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A comment on Half of the US government's financial assets are student loans. Parent comment

Re:Half of the US government's financial assets are student ... by jfaat on Friday January 12, 2018 @05:03PM (#16136722)
So you call a millennial getting a degree not ‘personally responsible’? Disclaimer: anecdotes ahead, but I know many, many millennials who grew up hearing ‘Just get a college degree and you’ll be in good shape’ who did and aren’t, respectively. Not everyone is geared toward being an engineer or mathematician or scientist. For those who aren’t, and followed the resounding conventional wisdom to get a degree, largely got screwed. Full stop. Personal responsibility would hold water in a world where millennials gave up on the system and got screwed. This isn’t that world.
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Re:Half of the US government's financial assets are student ... by prepend on Friday January 12, 2018 @05:16PM (#16136816)
“Just get a college degree” means they weren’t listening closely. I heard to get a marketable degree.

I have friends with English degrees with no student loans that are happy. I have friends with English degrees with $150k in debt, not happy.

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Re:Half of the US government's financial assets are student ... by SheepSlapper on Friday January 12, 2018 @06:24PM (#16137185)
It depends on the degree. I'm a Millennial and got my CS degree for $15k, which was a smart investment (and make no mistakes, degrees ARE investments). At the same time I have a friend who is going into a few hundred thousand dollars worth of debt to get a PHD in History. That's not a good investment, when you look at time + money vs return.

"Just get a degree" is bad advice. I know electricians that make more money than me, and work shorter hours. "Get a skill" is good advice, and college is only one way of doing that. But you can't dismiss personal responsibility when it comes to decision making, both good and bad.

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Re:Half of the US government's financial assets are student ... by dreamcompiler on Friday January 12, 2018 @10:23PM (#16138114)
> I know electricians that make more money than me, and work shorter hours.

I don't know what you do for a living, but I'm guessing it doesn't involve contorting yourself into a pretzel inside a hot attic and twisting wires together all day. Electricians work hard and come home sore.

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Re:Half of the US government's financial assets are student ... by SheepSlapper on Saturday January 13, 2018 @02:12PM (#16140802)
I sit at a desk getting carpal tunnel and fat. I've got respect for my buddies doing what they do, and being successful without a college degree. That's more or less my point, college isn't a good investment for everyone.
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