2016 elections - because it's never too early

[garbon]

I think you can store balances on your Woman Card, so we can just use whatever is left on that to pay for it.

I can confirm it is only ornamental.

It gets you 10% off at Pantsuits R Us.

Well as a man, all my suits come with pants.

[derspiess]

Are they from the MISSterious line??  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTmcMpK-gOM

[Admiral Yi]

No you would be correct to pin it on the loan system.

The system of public universities was designed to be basically free. And for decades it was. And they are still heavily subsidized. But the student loan system has provided an out for the states to dramatically slash their education budgets and stop funding the universities. So instead the whole thing gets shifted to the students and the feds. The loans, and tuition, was never intended to be a primary source of funding. The way it is currently working is not how it was designed or intended. We meant for the system to be all socialistic and communist. I think the system of university funding needs to be revisited. The states are currently unable or unwilling to fulfill their obligations and transferring it all to the Feds and the students while they get to keep their power and control over university education is just bullshit.

But I think more to the point I don't think we can afford to do this. We are already groaning under the obligations to Medicare and Social Security.

Of course this does not apply to private schools but even Euros have those right?

My understanding, based on an Atlantic article a while back, is that states have in fact dramatically expanded education spending, but it has not come close to keeping up with the expansion in college attendance. Hence the increase in direct costs to attendees.

[LaCroix]

I think free tuition could work without being a drain on the federal government if you altered the university model. rather than promote the "college life," you cut all that out and keep it strictly a place where you attend class and get a degree. would reduce a lot of costs. downside: enrollment would probably drop quite a bit because the college life atmosphere attracts a lot of people.

[Zanza]

As Germany was cited as an example:
You have to finish high school with a formal test that qualifies you for university or you have to have specific professional experience. About 50% of a generation fulfill these formal requirement. In very popular subjects you also need a good or very good GPA in that formal qualification or you need to wait a long time (e.g. medicine, psychology)

Tuition is basically free, the administrative fee of 200-300 Euro per semester often includes services like free public transport

That said, you have to pay and organize everything yourself, be it housing, food, university sports, books etc.

If you don't have the means (own and parent wealth/income) you can get government loans which have a maximum payback of 10,000 Euro (you can get up to about 8,000 Euro per year). You have to show steady progress towards your degree to qualify.

So it is not free but should be affordable based on merit for everyone.

It's just a guess but I think more than 90% of students study in state universities. Private universities obviously have high tuition fees.

[Valmy]

I guess it should be mentioned that if you are an elite student you are going to get a full ride. Only the unwashed mediocrities like me had to pay for their schooling.

[The Minsky Moment]

Seems intent isn't everything

Wrong kind of intent.
It's not intent to distribute material to foreign powers.  It's intent to unlawfully misappropriate or destroy.  It's not like Petraeus intended to give secrets to the Chinese either.

[LaCroix]

As Germany was cited as an example:
You have to finish high school with a formal test that qualifies you for university or you have to have specific professional experience. About 50% of a generation fulfill these formal requirement. In very popular subjects you also need a good or very good GPA in that formal qualification or you need to wait a long time (e.g. medicine, psychology).

this is terrible and screws over anyone who fell through the cracks early in life. it's like china's system: creates artificial barriers that prevents advancement.

[DGuller]

As Germany was cited as an example:
You have to finish high school with a formal test that qualifies you for university or you have to have specific professional experience. About 50% of a generation fulfill these formal requirement. In very popular subjects you also need a good or very good GPA in that formal qualification or you need to wait a long time (e.g. medicine, psychology)

Tuition is basically free, the administrative fee of 200-300 Euro per semester often includes services like free public transport

That said, you have to pay and organize everything yourself, be it housing, food, university sports, books etc.

If you don't have the means (own and parent wealth/income) you can get government loans which have a maximum payback of 10,000 Euro (you can get up to about 8,000 Euro per year). You have to show steady progress towards your degree to qualify.

So it is not free but should be affordable based on merit for everyone.

It's just a guess but I think more than 90% of students study in state universities. Private universities obviously have high tuition fees.

It's less stringent than I thought.  I would've figured that in Europe the barrier is not the price but the admission criteria.

[The Minsky Moment]

I think you can store balances on your Woman Card, so we can just use whatever is left on that to pay for it.

I can confirm it is only ornamental.

I always wanted a woman card.  Also Reggie Jackson. Instead I just got lots of Roy Smalley duplicates.

[Razgovory]

Berkuts plan:

The federal government takes all the money they currently pay out in loans, grants, direct aid to public universities, etc. Stick in a bucket. This defines the initial funding level for the program, and should largely be currently revenue neutral. It should be defined as being funded going forward on the basis of some rational increase tied to percentage of the federal budget.

No states or universities get a nickel unless they sign up for the Federal Public Education Plan.

If they do sign up for said plan, they get an allocation of funds on a per student basis - in a broad stroke they get "total funding/total students" per qualifying student attending a public university or community college or other public institution of higher learning.

However - in order to qualify, you must:

1. Be a public school
2. Agree to a set of rules that amount to very minimal costs for in state residents attending their schools - basically some fees and such at most.

It should be understood that any costs for running the state public universities should come from the state itself. States can and should compete amongst themselves to provide the highest value public education financed by the Federal Public Education Plan and whatever state funds the states choose to allocate from *state* budgets. Tuition for in state students is no longer a revenue source.

Any needed funding should be made up by *state* tax increases on the middle-upper classes, which can be sold on the basis of "Hey, we are saving you 100k per kid in tuition!".

I think this is entirely doable given current funding levels.

What color will the bucket be?

[Valmy]

What color will the bucket be?

The same color as Al Gore's lockbox was going to be.

[derspiess]

I can remember way back when Bucky Dent cards suddenly got hot.  Damn, I'm old.

[Admiral Yi]

Re: Hillary's free tuition, I wonder what the reason for limiting the offer to in-state students is.

[Valmy]

Re: Hillary's free tuition, I wonder what the reason for limiting the offer to in-state students is.

To keep costs down and in-state is what is intended. Going out of state is a luxury.

I mean I would guess anyway.