Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for November 30, 2014

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    BE THIS GUY  almost 10 years ago

    And so, begins a life of chronic debt.

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    Argythree  almost 10 years ago

    So for profit colleges now take their business model from computer spam that announces you’ve won the European lottery, and you just need to send them $750 to cover the cost of transporting your winnings…

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    cdward  almost 10 years ago

    Out of curiosity, what kind of debt is it? I’ve seen kids here coming out of school with as much as $200,000 debt. And in the US, you can’t get rid of student loan debt through bankruptcy. It follows you for the rest of your life – or until you pay it off, whichever comes first.

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    bagbalm  almost 10 years ago

    Stopped here after a few months… Still old strips. Has he officially said he retired?

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    jeffiekins  almost 10 years ago

    Sorry to inject a fact or two. but here goes:

    In the U.S., the most recent average student loan debt for graduating college seniors was $28k or $29k, depending on whose statistics you believe..While it is possible to amass over $100k, fewer than 2% do, almost all for business or medical school.

    The facts are bad enough without creating a wildly exaggerated impression..Though I imagine a Zonker might be able to run up a huge total, give enough years..So, 4 years of college leaves most kids in as much debt as a typical new Accord or Camry..It is worse debt, true. No-one talks about its cause: college/university administrators who:- Pay themselves and other administrators much more than teaching faculty, even when they have no qualifications.- Keep creating more (non-teaching) administrative positions- Build ever more extravagant facilities for students, since rising enrollment helps justify their salaries..And the federal government is happy to be their enabler by making loans they don’t really understand to young people who have never been out in the “real world.” .Also, everyone from the President (former college teacher, big surprise) on down is selling the “you need to go to college” nonsense. Jobs that require a college diploma are much easier to outsource or make obsolete than ones that don’t: after thousands of years, we still need carpenters. And there are HVAC technicians, electricians, plumbers and auto repair techs. It’s very hard to think of a college-degree career that can’t be outsourced or made obsolete (usually by software)..Anyone in a career today that doesn’t involve working hands-on is playing beat-the-clock, to see if they can retire before their job is either done in Asia for $2/hour or made obsolete entirely.

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    MeGoNow Premium Member almost 10 years ago

    It is often bandied about that people with degrees average $22,000 a year more. Extreme top-end salaries, mostly in jobs that do require a degree, perhaps an advanced degree, distort this figure, though. And both groups have virtually identical satisfaction with their jobs, the time they put in on work, and the vacation they get. The key element in satisfaction turns out to be whether you’re doing something you’re good at.

    And there are some things in life that you think might be nice to have but that you just can’f afford. A $150,000 college education just might be one of them. The prevailing error is the belief that’s it’s a necessity. College is a discretionary purchase. Think critically. Believe no one (College Board) when they stand to gain by your belief.

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    vwdualnomand  almost 10 years ago

    standardized testing is rigged and abolished. colleges should free. plus, colleges spend that money not on education, but on their athletic department. athletes going to sham classes, covering up athletes’ transgressions, covering up coaches’ transgressions, building multi-million dollar athletic complexes for the coaches and the players. maintaining the high cost of the athletic department and their marching band, and the scholarships are a farce.

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    summerdog86  almost 10 years ago

    Doesn’t Boopsie ever get cold?

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    Carol69  almost 10 years ago

    IMHO the nanny government is largely responsible for the high cost of education by funding and promoting the student loan and higher education being turned into a profit center to reap the low hanging fruit. Seems turning out educated graduates is secondary to preserving, growing the institution and banking the $$$$$$$$$$.

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    kaffekup   almost 10 years ago

    Something I always wonder – how do Oz and Canada wind up with conservative governments? It’s been tried here and always ends in failure, don’t you learn anything from us? I had hoped we could at least provide that.

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    reedkomicks Premium Member almost 10 years ago

    Who is the bearded guy?

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    unca jim  almost 10 years ago

    The bearded guy is The Rev. Scot Sloan, been with us for years.. Where you been??

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    SKJAM! Premium Member almost 10 years ago

    Here’s a look at one of the government people helping put students in more debt: http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2014/10/john_klines_descent_from_patriot_to_for-profit_college_bodyguard-profit_college_bodyguard.php

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    Jalitha  almost 10 years ago

    Unless I’ve miscounted Boopsie is now at that age when women simply don’t get cold. Ever. It’s not as much fun as you’d think, to go from too warm, to hot, to “power surge,” to way too hot, and back again. Listen to the Voice of Experience!

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    montessoriteacher  almost 10 years ago

    Oh dear. Having a daughter who is in 11th grade, this one is hitting me hard. Little too close to home as they say.

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    David Huie Green LoveJoyAndPeace  almost 10 years ago

    “I can go where I don’t want to go if I spend lots of money I don’t have.”.Lucky kid

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    David Huie Green LoveJoyAndPeace  almost 10 years ago

    “Only in the USA do people assume without question that everything about the nation is unique in the world.”.Nah, even that is wrong,I’ve been to several countries in which the citizens believed the way they did things was the same way everybody else did too.

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    whiteaj  almost 10 years ago

    Oh does poor baby need a hug? Pay your own damn way through college, if you can hack it. If you take a loan, of COURSE you have to pay it back. Don’t want to pay high rates? Got to Community College and transfer to a state college afterwards. The quality of your education is largely up to you. I do not owe you a college education. Grow up.

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    David Huie Green LoveJoyAndPeace  almost 10 years ago

    And the USA has formed loan forgiveness programs which loan students money to go to college if they then go to certain blighted neighborhoods to use their education for the first few years. Teachers in inner city schools, for example was one of the loan forgiveness concepts. I imagine they are still doing it, haven’t heard since my sister in law did it..I am reminded of physicians who went to college under the promise to serve in the military hospitals in case of war or other conflict. It was amazing how many were shocked when they actually had to serve.Even those should be allowed to pay off their debts and let the service personnel die, if they’re that hard hearted.

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    caligula  almost 10 years ago

    A four year degree at Walden . . . in WHAT again?

    Maybe they could bring Duke back to run a sports medicine program there. I can’t think of anything else they teach that has a real world application. Note that the only character with a real education (Kim) went to MIT.

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    Hunter7  almost 10 years ago

    Canada is no different. … In fact, at some point the student loan debt can end up with Revenue Canada. (think IRS for you Americans). After all – it is a govt loan.

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