lol you are high if you think thats true

try paying rent delivering pizzas and getting an engineering degree

Also - become a patent attorney. The America Invents act just upped the demand for patent attorneys at least 2X. Of course... first you should have a STEM degree...

(and btw - patent attorney work seems like it sucks)

Thinking of suing the regulars ITT because there are no pics of anything.

Yeah but for most people in cities you can get the degree you need by working hard, going to 2 years of community college, and then finishing your undergrad at the state school (potentially even one in town) that best fits your situation.

It's not cheap but a lot of the people out there with 100k+ of student loans really could be in better shape if they'd made more realistic choices. It's just tough to make those choices right at 18, it's where having good parents who can give you good guidance makes a big difference.

The problem is this involves sacrificing for a goal, a virtue that many Americans do not embrace when debt is available.

**** man, I had semesters where my books alone were like 2k.

Definitely seeing Iron Man 3. May see Jurassic Park in 3D, yet. Don't really need to see Gatsby in the theater IMO.

Yeah my wife and her sister took out more loans than they should have.

My wife would make a different set of choices related to school loans/education at 18 if she were given the chance to start over. She didn't really have much help within her family, either, she wasn't placed in a good spot. They loved that she was picking a catholic college. Lol at not thinking about the cost.

Unfortunately her younger siblings still haven't really learned, none of them are willing to sacrifice the way they should, all will have 80k+ of loans for their undergrad because they all feel like they have to go away to school. I'm sorry, when you're poor, going away to school may not be a good option for you.

Hey, then you could be Greg Raymer at least.

lol gl

I believe in you

I admit, this could be very dependent on which state is your residence and how good the in state tuition is... Florida is one of the best (not where I am from btw..but my state has a bargain at state schools too).

Rent in college can easily be <$300 a month though. I lived on a couch my entire senior year...

I delivered pizzas, worked at the school printing press (graveyard shift), and was a paid teaching assistant.

Good meals are more expensive than rent.

For certain degrees like that, yeah, it would be hard to work a huge amount of hours because you actually have to do work in college.

My roommate spent $0 on books for his first two years of college.

He just stole them from other people when he needed one.

Believe it or not, he failed out.

Yeah, rent in college for me was cheap as hell. But, my brother went to law school in a big city out east, and I don't think it was even possible to find a place for under $1,000 a month. That was just his half of a 2 bedroom apartment.

Here is a video I made recently! The point is actually the music from the game, which I've arranged and performed as a classical guitar trio.

It's from Little Nemo: Dream Master.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk_h9HY3-Kw

Also, how do I embed a video on this site?

So lets capitalize all of these costs and make a few assumptions.

1) You have no friends/social life and do school 40 hrs/week between classes/studying and work 40 hrs/week @ 12 $/hr and have a take home pay of 360 $/week.

Monthly minimum expenses: Rent, Tuition, Books, Food, Gas

Rent = 300 $/month
Tuition = 5k/semester ~ 833 $/month
Books = 1k/semester ~ 166 $/month
Food = 100 $/month
Gas = 50 $/month

So the minimum, and this is like epic ****ing poverty (look at the food budget) requires ~ 1450 $/month on 1440 $/month which is 10 bucks in the red.

Thanks!

I would say during the school year the most somebody can really work and hope to do well enough to graduate with an engineering degree is like 25 hrs/week and that is with like the most flexible schedule possible.

Alright - so then borrow a little bit - much better to graduate with 20k in debt than 100k in debt.

Listen, it would not be a fun life for 4 years.. but the overriding point is looking for value in education. The best value = state school + engineering. The worst value = liberal arts + private school.

Now, there are some barriers to certain jobs that you will never get without Ivy League (wall street stuff)... but hell, 99.9% of us aren't dreaming of that job anyways.

WAIT - even better - go to a vocational school, 2 year degree type stuff - most people need to ask "why am I going to college?".. and for many, the answer should be "don't - it is a waste of money for what you want".

Intellectual property law of all kinds takes a special kind of person to enjoy, and I'm not sure I mean that in a good way. That said, it can be a very good living due to the lack of attorneys who want to do it and the number of companies always needing good IP help.

well no **** 20k is better than 100k, but the people who say "work your way through college, its what I did" are, at best, delusional.

I convinced my gf to go to the local community college to get an associates in computer programming technology where the credits transfer to a 4 year university and the placement rate is 95% at 25 $/hr. clearly a much better deal than my degree.

the fundamental problem though is that we are putting an entire generation into debt because of the social pressure to "go to college". It is easy to sit on some high horse and say they should know better, but if you grew up poor or were the first person in your family to go to college its not like you are doing some huge cost-benefit analysis.

But you are wrong - plenty of people have done it. Here is another secret.. get off the 5 year plan... graduate faster - take classes in summer too and you can get out in < 4.

Some people have a problem with starting at a community college.

you have your head up your ass dude

11t - I think more of the people who waste a college education are not the first-in-the-family type.. it is more of the upper middle class kids who just do college because that is what is expected of them after high school. How many stay at home moms have $100k+ educations... LOTS..

Hey, there is a lot of life +EV about college. It is not always just about a cost analysis. But I'll tell my kids - if I am paying - you better use it when you graduate!