Car affordability in 2022 and beyond

My dad sent me to college and later I saw a $1k loan he took against his life insurance policy to help pay for it. At the time I was oblivious. I later sent my son to the same school. Cost $250k or so and then law school at $40k a year.

When I went there, it was a modest midwest school and the dorms were austere cinder block and the profs were middle class. Now the buildings are elegant, the endowment enormous, and the lifestyle entitled.

I can't imagine how anyone other than the upper economic class could afford to go there.

 

Why did you feel the need to bring up student loans? Home mortgages are far more comparable. "Homes are an appreciating asset." So is an education.

Again, people have options for getting out of a car loan. They do not for student loans.

Did you buy the "underwater basket weaving degree" spiel? Around half of degrees handed out each year are in business related fields. The large majority of the rest are in a STEM field. The majority of people with student loans have a degree in a field that should lead to higher income.

On average, people with higher degrees earn more money over their lifetime. That means more tax revenue for the government. Also, more money flowing through the economy, which leads to more tax revenue through other sources.

There is also programs to help people get a car. That doesn't mean these are workable options for all.

When I went to college 30 years ago, the people in the school work program still needed to take out student loans. Under the G.I. Bill, a person has to serve, unless they lose a limb to an IED, for three years in order to cover 100% of a public school for 3 years. Most degree programs are 4 years. So they to will likely need student loans in addition.

For decades, we have been telling kids they need a college degree to be successful. Marketing is a powerful influence.

Perhaps they need to move to where the workers are.

How many CEOs today were promoted from within?

A lot of people that were born here are struggling through no fault of their own, and you deflect calls to help them by using socialism as a dirty word.

Which one got children workers out of factories?
A lot of push back against making things better, easier for others stems from the belief that they should suffer because the protester had to do it the hard way.

Statements like this gave raise to "Ok, Boomer."

What is the current tuition of that private school? That college? What about the current minimum wage? College tuition has been increasing faster than inflation for sometime, as wages have remained stagnant. Students haven't stopped working through college. Lack of sweat equity is not the issue. It is the fact that they have to work 6 times longer today than a student in 1970 had to.
1970 vs. 2020: How working through college has changed - Intelligent

When the car bubble bursts, who is going to get socialist benefits?

Some would say the answer is to get a better job. Well, many workers have, and now those saying get a better job are crying no one wants to work.

There is one small school where the students have to do that other work for the school. The school also has a huge endowment, and every student accepted has a true free ride.

The fate of the consumer protection bureau that established is now going in front of the Supreme Court.

 

The private High School I went to cost $250 a year. We had to work every day after school to do the Janitorial work for 1 hour and were credited $1 for each day against our tuition. We were allowed to make up the rest of the money by working athletic events on the weekend, cleaning the grounds or selling refreshments. We were credited $2 an hour for working weekends.

The school may have not been that desirable to most but had a good reputation for turning out kids who did well in college. It was run by Jesuit Brothers.

I could have gone to public school for free but even at a young age I knew I was going to need every bit of help I could get to realize my dreams so it was no big deal to work for what I wanted for myself.

The college I went to and used the Work for Education Program was a state institution and certainly nothing special but it got the job done for the kids who went there and might give them a boost or edge to meet their dreams. It helped me.

 

No. It shouldn't. Anybody who wants to improve their life by getting an education should have the opportunity. Who gets to decide what the "merit" is?

See my previous points about the benefits of an education. There's the merit.

Why? What purpose does it serve to limit who gets their tuition paid? In the grand scheme of things, what difference would it make to the amount of tax you pay?

 

And what would you have to do if you had to repeat high school and college today?

Pretty sure the limit being referred to isn't on the students, but on the amount charged for the tuition. Our 'free' market has greatly increased the costs of going to school overtime. Much of the increase has probably gone into the schools' savings instead of the education provided.

 

By limited, I mean that college costs need to be contained.
We don’t have enough state universities to accommodate all the deserving students.

on who gets to go, we’ll have to agree to disagree

 

Interesting...and all good points and ideas.. I think the ROI in education is a gamble they my wife and I are willing to take for our child. Which is why we chose private school for her education. Out of 7 children my wife and I are the most financially secure of each of our siblings. It is just how it worked out. We both have drive to succeed like no other and share very similar financial goals and values. Our siblings have nicer cars and toys then we do.We just invest in other things. We try to instill our work ethic in our daughter and don't see that in her peers parents. Some have said that we push her too hard but I feel the push to succeed is scaled to the individual. Lots of her peers are unmotivated and don't study as hard or are as "quick to task" as our daughter. Which is fine. I learned a long time ago from my parents that in order to be successful I just had work harder than anyone else in the room. Later I learned to find the right size room for my interest in the subject. I found a scholarly passion early and since then I never minded school or learning. The YUPPIES of the past have done a lot of enabling in their children and I see it today. It depends on your life goals. Money is very very different across the US and the world. In Fiji I saw lots of locals who lived in poverty but were very, very happy with their lives. The price of 2,000 square foot house in San Diego is very different than in Casper,WY, Belton,Mo or Trenton,NJ. It just depends on what makes you happy. Most people live in the state they grew up in so family keep people from moving away. Certain areas have very different belief systems. San Francisco, CA is very different from Kennesaw,GA with the pandemic relocation has been huge. LOTS of people have left California and Illinois. If money was no option We might have moved to CT for the schools there. MA and NH also have some great private schools. Many parts of the world have successful people who achieve great things. I know many doctors who have done well but I also know many, plumbers, drywallers and contractors who are millionaires. They ALL have strong work drive. I have always led by example and learned from my parents that way. I just hope my child is paying attention....most of the time it seems she is.

 

For perspective, I went to public schools all the way from K to graduate school. No cost through high school, but I paid for all of my higher education cost myself. 38 years ago, it was possible to work part-time and pay for tuition and be a full-time college student. If my vague memory is correct, the cost of tuition and fee for one academic year of the university I went to was $38/credit. Yep, the tuition and fees were paid per credit. To qualify for a full-time student status I needed at least 12 credits of coursework, which means the cost for a quarter was $456. It was 4 equal quarter system. I went a year around taking summer courses as well. So the cost of college just for tuition and fees was $1824. IIRC, my part-time job earnings were somewhere around $6k to $8k annually, so, my living expenses were around $4k to $6k per year. I lived in an off-campus apartment with two roommates which was cheaper than living on campus in a dorm and buying a meal plan.

Compare that to my kids. They also all went to public schools. Again if my memory is correct, the oldest one went to a state university and lived on campus all 4 years. The annual cost was about $8,000 for tuition and fees and $6,000 for room and board or a total of $14,000 a year but this did not include the summer. By the time our youngest went to the same state university, the cost went up to $14,000 for tuition and fee and $10,000 for room and board, or a total of $24,000. The $1824 tuition/fee 38 years ago is about $5253 worth of money today. Try finding a college you can get a year of tuition and fees for a full-time student status by $5253. There aren't any.

 

I don't know. The last job I had I quit since I felt I wasn't getting paid enough. Since then I've been begged by my former supervisor to come back, even years later, and even still when I see him he'll mention that if I want a job I can come back. But he wants me back at basically the same price as before (adjusted for inflation) and I make more money where I'm at now.

 

I could be wrong, but I was told it costs over $50,000 per year to go to the local college here. That's more than what I make per year too.

 

Must be a private school. Yeah, if you look for an expensive school, then the sky is the limit, just like cars. But you can find a more reasonable cost for public school.

• The average college tuition at a public, four-year university for the 2021-2022 school year was $10,740 for in-state students, and $27,560 for out-of-state students.
• The average private school tuition was $38,070 per year during the 2021-2022 school year.

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Source: Average Cost of College Tuition in 2022

 

I do often look at local ads looking for workers. It seems most jobs either pay the same or less, or require moving or working a difficult schedule.

Maybe I don't look enough though.

 

Maybe I was wrong or the information was for something else (multiply years or kids??). It's been a while since I had that conversation.

Looking at their website it's $21,349.10 for in state. https://western.edu/admissions-aid/tuition-costs/

 

Just remember that number includes the room and board for ~$10K. If the school is close enough, sometimes it is cheaper to live at home and commute to school. But kids miss out on a lot of things by not being on campus all the time which I think is an important part of the life experience to become an independent adult. Also, he/she will need transportation to get to school. So that cost must be considered as well. None of my kids, except the youngest, got a car while they were in college.

 

There was a guy at the main engineering company I worked for over the years, technically he was not an engineer, so had to have an accredited engineer stamp drawings before release.

I never really asked him, but I gather he just came up through the ranks. He'd spent decades with steel fabricators. The materials handling and ship loading facilities in Port Moody were largely designed by him. He coached junior engineers. He had a wide-spectrum knowledge, was not above drafting, could dash of sketches you might as well trace.

I worked with him (as a draftsman) on a mining job with a substantial bridge, and it was involved, required a middle section floated downriver into position and hoisted up, and he designed all the components mechanisms involved. Amazing guy, passed away recently, close to eighty IIRC, and worked practically till then.

 

We are in the process of getting our last kid through college now.

I admire you and what you did for your kids.

Many times, we make heroes out of Sports figures or Hollywood personalities- people can keep those type heroes.

In my book you are an example of a real-life hero for what you did and what you did for your children.

 

No. Because they invested in education.