US-Colleges: The Good, The Bad, and The Way Too Expensive!

[mrcongojack]

How much do you guys pay for your University/college? Here in Toronto i pay 21,000 per year, my girl friend 47,000. She studies Law, I Criminology. It’s a total rip off, one of that is called I-got-fucked-in-the-ass but I really have no other options. It’s either pay or have a shity job for the rest of your life. Education is slowly becoming a privilege for only the wealthy class.

21,000? With today's exchange rates, that would be... $21,000! I'm hoping you are going to a private school, because I go to a public school and tuition is only like $4,000-5000 a year, room and board is only like 2000-3000 more a year.

[Leen]

In my school, it cost me about USD 60k per academic year. =/

Anyone care to fund my studies?

[mrcongojack]

60 K a year...! I'm never going to complain about my college costs again.

I hope that the UC is like other schools that cost way too much and offers a substantial financial aid package.

[Leen]

Oh yeah. About 60 percent of the students in U of C receive some kind of financial aids.

Not only that, the school just received the largest anonymous donation in the whole US. It was USD 100 million. All the money go to funding this new scholarship called Odyssey Scholarship.

So yeah, even though it charges super insane cost to students, it gives substantial amount of financial aids to students too. Most of the students that I meet have some kind of financial aids and they pay something like USD 15k a year. That's not too bad huh?

[LadyHatake]

I'm at a public, in-state school (Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA) as an undergrad student, and I pay around $7,000 per year in tuition alone, and another $6,000 or so for room and board each year. Plus $1,000 for books, so around $14,000-$15,000 per year. Physical Therapy school (which is a doctorate program) has tuition of $22,000 per year, not including room and board. And that's just for in-state. Luckily I have a few years for that, and right now I have a scholarship that covers a bit over half of my fees each semester =)

[mrcongojack]

Old Dominion is a public school? I always thought it was private. Huh, you learn something new every day.

At my college, they have textbook rental so I don't have to pay for them (except for a few extra primary source books). Which is great.

@LadyHatake
$1000 for textbooks?! While I don't have to pay for most of them, I would assume most textbooks only cost $60-100 and if you are on a semester schedule taking 18 credits that'd be six classes so $600 at the most. Are you taking30 credits or is your university book store run by the Mob?

[LadyHatake]

Yep, ODU is public =)

$1,000 per YEAR, not semester ^___^; Some of my classes have multiple books, too :/ And lab manuals ;_; By bio book alone was almost $200, plus $40 for both semester's lab manuals.

[mrcongojack]

Oops... my bad . Still, 1 grand for books alone is over the top. And $200 for a bio books ? Does it come with a pre-dissected frog or was it signed by Darwin?

[LadyHatake]

Neither. It's just enormous. And the worst part is I don't really use it. Though, I will keep it, since I am a science major. Never know if I'll need it again =D

[Koen]

How come studying in america is so expensive, if you compare it over here

[godofthesunn]

college is expensive because ... well even i dont know why its so expensive I suppose its because alot of colleges do alot of things, best teachers are expensive then to have interesting things at universitys to get students.. i suppose really it all sums up to competition between colleges which equates to competition in the work force.. another flawed american system

yet i'm apart of it

stanford is way too much but meh.

[mrcongojack]

How come studying in america is so expensive, if you compare it over here

Why is college more expensive over here? That is a very good question. The one thing that I find interesting is that almost 95% of colleges charge crazy fees (like $10-40K a year), yet have financial aid packages that cover somewhere in the neighborhood of 60% of the cost. Why not just take out the 60%? I suppose some people are able and willing to pay the 60%, but many people I know cannot.

I think the main problem in America is that people do not see education as an investment. Let's be honest: the more educated the kids, the better jobs they get, the better the economy is. My town's newspaper has a "sound off" section where people can call in and make comments/complaints/death threats that might be published in the paper anonymously, and every day there is some joker who complains about how teachers are paid too much/how lazy teachers are/etc... The teacher's union is on strike right now because their pay hasn't kept up with inflation and whatnot, and people are complaining that they don't want to pay for like a 3-5% increase in pay. I think this is weird, because it was just a year ago that the citizens in my town voted in a referendum for a $70 school remodeling job, particularly by adding a "field house" (or outhouse, as I like to call it), that will house and indoor track and new training equipment for the football and basketball team. So they don't mind paying more, as long as the money goes to things like the football team (which loses every year), or the basketball team (which loses every year), but not towards teachers, who work hard for their money.

The argument people use against paying teachers more is that "some don't deserve it cause they is bad teachers I tell you what." Well if teachers got paid better, more people would train to become teachers because of the increased pay, meaning more people would apply for the jobs and therefore school administrators would have more teachers to select from. More teachers to select from gives the admins more options and they can then hire the best instead of hiring any idiot who walks by the front door. Many teachers are in the baby boomer generation right now, and soon they will be retiring, so there is going to be a need for teachers. College-educated adults aren't going to go for teaching jobs if working as an accountant pays more (even though the work is deadening and drains you of your soul), so the school admins are going to have to hire whatever comes along, which isn't that great a strategy.

So in short, our schools (colleges included) suck because we aren't willing to invest in them and because we don't pay our teachers enough, which leads to us having crappy teachers.

[rhapsody blue]

Why is college more expensive over here? That is a very good question. The one thing that I find interesting is that almost 95% of colleges charge crazy fees (like $10-40K a year), yet have financial aid packages that cover somewhere in the neighborhood of 60% of the cost. Why not just take out the 60%? I suppose some people are able and willing to pay the 60%, but many people I know cannot.

I think the main problem in America is that people do not see education as an investment. Let's be honest: the more educated the kids, the better jobs they get, the better the economy is. My town's newspaper has a "sound off" section where people can call in and make comments/complaints/death threats that might be published in the paper anonymously, and every day there is some joker who complains about how teachers are paid too much/how lazy teachers are/etc... The teacher's union is on strike right now because their pay hasn't kept up with inflation and whatnot, and people are complaining that they don't want to pay for like a 3-5% increase in pay. I think this is weird, because it was just a year ago that the citizens in my town voted in a referendum for a $70 school remodeling job, particularly by adding a "field house" (or outhouse, as I like to call it), that will house and indoor track and new training equipment for the football and basketball team. So they don't mind paying more, as long as the money goes to things like the football team (which loses every year), or the basketball team (which loses every year), but not towards teachers, who work hard for their money.

The argument people use against paying teachers more is that "some don't deserve it cause they is bad teachers I tell you what." Well if teachers got paid better, more people would train to become teachers because of the increased pay, meaning more people would apply for the jobs and therefore school administrators would have more teachers to select from. More teachers to select from gives the admins more options and they can then hire the best instead of hiring any idiot who walks by the front door. Many teachers are in the baby boomer generation right now, and soon they will be retiring, so there is going to be a need for teachers. College-educated adults aren't going to go for teaching jobs if working as an accountant pays more (even though the work is deadening and drains you of your soul), so the school admins are going to have to hire whatever comes along, which isn't that great a strategy.

So in short, our schools (colleges included) suck because we aren't willing to invest in them and because we don't pay our teachers enough, which leads to us having crappy teachers.

i wouldn't generalize all americans as not caring about their education. if that was the case, then many people wouldn't have applied to college. in order to appear competitive for jobs, many people know that they need degrees in order to get paid well.

i think most people don't believe teachers don't need a pay increase due to the fact that they only work around nine months (time taken off from vacations). getting paid at least $33000 for that time period isn't that bad; i know some of my friends who work all twelve months who don't make as much. besides, if the teachers are good, then it shouldn't matter what their salaries are. if people are being teachers just for the money, that would be just ridiculous. my education friends tell me that they teach because they want to make a difference. students and their parents are also responsible for their education so if the kids are not willing to learn and the parents are not willing to support their children's education then what can a teacher do?

anyway, back to topic. the rising cost of education is really obscure. colleges are really competitive so they try to make their universities stand out whether it means building state of the art labs, class rooms, or/and sport centers. they have to pay for their professors' salaries especially the prestigious and highly credited ones who do research and can help put their universities on the maps.

yes college can be expensive but there are various ways to pay for it. if you did well in school, you can get a scholarship. work study is available for those who need it and one can find a job on campus to help take care of the cost. at some universities if you are a resident assistant (RA) you might get free room and board (at mine, you get paid ~$7000 a year and a double as a single for the cost of a double).

not all american universities suck. if that was the case, then why would schools like the ivies, stanford and the public ivies have so many foreigners applying for entrance into their schools?

[godofthesunn]

wait they still make you pay for housing but just give you a housing cut that uber ghey.. at my school they just take care of housing and food for the the RA and they still get uber large rooms to themselves plus a stipend monthly

[mrcongojack]

[QUOTE=rhapsody blue;725004]i wouldn't generalize all americans as not caring about their education. if that was the case, then many people wouldn't have applied to college. in order to appear competitive for jobs, many people know that they need degrees in order to get paid well.
[quote]
Yes, everyone cares about their education, but not their grandchildren's. In yesterday's paper, we had about 2 call ins about "how tired they are for schools" because their children are all grown up.

i think most people don't believe teachers don't need a pay increase due to the fact that they only work around nine months (time taken off from vacations). getting paid at least $33000 for that time period isn't that bad; i know some of my friends who work all twelve months who don't make as much. besides, if the teachers are good, then it shouldn't matter what their salaries are. if people are being teachers just for the money, that would be just ridiculous. my education friends tell me that they teach because they want to make a difference. students and their parents are also responsible for their education so if the kids are not willing to learn and the parents are not willing to support their children's education then what can a teacher do?

First off, many teachers don't get paid $33,000 a year. Heck, some teachers in America don't get paid at all. "Teach for America" is a program where they take volunteers to teach in rural areas or the inner city. Their reimbursement? Living expenses and some college loan differment . In the South, some teachers don't make $20,000 a year. When the pay for teachers is lower than people who work at a fast food joint full time, many college-educated people are not going to go into teaching even if it's what they want to do because they don't want to live below the poverty line that badly.

Even in areas where teachers make $33,000 a year, it's not like they sit around all summer doing nothing. In Wisconsin, teachers have to go back to college to work towards a graduate degree. Afterwards they do get a pay increase, which is pretty reasonable since they have a doctorate. My main point is that the reason most people go to college for 4-6 years, dropping somewhere in the neighborhood of $20-50K is to get a good job. If the pay for teachers does not match that of other jobs requiring an bachelors or graduate degree, less people are going to go after them.

anyway, back to topic. the rising cost of education is really obscure. colleges are really competitive so they try to make their universities stand out whether it means building state of the art labs, class rooms, or/and sport centers. they have to pay for their professors' salaries especially the prestigious and highly credited ones who do research and can help put their universities on the maps.

Obscure? Public college tuitions have grown 53% above inflation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_tuition#Recent_trends
).

yes college can be expensive but there are various ways to pay for it. if you did well in school, you can get a scholarship. work study is available for those who need it and one can find a job on campus to help take care of the cost. at some universities if you are a resident assistant (RA) you might get free room and board (at mine, you get paid ~$7000 a year and a double as a single for the cost of a double).

Now I wasn't the valedictorian of my school but I did reasonably well (3.2 GPA and 29 on the ACT) and was fairly active in extracurriculars (Eagle Scout, Treasurer of the German Club, etc...) yet did not receive any scholarships. In fact, most of my friends who did receive scholarships got ~$100-200 a year, which ain't that much considering that tuition is 13,000 a year. And there are only so many RA and work study spots available.

not all american universities suck. if that was the case, then why would schools like the ivies, stanford and the public ivies have so many foreigners applying for entrance into their schools?

Because their schools suck more. Many of those students come from India, China, etc..., which don't have such great schools. Heck, India's literacy rate is like 65% on average (75% for men, 53% for women). And the number of international students in the USA has dropped in recent years.