25 years old and deep in debt

[crazy canuck]

"You mean you might actually get angry and wise enough stop taking out massive loans to buy us Mercedes-Benzes, nice houses, hookers, and blow?  Uh-oh."

Yet you never see enrolled students, or prospective students, articulating that threat or carrying it out.

You might never see it because you havent looked in the right places yet.

[Ideologue]

Yi: Not that I am aware of, but that's not what I was getting at.  The point I was making was that public speech demeaning the institution of higher education works by harming its reputation as a place where people can buy opportunities for themselves.  That will lead to decisions by those in power to either try to limit their rapine to something a bit more reasonable, or fail to, and suffer the consequences of decreasing enrollment, which could spell catastrophe for them personally and the system generally.

In the case of publically supported universities, I do imagine such pressure does have an effect on legislators as well, but it is not the primary value of negative discussion of the higher education system.

[Admiral Yi]

Yi: Not that I am aware of, but that's not what I was getting at.  The point I was making was that public speech demeaning the institution of higher education works by harming its reputation as a place where people can buy opportunities for themselves.  That will lead to decisions by those in power to either try to limit their rapine to something a bit more reasonable, or fail to, and suffer the consequences of decreasing enrollment, which could spell catastrophe for them personally and the system generally.

In the case of publically supported universities, I do imagine such pressure does have an effect on legislators as well, but it is not the primary value of negative discussion of the higher education system.

We're not talking about the Log's of the world badmouthing the value and marketability of their degrees; we're talking about people bitching about the out of pocket expense.

[Ed Anger]

Geddy Lee can afford 27k.

[Ideologue]

I was waiting; was not disappointed.

[Ideologue]

Yi: Not that I am aware of, but that's not what I was getting at.  The point I was making was that public speech demeaning the institution of higher education works by harming its reputation as a place where people can buy opportunities for themselves.  That will lead to decisions by those in power to either try to limit their rapine to something a bit more reasonable, or fail to, and suffer the consequences of decreasing enrollment, which could spell catastrophe for them personally and the system generally.

In the case of publically supported universities, I do imagine such pressure does have an effect on legislators as well, but it is not the primary value of negative discussion of the higher education system.

We're not talking about the Log's of the world badmouthing the value and marketability of their degrees; we're talking about people bitching about the out of pocket expense.

Well, I'm saying that while it may not help them personally--though I concede they may be naive enough to believe so--the value is that it helps reform society.

[Admiral Yi]

How so?

[Ideologue]

Because.  It.  Is.  Bad.  Press.  For.  Colleges.

[Ideologue]

(And it also puts pressure on politicians who like votes and wants voters to vote for them.)

[Ed Anger]

I was waiting; was not disappointed.

*bows*

[CountDeMoney]

Getting out of debt is the number one factor for social mobility.


David Brooks is wrong about it not being a problem of inequality but not for the reasons given by the G&M. That girl in debt $27k won't be able to buy a house or start a business or begin seriously investing in her future to get to a higher class until she's finished getting that off her back. The people benefiting from the inequality are the ones who only paid eight grand for their degrees and could pay that by working after school.
Now, not only does college keep getting more expensive, but you have to be in it longer. And every job requires it now when before nearly none did. And once you're done with it you still have to spend the rest of your life chasing various certifications just to stay on par. Now one dollar in every 14 our civilization produces each year is spent on it, and all we're getting for it is more barriers to advancement.

Valid and salient points all, MIM, but it's not like anybody really gives a shit, either in society or on Languish.  I GOTS MINE, BITCH SHOULD GET A SUMMER JOB AT MCDONALDS

[Ideologue]

I was catching up with Paul Campos' posts on Lawyers, Guns, and Money.  He's only one of two public(ly funded) intellectuals whom I can name who 1)have done anything that might merit their tenure protection and 2)deserve the title "professor."  (The other is Paul Krugman.)

I bring it up because one of his recent posts reports the disturbing fact that Florida Coastal (an Infilaw product) has been accepting the student loan dollars of people with sub-134 LSATs.

If you are unsure what that number means in conventional terms, it equates roughly to "functionally illiterate."

[Alcibiades]

I wish I could just get hurt like Ed.   

[Ideologue]

I wish I could just get hurt like Ed.   

You should be awful to a porn actress.  That's where the money is these days.

[crazy canuck]

Getting out of debt is the number one factor for social mobility.


David Brooks is wrong about it not being a problem of inequality but not for the reasons given by the G&M. That girl in debt $27k won't be able to buy a house or start a business or begin seriously investing in her future to get to a higher class until she's finished getting that off her back. The people benefiting from the inequality are the ones who only paid eight grand for their degrees and could pay that by working after school.
Now, not only does college keep getting more expensive, but you have to be in it longer. And every job requires it now when before nearly none did. And once you're done with it you still have to spend the rest of your life chasing various certifications just to stay on par. Now one dollar in every 14 our civilization produces each year is spent on it, and all we're getting for it is more barriers to advancement.

Valid and salient points all, MIM, but it's not like anybody really gives a shit, either in society or on Languish.  I GOTS MINE, BITCH SHOULD GET A SUMMER JOB AT MCDONALDS

If someone had a good solution to the problem to economic inequality we would all be on board.  Well  except Yi of course.