Germany Universities will be free of charge next term. Meanwhile, student loans in America are ruini

First off, I am excited as this is my official thread!

anywho, back to business,

Saw this Article earlier today and it upset me, I am happy for German Students, but here in America, Our College tuition rates are rising more and more each year.

According to an article I read earlier, the 2014 was a record setting year! Not for the number of students that are graduating on time, but the class of 2014 set a new record for amount of debt the average student has to pay over their lifetime surpassing the former record holder, the class of 2013. Something tells me that the class of 2015 is on pace to break that record. WOOO

Most college grads, will be in debt for many years of their lives, and the worst part is, the odds of getting a job after you graduate, depending on your field is darn near impossible.

I got lucky for the first 4 years of my college "education", I had many loans and a pretty hefty Football scholarship to help me pay for school. However, after changing my major after a year and a half, I now find myself back at school for a 5th year. Yes, I know it is probably my fault and some my say that which is okay. In all honesty, the major I changed to doesn't even interest me anymore because I have no passion for it. If i could go back to my freshman year, I would probably change it to sociology or philosophy because it allows me to think about things that others wouldnt. Instead, I go to my major classes and have to do required field work that bores me. The teachers put slides up, I write it down aimlessly and eventually forget about it. but then again, that is my own fault.

The question I am really asking is why in the world are we giving up our lives to pay debts for a piece of paper that literally means nothing. "here ya go john doe, for all your hard work and thousands of dollars you spent on our salaries, you get a nice shiny piece of paper that might help you get a job one day." I know the Govt. controls our education, which is another reason why we are so misinformed from grades k-12. Yet students in Europe, have a different curriculum, probably a more effective one to boot, and they are getting it free of charge. Why should we have to pay for something that should be free for us to know? This question will be asked for years and it will probably never be answered.

Thanks for reading blogs.wsj.com...www.thetimes.co.uk... /news/world/europe/article4213550.ece

That just about sums up our education system.

Several points.

The education system is no longer about learning.
It is about making money for big companies.
It is about screwing up young people and bleeding them dry.
It is about creating serfs who only know what they should know.

Even from primary school it is DO WHAT YOU ARE TOLD OR SUFFER!!!

I cannot fathom why US students are falling for this crap.

It would be far far cheaper for them to go to another country for their degrees and save a tens of thousands of dollars/

P

a reply to: solemind4

You can't sqeeze blood from a turnip, and I honestly don't think it would hurt Americans to have a little harder time qualifying for unsecured lines of credit. Debt is marginal slavery and it diminishes the net sum of your entire life. Debtors have truly empowered this entire system of fractional credit which is leading us to tyranny. Any crisis which threatens the normal continued operation of this system is probably a blessing in the grand scheme of things. Maybe Americans 40 years from now will be a backwards people who want to work and save for everything they have instead of enjoying today that which someone else produces tomorrow.

There is reason why my husband's German company has outsourced all it's R&D to the states and most of its employees in said R&D are American or from other countries than Geremany.

Just sayin'.

You get what you pay for.

a reply to: pheonix358

I totally agree, I wish I would have been more aware of this when I was younger. However, the only way I was going to make it to college was through an athletic scholarship for football. I did just that and I enjoyed every minute of it. One day, I may consider sending my kids abroad to go to college. Only time will tell!

a reply to: Nechash

At this point, I don't know if we are going forwards, backwards, upside down or inside out. It's quite confusing if you ask me.

i'd love to study abroad, but it's way out of my price right now...mainly with all the hassle with filling out for a passport.

I even hoped i could go to my college's sister school in England, now i'm stuck here in nowhere paying off my loans and getting shunned in employment. At least i got a fun job for now being a werewolf at a haunted house

a reply to: solemind4

The clap is free do you want that too?

originally posted by: solemind4
I got lucky for the first 4 years of my college "education", I had many loans and a pretty hefty Football scholarship to help me pay for school. However, after changing my major after a year and a half, I now find myself back at school for a 5th year. Yes, I know it is probably my fault and some my say that which is okay.

Well...there you go. You squandered an opportunity and what can you do? A socialist way is just not sustainable, common sense shows that. Well, it can work but you need a small, closed tight ship society otherwise the destiny is COLLAPSE. But, this is beyond the scope of this thread.

In all honesty, if you cant go then you cant go, you already had a scholarship and according to you you made a bad choice. So time to get a job.

I only went to high school and it is hard for me. I have my own business but i just survive. Coming out with 100K in loans is not so bad if you get the job you want. You want me to pay for you? I can barely feed myself.

ETA: Except for the elderly. Anyone over 65 should not be in need of anything. That is my one stipulation.

a reply to: pheonix358

Indeed education abroad is the best bet to stay clear of the obvious indoctrination of "schools"
Much the same way Gaddafi paid for people to get degrees abroad if they couldnt get their desired degree in Libya. (Dont see U.S. doing that ??)

Free education sadly is a dream for a furthered society not ours based on fear and personal gain

originally posted by: solemind4
I got lucky for the first 4 years of my college "education", I had many loans and a pretty hefty Football scholarship to help me pay for school. However, after changing my major after a year and a half, I now find myself back at school for a 5th year. Yes, I know it is probably my fault and some my say that which is okay. In all honesty, the major I changed to doesn't even interest me anymore because I have no passion for it. If i could go back to my freshman year, I would probably change it to sociology or philosophy because it allows me to think about things that others wouldnt. Instead, I go to my major classes and have to do required field work that bores me. The teachers put slides up, I write it down aimlessly and eventually forget about it. but then again, that is my own fault.

It's a good thing you don't because those two majors qualify you to sit on welfare with no job once you leave college. These days you don't go to college and learn what you want to learn. You go to college to learn something useful. I took my GI Bill money and used it to get a free education in Computer Science, because computer work has high chances of landing you a job post graduation.

Though I agree with you about the student debt problem. The way I see it, colleges should stop requiring so many useless gen ed classes and just focus on having you take major courses. I understand that the idea is to make you well rounded, but man some of those classes are so easy you can sleep through them (or sit on facebook all semester in class), barely study and get a decent grade (maybe even an A depending on how the teacher curves). I know this, because I've done it before. They are a waste of time and money. Especially with how expensive college has gotten.

By the way, part of the reason college is so expensive is because of sports. Things like your football scholarship, coach salaries being the highest at the university, and sinking millions into stadiums and equipment (especially for big ticket sports like football and basketball) all contribute the exorbitant college fees. You should be thankful that you only have 1 year of student debt to worry about.

I'm from the USA and I agree that education should be free to those who earn the grades and do the work. But... we have no money and are trillions in debt already. We're already providing free food, welfare, and healthcare to what would amount to over half the population of Germany. I don't have any way of gathering the numbers but all the universities and colleges here give out many full ride scholarships. I'd wager we already have as many students in the USA getting a free college education as they will in Germany. It's hard to make the comparison of the USA to any European country because of the huge population difference.

a reply to: jjkenobi

And we have students facing the highest student debts in history; I wonder why the good ole US of A keeps falling behind the rest of the world in every aspect with the exceptions military and prisoners?

originally posted by: Harvin

originally posted by: solemind4
I got lucky for the first 4 years of my college "education", I had many loans and a pretty hefty Football scholarship to help me pay for school. However, after changing my major after a year and a half, I now find myself back at school for a 5th year. Yes, I know it is probably my fault and some my say that which is okay.

Well...there you go. You squandered an opportunity and what can you do? A socialist way is just not sustainable, common sense shows that. Well, it can work but you need a small, closed tight ship society otherwise the destiny is COLLAPSE. But, this is beyond the scope of this thread.

In all honesty, if you cant go then you cant go, you already had a scholarship and according to you you made a bad choice. So time to get a job.

I only went to high school and it is hard for me. I have my own business but i just survive. Coming out with 100K in loans is not so bad if you get the job you want. You want me to pay for you? I can barely feed myself.

ETA: Except for the elderly. Anyone over 65 should not be in need of anything. That is my one stipulation.

You do realize that you're already paying for people who choose not to work, right?

You're paying for people who view kids as a source of income.

You're paying for people who manipulate the disability system to get a paycheck WHILE still working full time. I've seen this personally... $2,800 a month from disability while selling cars full time. Made me sick.

Hell, have you considered how much of your taxes are going to other countries in the form of "aid"??

For some reason, whenever this discussion comes up about education, the "I ain't no Socialist! I ain't payin for nobody to go to school!" people come out of the woodwork. How about we keep taxes the same and pull money from the current socialist programs to pump into education so the costs will come down (like state universities were until the 70's)?? It makes no sense that the majority of our tax dollars are going to jobless people instead of educating the future of our society. The state support of public universities dropped in the 70's and it never went back to the same level.

originally posted by: solemind4
I may consider sending my kids abroad to go to college.

Sending your kids abroad for college, while probably a great life experience, will not necessarily get you a more affordable education.

originally posted by: AlaskanDad
a reply to: jjkenobi

And we have students facing the highest student debts in history; I wonder why the good ole US of A keeps falling behind the rest of the world in every aspect with the exceptions military and prisoners?

Apparently we take pride in that. " No way no anyone is gonna mess with us we gots the best army and most nukes in the world and we'll just blow them up! MERICA" or some # like that. Sorry, education should be more important than all. but as Orwell said, WAR is Peace, Ignorance is Bliss, Freedom is Slavery. woof

Where did you get this from?

originally posted by: Answer

For some reason, whenever this discussion comes up about education, the "I ain't no Socialist! I ain't payin for nobody to go to school!" people come out of the woodwork.

You put it in quotes as if i posted that and i have a good education just decided not to got to college and i know what a double negative is. I dont appreciate the tone of that as you are putting me into some imaginary group you made up.

I agree with much that you said and figured i covered that in my previous post. Furthermore, you are always going to have people who need help and could be for many reasons, except for fraud, so i DO agree with you on that too.

But, no...i dont belong to any demographic as it would relate to my comments. If socialism worked then i could care less since i am on way down on the economic ladder. But i mean, lets face facts. Pyramid schemes just dont work.

originally posted by: ketsuko
There is reason why my husband's German company has outsourced all it's R&D to the states and most of its employees in said R&D are American or from other countries than Geremany.

Just sayin'.

You get what you pay for.

This is entire nonsense! To be frank, I don't think that the American "education" system can even REMOTELY touch the European ones and in particular the German one. There is NO comparison. If your company has outsourced than because of other reasons but certainly NOT because German education standard is low. I seriously believe you have no idea what you're talking about here.

Well, to the OP you made a pretty big mistake in my opinion but it's not like it was your fault. No one probably ever taught you any different. This comes from my own life experience of not getting to start college until my mid 20's but I'm of the opinion it helped me out.

Picking a major and going for it is an awful way to do things, instead figure out what you want to do and transition your way into that. Don't pick because of income, or because you're interested at the moment. Instead try and think of it as if you could make one aspect of the world better what sort of job would you want to do to accomplish that? Then work towards that. In my opinion 18 year olds aren't equipped to answer that question, most in their mid 20's aren't either but more are than at 18.

You started one major, then switched to another and are also dissatisfied with it. So you're 0 for 2 here. If you don't know what you want to do (and that includes all the boring unfun parts) you probably shouldn't be in college in the first place. All that leads to in the long run is debt as you change careers or a job you hate.

You mentioned sociology or philosophy but to be honest those aren't degrees that will provide for you. They fall into the same category as Liberal Arts which are important so much as they teach a person to ask interesting questions but they don't teach you how to answer them. If you like those subjects take a few classes on them (or dual major if you really wanted to) and apply them to a specific program that interests you. That's where you get the ability to ask questions about a certain field that may not have been asked before... and you'll actually be equipped to solve that answer which can often times result in a new and better way of doing things.