Community Chat

[software]

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@CrazyDaisy wrote:

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@suzyQ3 wrote:

I think it would behoove those who criticize this gift to do some research on how school loan debts are strangling so many people.

From the article in today's LAT about this gesture, one student did the math. He will be paying half his salary for many years in order to pay off his debt.

In the weeks before graduating from Morehouse on Sunday, 22-year-old finance major Aaron Mitchom drew up a spreadsheet to calculate how long it would take him to pay back his $200,000 in student loans — 25 years at half his monthly salary, per his calculations.

In an instant, that number vanished.

Mitchom, sitting in the crowd, wept.

“I can delete that spreadsheet,” he said in an interview after the commencement. “I don’t have to live off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I was shocked. My heart dropped. We all cried. In the moment it was like a burden had been taken off.”

His mother, Tina Mitchom, was also shocked. Eight family members, including Mitchom’s 76-year-old grandmother, took turns over four years co-signing on the loans that got him across the finish line.

“It takes a village,” she said. “It now means he can start paying it forward and start closing this gap a lot sooner, giving back to the college and thinking about a succession plan” for his younger siblings.

Morehouse College President David A. Thomas said the gift would have a profound effect on the students’ futures.

“Many of my students are interested in going into teaching, for example, but leave with an amount of student debt that makes that untenable,” Thomas said in an interview. “In some ways, it was a liberation gift for these young men that just opened up their choices.”

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This calculation should be done by every student BEFORE they take out loans.

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Then they would be at McDonald's the rest of their lives.

They have to take a leap of faith to get a loan, doled out by our government, in order to have a better life.

[Lion]

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@occasionalrain wrote:

His money to do with as he pleases. I would have chosen differently if this money were mine. 

My parents paid for my education but had I been in a situation that meant borrowing and going into debt, I would have done two years of community college that is incredibly inexpensive. The first two years are basic 101 core classes. None are those required for one's major. I would have then transferred to a lower priced state college.

I have to question the decision of those who chose to incur a fortune in debt just to attend a private expensive university when what matters most is one's graduate school degree. To me, it's want versus need.

What I'm finding most disheartening here are the unkind shaming posts aimed at a poster whose opinion is contrary to those who put themselves forward as, "good caring", people. Just as bad are the posts making accusations of another's motives, feelings, and reasons for their opinion.

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Community colleges are not "incrediby inexpensive" to the average student from middle class or poor families.    Community college students have to take out student loans, too.    And state universities are not inexpensive, either.   Most of them with tuition, fees, books, supplies, and room & board cost at least $35,000 and usually even more.    It is very hard for students from non-wealthy families to avoid student loans.

I'm not sure what you mean by saying the freshmen/sophomore general ed (core) courses are not required for a college major.    They are required for all degrees, and are just as important as a whole as the upper level classes.    They form the  solid base for a college education; that's why they're called "core" courses.

[Anonymous032819]

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@kitcat51 wrote:

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@Marp wrote:

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@kitcat51 wrote:

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Believe what you want but please explain why I'm green pea with envy? I believe there's value in paying for your education, it's an accomplishment, important & shouldn't be dismissed. I'm happy for every grad who earns a degree but for anyone to sweep in & pay their way just because they're lucky to be in the so called right place at the right time, no. I'm not green, I don't want a car & I don't want anything given to me, I'll earn it. 

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@kitcat51, out of curiosity how do you feel about parents paying for their child's education?  Should the child have to repay the parents?

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Oh brother...there's a real difference between your parents & a stranger paying your way but if a parent wants to be paid back then they should be. A commencement speaker shows up, it's free I'm paying your way...horray!!!! So last year grads are paying, what a bummer. Will next year grads get a free ride or will the speaker be a cheapskate? You either see value, accomplishment & importance in paying your debt or you don't... can't help with that.

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Yes, some people are luckier than others, it's called "Life".

It has always been that way, and it always will be.

Nowhere is it written that everybody gets all of the same breaks as someone else.

Too bad that you can't accept that fact of life.

Maybe somewhere along the way in your life someone got a break that you didn't and felt that you deserved, and you have been bitter and resentful of anyone, and everyone who does catch a break ever since.

I'm sorry for that, but that's just how life is. 

You win some, and you loose some.

[CrazyDaisy]

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@suzyQ3 wrote:

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@CrazyDaisy wrote:

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@suzyQ3 wrote:

I think it would behoove those who criticize this gift to do some research on how school loan debts are strangling so many people.

From the article in today's LAT about this gesture, one student did the math. He will be paying half his salary for many years in order to pay off his debt.

In the weeks before graduating from Morehouse on Sunday, 22-year-old finance major Aaron Mitchom drew up a spreadsheet to calculate how long it would take him to pay back his $200,000 in student loans — 25 years at half his monthly salary, per his calculations.

In an instant, that number vanished.

Mitchom, sitting in the crowd, wept.

“I can delete that spreadsheet,” he said in an interview after the commencement. “I don’t have to live off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I was shocked. My heart dropped. We all cried. In the moment it was like a burden had been taken off.”

His mother, Tina Mitchom, was also shocked. Eight family members, including Mitchom’s 76-year-old grandmother, took turns over four years co-signing on the loans that got him across the finish line.

“It takes a village,” she said. “It now means he can start paying it forward and start closing this gap a lot sooner, giving back to the college and thinking about a succession plan” for his younger siblings.

Morehouse College President David A. Thomas said the gift would have a profound effect on the students’ futures.

“Many of my students are interested in going into teaching, for example, but leave with an amount of student debt that makes that untenable,” Thomas said in an interview. “In some ways, it was a liberation gift for these young men that just opened up their choices.”

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This calculation should be done by every student BEFORE they take out loans.

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@CrazyDaisy, maybe or maybe they have rough idea anyway. Regardless, if they don't take the chance because of the amount, then college would be primarily for the wealthy.

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Would you buy a car or house without knowing what it would cost you?  Why are you giving a pass to those who are buying an education?  There are many options, community college, part time, etc.  There is even the possibility that the cost would come down without the easy money from student loans were not so common.

[CrazyDaisy]

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@software wrote:

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@CrazyDaisy wrote:

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@suzyQ3 wrote:

I think it would behoove those who criticize this gift to do some research on how school loan debts are strangling so many people.

From the article in today's LAT about this gesture, one student did the math. He will be paying half his salary for many years in order to pay off his debt.

In the weeks before graduating from Morehouse on Sunday, 22-year-old finance major Aaron Mitchom drew up a spreadsheet to calculate how long it would take him to pay back his $200,000 in student loans — 25 years at half his monthly salary, per his calculations.

In an instant, that number vanished.

Mitchom, sitting in the crowd, wept.

“I can delete that spreadsheet,” he said in an interview after the commencement. “I don’t have to live off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I was shocked. My heart dropped. We all cried. In the moment it was like a burden had been taken off.”

His mother, Tina Mitchom, was also shocked. Eight family members, including Mitchom’s 76-year-old grandmother, took turns over four years co-signing on the loans that got him across the finish line.

“It takes a village,” she said. “It now means he can start paying it forward and start closing this gap a lot sooner, giving back to the college and thinking about a succession plan” for his younger siblings.

Morehouse College President David A. Thomas said the gift would have a profound effect on the students’ futures.

“Many of my students are interested in going into teaching, for example, but leave with an amount of student debt that makes that untenable,” Thomas said in an interview. “In some ways, it was a liberation gift for these young men that just opened up their choices.”

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This calculation should be done by every student BEFORE they take out loans.

---

Then they would be at McDonald's the rest of their lives.

They have to take a leap of faith to get a loan, doled out by our government, in order to have a better life.

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Exaggerate much.  This is why discussions on so many topics never find a soultion

[suzyQ3]

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@CrazyDaisy wrote:

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@suzyQ3 wrote:

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@CrazyDaisy wrote:

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@suzyQ3 wrote:

I think it would behoove those who criticize this gift to do some research on how school loan debts are strangling so many people.

From the article in today's LAT about this gesture, one student did the math. He will be paying half his salary for many years in order to pay off his debt.

In the weeks before graduating from Morehouse on Sunday, 22-year-old finance major Aaron Mitchom drew up a spreadsheet to calculate how long it would take him to pay back his $200,000 in student loans — 25 years at half his monthly salary, per his calculations.

In an instant, that number vanished.

Mitchom, sitting in the crowd, wept.

“I can delete that spreadsheet,” he said in an interview after the commencement. “I don’t have to live off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I was shocked. My heart dropped. We all cried. In the moment it was like a burden had been taken off.”

His mother, Tina Mitchom, was also shocked. Eight family members, including Mitchom’s 76-year-old grandmother, took turns over four years co-signing on the loans that got him across the finish line.

“It takes a village,” she said. “It now means he can start paying it forward and start closing this gap a lot sooner, giving back to the college and thinking about a succession plan” for his younger siblings.

Morehouse College President David A. Thomas said the gift would have a profound effect on the students’ futures.

“Many of my students are interested in going into teaching, for example, but leave with an amount of student debt that makes that untenable,” Thomas said in an interview. “In some ways, it was a liberation gift for these young men that just opened up their choices.”

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This calculation should be done by every student BEFORE they take out loans.

---

@CrazyDaisy, maybe or maybe they have rough idea anyway. Regardless, if they don't take the chance because of the amount, then college would be primarily for the wealthy.

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Would you buy a car or house without knowing what it would cost you?  Why are you giving a pass to those who are buying an education?  There are many options, community college, part time, etc.  There is even the possibility that the cost would come down without the easy money from student loans were not so common.

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@CrazyDaisy, so really what you're advocating is a reduction of the "easy money."  I would advocate MORE help for qualified students who want to attend a university (or a trade school, one that actually prepares students for a career and isn't just out to fleece them).

I'm not much in favor of abetting the already increasingly huge gap between the haves and the have-nots in our society.

And it's not as if we're talking about something trivial; we're talking education. An uneducated society is doomed in one way or another.

[BirkiLady]

@LilacTree  Where to you think the money comes from for scholarships, foundations, endowments, City parks, and so much more in everyday life? Most people give generously. 

[icezeus]

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@cherry wrote:

I have black family members @ocassionalrain. I am related to  Emmett Till ,and I have had a belly full of nasty cracks ,and insinuations about black people

As far as nasty cracks go ,I think you are quite selective  about what you see ,done  by whom...remember someone named Meghan?

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@cherry 

Don't engage anymore. We do not want this overwhelmingly positive thread to be closed due to an argument with a person that you will never meet and never be able to change how they feel.

Stay positive!

[occasionalrain]

@cherry  You're seeing what you want to see. I have no issue with what Robert Smith did with his money. My issue is with the unkind resposes toward a poster who saw the possible negative aspect of it. I dislike Meghan and I dislike Bill Gates, both because of their their choices. 

It's easy and unfair to dismiss another's opinion by claiming they hate women, are racist, jealous, anti-gay ...when none of those are likely true. They're not true about me. 

When it silences those with opposing views there is no discussion just postings of those who think alike. 

[occasionalrain]

@Lion  what I meant was that these are classes that are general, required but not the classes one takes that are required for their major so it doesn't matter much where they are taken. It's a method of reducing the cost of a college degree.