Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion How much does college cost? Unified thread.

At this point, I'm trying to figure out why people don't form childcare cooperatives.

I totally agree!! I sent my daughter to a coop for preschool and it was a fraction of the cost of normal preschool. Granted, I had to be available to work 2 classes a month as a helper and I had to take a job at the preschool (my job was newsletter editor, which I loved doing because I am a Technical Writer). But the experience was so much more relaxed, the parents actually had a say in everything and hired the teachers, and the cost was affordable. Co-op is a great way to go, IMHO (if you can!)

Presumably because they're busy working.

We already do, we just don't call it that. We call it "play dates" and "sleep-overs."

Remember, too, that "met need" in college parlance means that the bill gets paid.

The real bottom line there is that the number of "loan-free" institutions (much-touted back in 2005 and 2006) has quietly shrunk from several hundred to less than a few dozen.

So a college may well consider your costs to be covered-- that is, "need has been met" with financial aid package-- when:

a) EFC = 25% of household income, say 20K. If college tuition is 40K annually, then furthermore--


b) merit or need based scholarships = 6K
c) work-study, 2K
d) loans, 12K

Presto--

20 K of annual "need" has been met! Hurray!


Just noting that. If they don't specifically state that they don't consider loans to be part of financial aid packages when reporting what percentage of students have "need met" by the institution, then it means that loans ARE part of how they meet that need.

And if costs are 60K, you can probably pile another 10-15K onto that loan.

Either way, presto ---

You have a student with a minimum of ~50K in loans and maybe up to 100K (many reasonable people would call the latter number "the equivalent of a mortgage"). And a solid chunk of it will be private loans (no bankruptcy protection, maybe even interest accrual while studying).

But need (especially the bank's ) has been met!

Here's the latest idea to fleece students.

Elizabeth Warren wants to set student loans rates at the rates the big banks enjoy (currently <1%). The proposal in the first paragraph wants to set student loan rates at the 10-year Treasury rate plus three percent. The authors say that this is great because the current rate is 1.75%, so students would be paying <5%.

But...what will happen when Treasury rates go up? I think we all know what treasury rates looked like in the 70s. And the 80s (). And the 90s. And the 2000s. Err...

Perhaps I misunderstood. Perhaps ten-year Treasury rates have now found a permanent home below 2%. You know: T rates will always go down, just like home values were always going to go UP.

I don't think our economy will function if interest rates rise.

So, they will keep rates near zero until something really bad happens.

Define 'really bad' there, if you will.

Because I'm thinking that the mortgage bubble... was really bad.

Collapse of real estate values nationwide... really bad again.

Majority of bankruptcies tied to medical debt... pretty much a new low of "really bad" if you ask me.

Impending retirement of a generation which will completely bankrupt both medicare and social security, leaving Gen X-ers with nothing... well, this seems really, really bad from my perspective AS a member of the leading edge of GenX.

Recent college graduate unemployment numbers over 10%... also really bad.

The fact that such debt is now undischargeable... whoahhhhh.. I think we're going to need some new words, because that strikes me as roughly analogous to calling Hiroshima "unfortunate collateral damage."

But maybe I'm missing something.

Well, there's a problem with some of your analysis.

(Because I'm thinking that the mortgage bubble... was really bad.)

- It's been fixed with massive QE. Problem solved.

(Collapse of real estate values nationwide... really bad again.)

- It's been fixed with massive QE. Problem solved.

(Majority of bankruptcies tied to medical debt... pretty much a new low of "really bad" if you ask me.)

- This is irrelevant. Relevant people don't have this problem.

(Impending retirement of a generation which will completely bankrupt both medicare and social security, leaving Gen X-ers with nothing... well, this seems really, really bad from my perspective AS a member of the leading edge of GenX.)

- This problem can be solved with massive issuance of debt at 0% and/or more QE. To the extent that it can't, the problem is likely to only impact irrelevant people anyway.

(Recent college graduate unemployment numbers over 10%... also really bad.)

- I'm pretty sure that Princeton grads are still employable as high-powered consultants, I-bankers, or congressional staffers. The 10% are probably irrelevant people.

(The fact that such debt is now undischargeable... whoahhhhh..)

- Relevant people have their parents pay for college at Princeton.

I'm not sure I understand what you are trying to say.