Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

What is the cost of an education?

Back in the day, I remember people with $10,000 total student loans, and that was a lot of money.  IIRC, the good thing was that the loan was repaid over many years.  At the time, it seemed like forever, maybe ten or more years.

Tuition at the local community college was maybe $12 / credit.  Public school was maybe $2,000 - $4,000 / year.

In my mind, that tuition was a bargain compared to the tuition and expenses charged today.  IIRC, some students graduate college with loans in excess of $100,000.  What happened to financial aid?  Grants?

I know of quite a few young people these past two years that have entered the military to learn job skills, pay for college, or to serve their county.

I remember a criticism of Bush (junior or senior, I don't remember) that few (if any) among his family, friends, and staff were currently at risk in the military.   

I remember from a Jimmy Carter bio, that the military was his ticket to higher education and a better life.

Who among the Obama or McCain circle is at risk?

A student loan from twenty years ago, in my mind, just doesn't compare to what young people are faced with today.   Apples and oranges.

Who is going to staff the military into the future?  The Bush, Obama, or McCain families?  The children of the poor?

 ::MonkeyConfused::

I don't know what they are today, but our youngest ended up owing about $100,000.  The oldest had no loans to repay.  The middle owed about $30,000.

It depends on where you attend school, what kind of living conditions you have while in school, and a variety of other things. 

Athletic scholarships and academy appointments are the only ones I know of that are a free ride totally including room and board. 

I don't think either McCain or Obama is at risk on student loans.  The only loans that Michelle Obama has whined about having to epay back were probably her room and board.  They had free rides to Harvard, Princeton and their other schools based on their minority.  Their educations were paid by the taxpayers but they did have to pay room and board and some of their other living expenses, which was clothing, etc. 

McCain would have had a free ride to Annapolis.  That is what the deal is.  It is a long application process, fewer are chosen than accepted.  If you accept the appointment, you are given a free ride but you pay with what might be your life on some battlefield or prison camp far, far away from Annapolis.  Your commitment to the military is commensurate with your years of education.

McCain's youngest son went from high school to the military and has already returned from Iraq.  Cindy McCain mentioned that she slept with her cell phone around her waist out of fear of missing a call from him, that her cell phone was always attached to her. 

Their other son is graduating from Annapolis so I am sure he will be heading off to a battlefield somewhere soon.  Their daughter graduated Columbia this year, but they paid the whole bill for that. 

A young black man in our area who attended Harvard, a few years ago, had a free ride to Harvard based on affirmative action and local people, black and white, paid his room and board.  Community organizers work to pay for minority students' needs so as to prevent them from having to borrow.  That's what community organizers and store-front lawyers, Southern Poverty Law, et al, help with in minority communities.  That prevents them from ending up financially strapped when leaving school in case the job search is long. 

My children all had academic or arts scholarships but they had no help with room and board.  Room and board in Boston and New Orleans was extremely high.  Our youngest left school in the mid 1990s with $100,000 owed and we had given about that much during his days in school. 

All three of ours have at least graduate degrees, and in each case, they paid their way or paid their loans or way in a different form.  Our #1 was in the national guard and had an ROTC scholarship, had a journalism scholarship and won a couple more scholarships, worked as a writer for the capital city newspaper while attending college, became  editor of his college newspaper, fraternity president, and received a graduate assistantship, and though he was very overworked, owed nothing on graduation.