When I started college 15 years ago tuition for me was $7,000 per year. When I finished 4 years later, it was $12,000 per year. Things going up is normal. Things costing almost double within a few years is not.
Not to mention the "solution" people commonly throw around that Americans should skip out on college altogether since student loan interest and tuition is so absurdly high. "Just go to trade school!"
Sure, let's see how well our country fairs in 20 years when we have an extreme shortage of doctors, engineers, researchers, lawyers, teachers, architects, nurses, chemists, pilots, psychologists, economists, social workers, etc.
The people who benefit from the unsastainably high tuition rates we have today will be dead by the time these consequences realize. We shouldn't sacrifice our way of life so a few greedy inhumans can gorge themselves on more money than they could ever spend.
Civil disobedience by not paying these loans back is far from enough. I say we make heads roll.
I lived that exact experience and chose not to take the debt. I honestly have very little sympathy for this cause. Anyone with a degree can get a job way better paying than someone without a degree (me) so I'm not really sure why your friends chose to take what they did. I'm super fucking bitter to see this gaining traction to be honest.
Why should people who chose to study something specific and then not get that job get to have everything paid for them? Are you saying that no one with a degree can get any kind of job that pays more than $25/hr? I'm not talking about some McDonald's janitor bs, but some management position, or some kind of office work that requires a degree. It pays way more than the shit work people without a degree are limited to unless you're in a union/trade.
Anyone with a degree can get a job way better paying than someone without a degree
Wrong.
Why should people who chose to study something specific and then not get that job get to have everything paid for them?
People don't just elect not to accept jobs in the industry their degree is in. It's usually either that the jobs don't exist or they suck ass.
Are you saying that no one with a degree can get any kind of job that pays more than $25/hr?
Of course not. I'm saying that $25/hr is not a living wage in most areas, and also that many many people can't, even with a degree.
It pays way more than the shit work people without a degree are limited to unless you're in a union/trade.
Often times it doesn't. There are plenty of amazing jobs people get that require 0 degrees. Most everyone I know (especially in tech) don't use the degrees they graduated with, including myself.
I'm making $31 an hr plus per diem with just a professional cert. I'm not even all that good at what I do. This is no humblebrag. Every college grad should be making more than me. Nobody anywhere should be making any less. It ain't right.
100%. I was able to get my employer to pay for my tuition in exchange for a 2 year-contract after graduation. That's the way it should be done, ideally.
They locked them into those contracts when they were still 17 year old kids. That's illegal. Except they decided it wasnt. Those kids were told their entire lives that college would open doors to great paying jobs and employers would love to hire college grads over dumb folks with just lousy old high school diplomas. Just sign here kid, and you can get an English degree! Of course, those lenders made sure nobody explained how compounding interest works beforehand. Then they packed all those young people together at the hormonal apex of their sexual torment, with booze and drugs and no supervision, just to see how well they could study Tolstoy. And all it'll cost them is 150k. But of course there's the interest to consider.
Why yes, we're hiring! How does $20 an hour sound? Or perhaps you'd prefer this unpaid internship?