Thursday, March 06, 2008

Scream 'Yeehaw!!' and Pass The Foreclosure Notices



i think the financial industry will be forced to exit the denial stage of grief very shortly. our rapidly deteriorating credit market is also presenting some difficulties in securing educational loans. i listened to a program on NPR this morning that touched on this developing crisis. when the interviewer asked the loan expert whether students would be forced to go to cheaper public institutions, i began to laugh heartily. public universities are increasingly becoming not-cheap. many students' choices are between expensive public universities and more expensive private ones. the only cheap education these days is through self-teaching.

8 comments:

FM said...

soon it will be extremely competitive to get into the skilled trades, if it isn't already. my roommate's dad is a plumber, started a company, and now makes more than i will ever see in my lifetime.

i've always been skeptical of liberal arts institutions with their fluffy degrees. i always thought those fluffy degrees were for rich people (or for people who eventually want to go to law school) and that real people study things like engineering, computer science, finance, and pre-med.

now it looks like real people can't even afford to get useful degrees.

i don't even know where i'm going with this. buggers.

emily1 said...

actually, the liberal arts education as we know it is something that developed before mass post-secondary education became a reality. it was the education of the landed gentry.

FM said...

The liberal arts education is still for rich people. That hasn't changed. Only rich people can spend $160,000 to come out unemployed or at a non-profit. :)

However, real people, who were served by mass post-secondary education and the technical, accounting, and finance degrees that came along with it, will soon be barred from entry or be turned away because the investment just doesn't make sense. Becoming a skilled tradesperson makes for financial sense.

(I'm going to use the phrase "real people" for everyone who's not rich from now on, because I find it sort of funny.)

NerdyRedneck Rob said...

There is still community college. The degree programs can be limited but the tuition is something even people making minimum wage can afford. We are talking on the order of $200 to $400 (depending on books) per 15 credit hour semesters.

Now people love to laugh and snicker at me but I got my second degree from DeVry 25 years ago. My bachelors in computer science cost me $30,000 all up there. Like I said people love to poke fun but I have built a successful career and business with that education.

NerdyRedneck Rob said...

Typo, I got my second degree 15 years ago.

emily1 said...

i'm getting my employer to pay for my CS degree. however, one generally has to get a middle class job to get a benefit like that. downside is that i am pretty much stuck in QA until that degree comes, and the pace of advancement towards that goal has been slow since i started working full time. upside is that i'm not taking on debt to do it.

community college is still a cheap way to get an education. they have replaced state universities in that role. UMass tuition and fees make me want to gag sometimes, but since i'm not paying it anymore, it doesn't make me gag as much.

FM said...

another stinky thing is credentialism. why SHOULD you get stuck in QA until your degree comes? why can't industries move to an apprenticeship model? law school after the first year is a waste of time. i suspect many of the classes you are taking towards your degree is also unnecessary.

FM said...

are also unnecessary.