Comrade Trump threatens to “seize the endowments” of Universities.

Agree 100%

Sadly it doesn’t seem that colleges and guidance counselors do a very good job at looking at job availability or ROI for a degree.
I choose both of my degrees on just that. First Respiratory Therapy it was a two year degree I could get locally at CC and still work full time to support myself.

Then as I looked to move up I considered perfusionist but the limited jobs and much higher cost was a big detractor.

I landed on PA as it gave a great ROI for another two years of college since I went to UF it was in state tuition and very reasonable even though I needed loans because working was highly frowned upon. Had a friend who got in to UF and Emory I just shook my head when they went to Emory for 30k a year tuition.

Point being schools have a vested interest in filling their degree programs wether the graduates can actually make a decent living of the degrees they get.

 

I am of the opinion that the government doesn’t owe students support for expensive colleges and marginally marketable degrees. You can go to community college and to a state school and do well enough. Beyond that, student debt should privately administered with little or no federal backing. Or maybe in some cases grad school can be hacked if there is a history of strong academic performance.

 

They are still buds.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campai...slam-trump-for-comments-praising-kim-jong-un/

 

But why are intelligent people so easily convinced that the only solution is domination and subjugation?

 

Higher ed has the highest inflation rate by far of any industry. Largely due to how easy it is to get student loans and how easy it is to get accredited to qualify for those loans. Big ed is also one of the largest lobbying group out there

 

Lots of those people were living like princes instead of paupers though. The cost of college wasn't the sole reason the loan totals were so high.

 

I think it's easy for anyone to fall into group think. It's important for every individual to critically examine their beliefs, and I think that is a disappearing trait.

 

Yep.
The Feds say you can borrow more. So the schools jack up the rates.

When I got into UF PA program it was a BS degree, they had applied to grant a Masters. They were approved after the class had been accepted, literally 3 weeks before classes were set to start I got a call: Good news/Bad news.
You’ll get a BS and a MS but you tuition just doubled.
No worry as it’s now graduate level you can borrow a lot more.

The ROI ended up being great in the long run.

 

100%
My first degree, I lived very cheap and had zero loans, worked FT the entire time. Only when I went to PA school did I take out loans as it was very much frowned up to work(still pulled a few shifts here and there). Even then I lived pretty cheap.

 

The echo chambers that social media have created doesn't help. My younger employees often seem baffled when I challenge them to challenge me. Ill say stupid, wrong stuff sometimes and wait on someone to tell me I'm wrong and then admonish them when they don't challenge me. Those that continue to show the inability or unwillingness to think for themselves don't last long

 

One of the best examples of this was explained by a Chem professor I had. He was discussing why he taught his classes to logically solve problems rather than cookbook formulas.
His example was this if you became a surgeon you may memorize the anatomy but things are always exactly the same and you need to be able to think on your feet and logically solve problems.

 

My ex was RN and then nurse anesthesiologist. It took me 8 years to get thru engineering but worked every summer and took two springs off and worked when we had rainy summers and hours building roads and golf courses over summers weren't enough. Lived poor, partied hard. came from high school where algebra 2 entry physics were hardest classes offered. Like you, it was a good ROI but was a long road for first in family ever to go to college.

 

Ill add that there seems to be a hesitancy to disagree as so many see disagreement as disrespectful. The ability to respectfully disagree is sadly being lost in our society

 

Same here. Worked as a phlebotomist while I did Respiratory Therapy degree, then worked as a Therapist while I finished my AA, and worked on classes to help me apply to PA school, went back at 28. Came out of UF making about 65k in 1998, salary has really increased for PA’s since then.
Even thought I worked long hours and lots of school I had plenty of fun ( living in Daytona Area) in the hey day of spring break…

 

The “steering” people like to insinuate onto schools is in reality from parents. THAT is who is creating this artificial demand for college.

It’s not totally irrational, as the numbers are clear. Legitimate college degrees pay off. But now parents are force-feeding their welders (and we need those too) into college, and a lot of those students will end up with some weird degree that isn’t useful because actual college was never within reach.

Colleges playing along by offering these low-reward degrees isn’t helpful. But it is also not anywhere near the problem. Parents and students choose these paths. It is not possible to force those choices. It is foot-stomping demand, and in the end I don’t blame a college for meeting it. And some of these degrees do indeed pay off. So it’s not realistic to pick and choose on the behalf of people already free to pick and choose.

As a teacher, one of my duties is to informally advise my current students on next year’s science options. I teach some standard, non Honors or AP, geosystems (Earth science) to underclassmen. It’s probably the easiest science class in the building. If you aren’t just wiping your ass with this class then tackling high-end electives like physics or anything AP is a non-starter. And I’m perpetually shocked to hear these kids tell me they are taking those very classes. And I’ve had more than a couple of formal complaints from parents angry that I told junior that those AP classes are not his path. Again, I have ZERO control here. Anyone is free to ignore my input. Why is mom berserking out in my AP’s office? Apparently a dad came to school to physically straighten me out once. I heard all this after the fact. Not sure how he couldn’t work this out. I walk to the same car in the same parking lot everyday. I suspect he didn’t REALLY want to find out. But again, he’s at the school showing out, because I recommended Miss Precious take astronomy (also one of my classes, so I’m not ducking the weaker students) instead of Certain Pain All Around Physics? What are we doing??

And those kids will end up in thise classes. Counselors are also just opinions in the end. If mommy wants Sleepy Tim in every AP class in the building then that’s what will happen. Counselors are typically saints. That job SUCKS.

As for Trump, the irony can’t be thicker. In addition to how the schools are about the 100th in line for blame, and how the ones he is threatening are actually the lead-pipe lock best values (ANY degree from Harvard is a door-opener), the nerve of someone who literally operated a sham “university” money grab to then spin this scam is almost too much to believe.

And anyone buying even the rhetoric, never mind the viability, is so hopelessly lost in the forest that the search party shouldn’t even bother.

And BTW, he would 100% attempt this, and 100% will do it if allowed. The entire idea of him installing dimwit know-nothing loyalists at every stop is to remove the checks and balances system so he can do this type of horseshit.

 

I hate this coming from Trump and I don't like DeSantis on Disney, but Trump is just making sure he gets all the angry voters he can get. Politicians propose ideas all the time that don't stand a snowball's chance in hell of ever coming to pass. Every 4 years has always been an election of the lesser of two evils as far back as I can remember.

 

Do you think that this would be possible now? Consider just the cost of housing and the explosion of tuition.

You’re actually making my point in some ways, the cost of living landscape is very different now and sometimes I think that oldest folks don’t really “get it” in some ways.

 

And then the kids who haven't taken Algebra 2 yet, but their parents want them to have Physics on their transcript for their college applications.

 

Not sure, I made 3.65 and hour and paid $400/month for rent.
Didn’t have cable or a car payment (bought junkers and then a motorcycle). I didn’t eat out or go to the bars.

My kids are getting jobs making 12-15/ hour and my son was bussing tables with tips averaged $20/hour.

I would be hard, but it was then too I don’t think it’s impossible.
You can also get your AA while in HS now which wasn’t an option then.
Certainly the costs of college are nuts, and we’ve discussed part of the reason why here.

 

Check out the cost of housing. You’re correct that you can get an AA on the taxpayers dime, though.