• selokichtli@lemmy.ml
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    5 hours ago

    Could you explain to non-Americans what is the appeal of student loans if they can do this? Why shouldn’t people go to cheaper schools to get their degrees instead? I mean no disrespect, if you are rich go to Yale or whatever, by all means.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      There are no cheaper schools. There are expensive ones and more expensive ones. There is literally no option for the non-rich except to go into debt or learn to be a plumber.

      • boneyards@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        My bachelor was around 12k and if I did it faster it could have been cheaper. Wgu does it based on term not credit hour. The more courses you pass in a term the cheaper it is overall.

        • ickplant@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          There was literally no way for my master’s to cost less, so I am not sure what your point is. It’s a minimum 2-year program. It’s how it’s designed. Not all degrees are like that, but in my case I paid the least amount possible already.

            • ickplant@lemmy.world
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              1 hour ago

              Literally picked the cheapest school I could find for my degree. Again, not sure what I could have done differently here.

    • Leeks@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      Children are told that they MUST go to college to get a stable and high paying job. This is so prevalent that college degrees are just seen as “the next step after high school” and nobody questions it. These colleges have figured out they can charge almost anything because they are seen as the gate keepers to high paying and stable jobs. So banking on future earnings, bearly emancipated teenagers, with the absolute minimum of a financial education, make life decisions that will put them in debt for the next 20-30 years.

      The problem with the whole system is there doesn’t appear to be enough high paying and stable jobs.

      As far as going to a cheaper college, I think you identified the issue in your very own comment. Schools have different prestige levels. Yale, for example, is a high prestige school and not only are you paying for an education, you are also paying to connect to rich people. These connections can be worth a lot of money if they are used correctly. So going to a cheaper college also means less valuable connections.

      • qarbone@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        Even beyond connections, just the sticker on a resumé that says “<prestige school name>” means you’re less likely to get shunted into the shitter with 95% of other applicants, if you don’t already have an “in” that cuts past the resumé stage.

        • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
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          2 hours ago

          Is this an intuition, or is it a known fact? Why would people do this? Do universities teach people to discriminate this way? Where do employers get these ideas? Is it something that permeates the whole society, or is it focused to applicant selection? Sorry for the many questions, I appreciate your response.

          • qarbone@lemmy.world
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            1 hour ago

            As a Millennial (and now an adult), I will preface that I’m out of touch with the youths, so I don’t know their perspective on colleges now. But it is common societal idea in the US. No company will openly put out notice that they are discriminating but the prestige US schools are more rigorous in their application screening and get more money, and so are expected to have more rigorous curricula/standards and better teaching. It has shifted so that non-Ivy League schools were becoming recognized in their fields for various subjects. But that just adds them to the “Prestige” category for those in the know.

            When people look at a resume, it’s sorted into “Prestige” and every other university. And prestige will take your further.

            • skulblaka@sh.itjust.works
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              40 minutes ago

              Hilariously, as America progresses further into the dark ages, these “prestige” schools are increasingly becoming known for being degree mills who will sell a degree to any idiot with fat enough pockets to ask for one. Take the Trumps’ history at Wharton for instance.

              • qarbone@lemmy.world
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                2 minutes ago

                It probably always was. It’s just that before rich people used to think being intelligent was a thing worth pursuing. The idea that you needed to be well-read and experienced to lead people.

      • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
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        2 hours ago

        So, basically, as a regular (not rich) young person, you are aiming for a higher chance to connect with rich people in order to get a job/business that will probably get you enough money to cash on the “investment” made by getting an otherwise potentially for-life debt? Huh, rings a bell here. Thank you.

      • 13igTyme@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        That’s one of only good things about Florida. The colleges on average are significantly cheaper than anywhere else, and Florida is still ranked number 1 on US News for college education when looking at every single college combined.

        So basically get a good affordable education and then move the fuck out of Florida.