is the exam for entrance (LSAT,MED,etc) where if the student didn't get a good knowledge base in the chosen field he/she will get a low score and have a humanities BA that goes well for sidewalk cafe chats but not much else.

A lot of people who do a degree in the hard sciences i.e. chemistry, physics, biology etc... do it because they want to get into med. or pharmacy school. If you are just looking to get just a BA you are better off doing engineering, accounting, etc... if you are into the sciences or into math. Having a BA in the sciences or math will not be all that conducive to finding a job. The sad part is that in North America a lot of people end up doing a BA so they can get into med., law, pharmacy school etc... while in Europe and i believe in Quebec you can get right into these schools or fields right after high school and it is also a lot less competitive. So they maybe solid students but now when they cannot reach the extremely high standards for most of these professional schools they are left with a degree that is not particularly useful when it comes to unemployment and the debt that comes with it.

But I think the most neglected part of the Canadian education system are trades. There are a number of skilled trades that pay on average pretty much the same that engineering, accounting etc... does. In Canada at least it is also pretty easy and cheap to get into a trade school (all in a trade school may cost you less than $5000 plus after a year or so of school you get a job as an apprentice which pays or you earn while you learn ie only an apprenticeship is required and no schooling). A very affordable option and one that can get you a pretty solid career.

I would also add as an aside some humanities majors such as English, history etc... teach you reading comprehension very well. Reading comprehension is a crucial skill for both the LSAT and even the MCAT.

 

[jduckhunter]

I just went to the University of Hard Knocks, went on to graduate with a degree in several trades. Made the best of all I learned and lived happily ever after debt free.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Some trades are still well paying but a lot of that work has been taken by computers, automation, AI and outsourced to low wage countries. If one picks a trade today, it had better be one that's immune to those factors.

 

[jduckhunter]

Some trades are still well paying but a lot of that work has been taken by computers, automation, AI and outsourced to low wage countries. If one picks a trade today, it had better be one that's immune to those factors.

HVAC, blacksmithing and culinary arts come to mind. They worked for me.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Our brightest minds developed ways to make life easier. The voters and our politicians (both parties) facilitated globalization and cheap foreign manufactured goods but conveniently forgot the flip side. What do you do with those whose jobs were displaced and who couldn't learn a skill if there were ten year apprenticeships? The world is awash with a huge surplus of unskilled labor, the U.S. included. At present, we're keeping them afloat with government debt but how long is that going to last? Someone better figure out what to do with them. Printing money and usury tax rates are not the answer.

 

[Brent in Az]

 

[Wheels]

 

[Wheels]

Wonder what country is enjoying the election so far.

For the low amount of $1.5B, China controls Hunter Biden.




UN Watch
@UNWatch

China, newly elected to the U.N. Human Rights Council, just reviewed the U.S. human rights record. "China wishes to recommend to the U.S.:

1. Root out systematic racism, address widespread police brutality and combat discrimination against African- and Asian-Americans....“

“2. Urge politicians to respect peoples’ rights to life and health and stop politicizing and stigmatizing the COVID-19 pandemic.

3. Take holistic measures to eliminate political polarization and social inequality.“


“4. Combat the increasingly severe religious intolerance and xenophobic parties

5. Stop incarcerating migrants including migrant children and guarantee the rights of migrants.

6. Address proliferation of guns and guarantee peoples’ rights to life.“

“7. Lift coercive unilateral measures;

8. Stop torture in anti-terrorist operations and halt military intervention in other countries and stop killing civilians;

9. Stop interfering for political reasons in other countries’ internal affairs under the pretext of human rights.“

 

[Brent in Az]

 

[steve white]

Happy Veterans Day. For the record, I dont think you are the suckers and losers the president thinks you are.

Fact check as you libtards like to say....27 witness say he never said it--it doesn't fit the narrative of a president who has helped the military so much. ACTUALLY, IF YOU WANTED TO REMEMBER DISRESPECT FOR THE MILITARY, HEARKEN BACK TO OBAMA THE CHOSEN ONE'S WORDS ABOUT WOUNDED VETS: "THEY CHOSE IT" AS WARRIORS, not to mention not saluting or returning salutes to soldiers as he got off planes and helicopters.

 

[steve white]

Speaking of TDS, I saw yesterday that some pundit is afraid Trump will give up our vital secrets. If so, I hope he does it in the approved manner by keeping them on an unsecured server in his house.

that started with Bill Clinton giving China our stealth submarine technology for nothing (maybe it was for nothing, even though he accepted a $600k contribution from Indonesia for accepting their super clean coal while locking up our super clean coal in a "new" fed park in Utah. He had not learned to deal in the huge financial amounts he would later learn to do)

 

[steve white]

It really depends on the school and the state it is located in...

On the low end, there are schools with annual tuition rates around $7K.. generally speaking you can double that number once you factor in housing, books, meal plans, parking, and all of the other stuff they hit you up for.. so think in terms of $12-$15K annual..

On the high end.. there are schools that no shit are charging $70-$75K per year for just tuition alone (Harvey Mudd, Univ of Chicago, and Columbia are all around $75K.. Most of the Ivy League and a handful of other schools are north of the $70K per year mark (Northwestern, Sara Lawrence, SMU, USC, etc)..

That said.. many states now have state level, statewide scholarship programs for students that graduate high school with reasonable GPA's that can offset these costs quite a bit.. and the schools themselves have fairly robust departments that specialize in getting students grants and other forms of financial aid..

For example.. Harvey Mudd.. one of, if not the most expensive schools in the US... annual tuition is more than $75K.. but the average student pays about $33K a year after grants, scholarships, and other aid is provided...

Still an insane amount of money when you figure the cost of an undergrad degree from Oxford or Cambridge in the UK is about $12K a year (two of the finest universities in the world)..

But that is the difference in the US university system and the systems you find in other countries..

Elsewhere the priority is education.. in the US the priority is "experience"... Experiences cost money... and now that universities cant provide those experiences.. they cant compete... and kids are dropping out like flies and pursuing other options..

Why is it that the rise in educational costs compared to everything, including medical expenses NEVER GETS INVESTIGATED?

 

[Hogpatrol]

Why is it that the rise in educational costs compared to everything, including medical expenses NEVER GETS INVESTIGATED?

Because the administrators are smarter than the politicians that funnel them money.