|
I think the "going to community college" option is overrated too. You have to figure in the cost of buying, operating and maintaining a car into that "money saving" equation. Everybody I know who goes to CC first ends up taking 3 years at the college/university because a lot of their credits don't transfer or more specific classes were required. So were the two years at the community college really cheaper than one year at a university? No.
I know a couple kids who did the military option. Sadly, they never lived to get to go to college. There was one who went to med school who had to do his service after he graduated. He was assured there was no way, as a primary care physician, that he'd go to Afghanistan. Til he went. And was killed. That's a pretty major risk for an education. A lot of them do make it back, but it's a high risk option.
I'd have to really sit down and do the math to figure out whether going half time and working full time at a minimum wage job, taking twice as long to graduate is financially worth the lack of loans. You lose four years that you could be working at a career job instead.
Scholarships can be awesome, but a very limited of young people get full rides. I know my daughter is at one of the most expensive schools in the country and will graduate with a lot of debt, but it will only be about $4000 more than if she had attended a local "cheap" state school once the expected family contribution is figured.
We've gotten way off track from the strike thing. I'd brought up the $23/hour pay for auto workers (who rarely have student loans, truth be told, so those don't really matter in that circumstance.. but they do for teachers).
The other thing about the teacher evaluations was figuring the students' evaluations. Nuts. And if an 8th grade teacher gets kids who didn't learn to read in 1st grade, are they really supposed to make sure those test scores are up there?
Teachers' skills are not the only variable in how well a child learns. There is really no way to isolate that variable.
|
Threaded Mode
