[Kosh]

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CollegeandFamily/Moneyinyour20s/P136091.asp


I think that college in the US is getting outragously expensive. Anyone else think so?

[Flipside]

It's no different in the UK, our hardest-up generation is the 30-40 year olds, many of us (including me) have given up any hope of being able to afford things like...a  home.

Unfortunately my entire generation got screwed over, and yes, I do get bitter over it.

[aldo_14]

I think college (um, whatever that actually is; I think it seems to be equivalent to a UK non-honours undergraduate degree) in the US is already outrageously expensive.  It's getting bad in the UK, too, but at least Scotland has a much better-stroke-fairer system than England & Wales, even if the funding gap (from top-up fees in England) will have a knock on effect of relative university ratings.

[Grey Wolf]

aldo: Colleges and Universities in the US offer four types of degrees, for the most part.
Associate's: 2 year program
Bachelor's: 4 year program
Master's: 1-3 year program after the Bachelor's
Doctorate: Research-based in most circumstances, concluded after the defense of a thesis

They're most likely referring to a Bachelor's degree in the article.

[Fineus]

Unfortunately I also fall into the catagory of those who've given up all hope of being out of debt in the next twenty years of my life. It seems one has to be extremly successful or indeed lucky to be able to pay off UK student loan fees any time soon after leaving University.

I anticipate this having a massive financial knock on for the future. The gap between the rich and the poor extends itself with only the children of rich families being able to get an easy or even moderate ride through life.

All in all... it's a ****ing joke

[Black Wolf]

Resource Boom with no signs of abating in the near future + Geology degree = Rich BW with no major HECS worries. woot.

[CP5670]

I'm spending relatively very little on my college degree, but I have done quite a few things to bring my price down. The normal prices are quite extreme. At least the graduate programs are a bit better.

[kode]

I pay nothing to the school (they are all government financed), but I still have my living expenses (which are loan financed and will ultimately put me in debt somewhere around the equivalent of $30 000 USD when I'm finished). Works kinda well, imo. Even the exchange students won't have to pay, which is a lucky break for them.

[vyper]

[q]the equivalent of $30 000 USD when I'm finished[/q]

For that money you better be ****ting gold by graduation.

Edit: And yes, it's an interesting situation in the UK. I don't pay for my fees, that's government subsidised but equally I have to pay for my own living costs. I've always managed to keep that under control with budgeting and part time jobs. The worst ever was when I maxed out my overdraft at £1800. I even managed to go on holiday this year.

The problem for this academic year will be that because I've had to repeat honours (on medical grounds), I may have to pay for _everything_ in 4th year if they don't accept my medical reasons.

So... not as bad as many places, but still not perfect.

[kode]

[q]the equivalent of $30 000 USD when I'm finished[/q]

For that money you better be ****ting gold by graduation.

Edit: And yes, it's an interesting situation in the UK. I don't pay for my fees, that's government subsidised but equally I have to pay for my own living costs. I've always managed to keep that under control with budgeting and part time jobs. The worst ever was when I maxed out my overdraft at £1800. I even managed to go on holiday this year.

The problem for this academic year will be that because I've had to repeat honours (on medical grounds), I may have to pay for _everything_ in 4th year if they don't accept my medical reasons.

So... not as bad as many places, but still not perfect.

really? it's five years of living expenses in a quite expensive western european country. I'm living one step up from the hobos. If anything, 30k is an underexaggeration.

[Nuke]

i got a 2 year degree that i still owe 12 grand on. i havent used the degree in any job thusfar. i figure il be paying it for about 10 years. i have more a problem with bang for your buck factor. i found my self paying around $50 a day to have some idiot read a text book to the class, the same book they sold us. i could have just bought the book and id probibly have learned more.  theres of schools out there that are just there to rip people off. im less bitter about what i spent than with the quality of my education.  my highschool electronics class was far more usefull and was entirely free. i was able to learn from my brother's indebted ass not to use credit for trivial things. so ive become a very cheap person.

[Grey Wolf]

Let's see.... 2/3 of the way through my first year of college, I have about $4000 in Federal loans. It'll be at about $5800 after this year. Figure $11000 in scholarships for rest of the way through (assuming I don't go for the Bachelor's/Master's program), that'll leave $84000 remaining, so about $90000 total. Subtract about half the median co-op salary for 1.5 years of co-op, so it'll be $66000 worth of debt when I get out.

[aldo_14]

I remember noting a while back entry level US salaries were seemingly a lot higher than the UK.  I guess this explains why....

[Grey Wolf]

Entry level for my major is about $57000/year, $67000/year if I get the BS/MS.

[aldo_14]

What. the. ****.
!?

[Singh]

.....the ironic thing about all this is that despite having college degrees and what-not....in the end we'll probably have to answer to a corporate leader that most probably dropped out of high school and succesfully created the business in which we are working and are filthy rich millionaires....

[Grey Wolf]

Most likely no. We'll end up working for people who have business and management degrees. The ones who drop out of high school or college and start companies tend to retire after a few million and get replaced with the business types.

[Rictor]

Right now I'm $3500 in debt, after a single year in college. The course I wanted to take would have cost $6800 per year, for four years, plus maybe another $1500 a year in expenses. So between 25 and 30k in total, and that's because we have it relatively cheap in Canada. I hear university runs around 20 grand a year in the US. And that's assuming I live at home during that period, which most people won't.

Like Kal said, it's a ****ing joke. Anyone with half a brain could start a small business with that kind of money and have it grow prosperous after four years of work.

And you know what gets me? The fact that I know for a fact that there is a Chinese student who is willing to pay twice and much, work twice as hard for half the salary expectation, and be thankful for it. Obviously, something is very wrong with this system.

[Grey Wolf]

For an engineering college, figure $35k+. I'm getting off pretty well with $32k/year.

[Kosh]

I guess part of the problem is that college degrees no longer equals success. In terms of "upward mobility", the US isn't the same country it was 30 years ago.