Reply to College enrollment down

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "College enrollment down "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]10:10 again. It also feels like I'm being overly critical. All these schools offered interesting courses and had beautifully laid out campuses (no A/C in a lot of dorms though). I can't put my finger on WHY none of us were enthused. For us parents, perhaps it was the price sinking in. We'd rather pay just for the courses, you know? Seems like the manicured grounds, athletic complex and all the extras are weighing down the budget here :-) DS was looking for small classes and a particular program, and he'd rather go to a less selective school that has that program than these beautiful SLACs, even if the classes are bigger. His preferred school is *even more expensive*, but since it's less selective, he's hoping for merit aid and the school did say that they offered some at his range of stats.

[b]
We really should be moving towards a European-style, subsidized post-secondary education, with just the academics, no frills. That way, more people will have the opportunity to receive a better education, and we might avoid election pitfalls such as our ongoing political saga.
[/b]
[/quote]

As someone with one of these European educations you idealize, I really hope the US doesn’t go that way. I think it would be a terrible loss. [/quote]

Most of the parents who wish for the “European” system don’t realize that, if their kid doesn’t qualify for generous merit aid in the US, they wouldn’t even be on the college track in most “European” countries. [/quote]

Yes---Europe begins "tracking students" into 3 or 4 tracks around the Middle school level.  If you don't make the cut at age 10/11, your kid simply will not be an engineer/STEM, as they won't have the background courses to succeed at that or even get a slot in a university.  I'd prefer that my kids have the option to select what they want to major in/study for a career themselves when they are 18-20, not at age 10
[/quote]

In the US, kids are tracked from birth. If your kid doesn't have parents who can afford college, then they either gets decades of debt or no college [/quote]

Side effects of your family economic status is everywhere.  That's not what I was pointing out.

However, in the USA, your kid is not put on a College STEM track, College Humanities, no college at age 10.  Even a kid who does NOT take calculus in HS (which is on grade level to end with Pre-calc) can still go onto college and be an engineer.  Even a poor student can do this.  In Europe (and much of asia) kids are set on their track at age 10/11.

The cost of college is very different.  And kids can attend college without much debt.  Do a CC for first 2 years while living at home, even better, do running start in HS (if you can manage it) and get an AA for free when you graduate HS. 
That CC can be funded with a part time job (around me it $5K/year for CC plus books and min wage is $15, so very easy to earn $5K+).  
Then transfer to 4 year university for the last 2-2.5 years of your degree.  All in is $25K/year.  Kid can earn $10-15K easily each year and if they were smart, they saved some during the 2 years of CC.   Take loans for rest and you only have ~$25K in debt. If parents contribute even $4-5K/year you minimize debt more.

So yes, your kid may not go to a T20 school, but there are ways to get a degree without major debt.

[b]CC can be funded with a part time job (around me it $5K/year for CC plus books and min wage is $15, so very easy to earn $5K+).  
Then transfer to 4 year university for the last 2-2.5 years of your degree.  All in is $25K/year.  Kid can earn $10-15K easily each year and if they were smart, they saved some during the 2 years of CC.   Take loans for rest and you only have ~$25K in debt. If parents contribute even $4-5K/year you minimize debt more.  [/b]

This. But kids and parents alike are brainwashed by the last several decades of U.S. News and World Report ratings-chasing games and think they all need brand name degrees and campuses with resort-level lifestyle. And they are willing to go deeply into debt in order to have it.
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics