Replies to post #80864 on Coffee Sipping Big Board Stocks

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Sorry, Tim ---- you're WRONG!!!

(to a degree) << pun intended >>


While many kids profit (and some lots more than others) from higher education -- the fact is thousands flounder === for any number of reasons!

"In the good old days" we called your points "APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS" ie. the old guys taught the young guys --- while both brought home a paycheck!

Today, the GUBERMINT and (highly over paid educators) university (tenured and rich) administrations have everyone convinced that you have to PAY to LEARN in my college/trade school ---- ie. THROW MORE and MORE MONEY our WAY!!!

While college tuition costs SKYROCKET ----- the education quality, graduation rates ---- and, employment commensurate with education wanes!!!!!

Give me a break ---- been around the block a few times!

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Political battle over student loans heating up

Apr 26, 2:04 AM (ET)

By ALAN FRAM

(AP) House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, accompanied by House Education and the Workforce Committee...
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats and Republicans alike say they want to prevent the cost of federal loans from ballooning for millions of students. But the effort has evolved into an election-year battle each side is using to embarrass the other and spotlight its own priorities to voters.

In the latest political chess move, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, scheduled a House vote for Friday on legislation preventing the 3.4 percent interest rate on subsidized Stafford student loans from doubling as scheduled on July 1. In a bitter pill for Democrats, the measure's $5.9 billion cost would be paid for with cuts from President Barack Obama's health care overhaul bill.

Boehner announced the vote in an abruptly called news conference Wednesday that followed days of pounding by Obama and congressional Democrats. It also came two days after the GOP's presumptive presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, tried defusing the issue by embracing the call for freezing interest rates, putting more pressure on congressional Republicans to back the effort or look isolated.

"What Washington shouldn't be doing is exploiting the challenges that young Americans face for political gain," Boehner said. He also accused the president of "campaigning and trying to invent a fight where there isn't and never has been one."


(AP) President Barack Obama participates in a roundtable discussion with students at the University of...
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Congressional GOP aides said Republicans were working on the legislation for some time and unveiled their bill to try to prevent Obama from escalating the dispute. The aides spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss party strategy.

Hours before Boehner spoke, Obama wrapped up a two-day trip to three college campuses in which he cast himself as the students' champion and Republicans as the ones standing in the way of resolving the problem.

"How can we want to maintain tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans who don't need them and weren't even asking for them?" Obama said at the University of Iowa, mocking the GOP. "I don't need one. I needed help back when I was your age."

The backdrop to the student loan fight is a push by both parties to appeal to younger voters, an Obama strength in his 2008 election win, and to signal their sensitivity to families' struggles during the economy's prolonged slump. Letting the loan rate double this summer would cost 7.4 million Stafford loan recipients an average $1,000, according to the administration.

At the same time, each side wants to force the other to take politically uncomfortable votes.

The House GOP bill is paid by cutting health care programs Democrats treasure. The Senate Democratic version would force high-earning owners of some privately owned corporations to pay more Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes, violating Republicans' anti-tax doctrine.

The House GOP bill would cut a $17 billion prevention and public health fund Obama's law created for immunization campaigns, research, screenings and wellness education. Republicans have dubbed it a "slush fund" and sought to cut it to finance a variety of projects, succeeding earlier this year to help pay for maintaining doctors' Medicare reimbursements.

"Rather than letting student loans become a pawn in the latest political fight, the House will show our commitment to our nation's students and extend the current rates without adding a dime to the deficit," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.

It didn't take long for the measure to stir up opposition among Democrats.

"We should be able to work together to find offsets that don't penalize middle-class families or undermine efforts to help more Americans stay healthy," said White House spokesman Nick Papas, who expressed confidence that a compromise could be reached.

Rep. George Miller of California, top Democrat on the House Education Committee, accused Republicans of trying to keep student interest rates low by "extracting the price from women and children."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a supporter of the health fund Republicans targeted, said the GOP had made "a dramatic reversal" because Republicans had recently pushed a federal budget through the House that would have let student interest rates double. But her statement stopped short of saying she would oppose the GOP bill on Friday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Democrats opposed cutting the health program "just so Republicans can continue protecting millionaire tax dodgers."

That reference was to his own legislation, which would pay for keeping student loan interest rates level for a year by forcing high-income owners of some privately held corporations to pay more Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes.

Senate Republicans say they support freezing students' interest rates but have strongly opposed boosting those companies' payroll taxes.

"Democrats want to pay for it by raiding Social Security and Medicare, and by making it even harder for small businesses to hire," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "We happen to think that at a time when millions of Americans and countless college students can't even find a decent job, it makes no sense whatsoever to punish the very businesses we're counting on to hire them."
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Associated Press writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.

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<<~~ Let's just throw more money at them and keep approving and increasing those government backed STUDENT LOANS!! ~~ The epitomy of "You Can't Fix Stupid!"

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Average price of 4-year university up 15 percent

Jun 12, 6:14 PM (ET)

CHRISTINE ARMARIO

When those college tuition bills come in, be prepared for sticker shock.

The average tuition at a four-year public university climbed 15 percent between 2008 and 2010, fueled by state budget cuts for higher education and increases of 40 percent and more at universities in states like Georgia, Arizona and California.

The U.S. Department of Education's annual look at college affordability also found significant price increases at the nation's private universities, including at for-profit institutions, where the net price for some schools is now twice as high as Harvard.

At Full Sail University, a film and art school in central Florida, the average price of tuition, fees, books, and other expenses totals $43,990, even when grants and scholarships are factored in. The average net price for an incoming Harvard student: $18,277, according to the department. Net price is cost of attendance minus grant and scholarship aid.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said students need to be smart consumers and states needs to do their part by making higher education a priority in their budgets. Forty percent of states cut higher education spending last year, the most important factor in tuition increases.

"As a nation, we need more college graduates in order to stay competitive in the global economy," Duncan said. "But if the costs keep on rising, especially at a time when family incomes are hurting, college will become increasingly unaffordable for the middle class."

Pennsylvania State University had the highest in-state tuition for a four-year public university at $15,250 during the 2010-11 school year. When the costs of room, board and other expenses are factored in, the total rises to $19,816, the fourth highest net price nationwide.

Bill Mahon, a spokesman for the school, said a 19.6 percent cut in state funding last year, coupled with a decade of weak state support, "has left Penn State increasingly reliant on students and their families to fund most of the costs of their Penn State education."

Zach Zimbler, who graduated from Penn State University this spring with a degree in information sciences, said his total tuition came out to about $50,000 for four years. He now has loans totaling around $25,000. He said many students don't realize how much debt they've amassed until it comes time to pay.

"The students themselves don't really know what they're getting into," he said.

Zimbler said he worked during school and feels confident about the value of the education he received, even though it came with a high price tag. He's working on starting his own software business.

The College Affordability and Transparency lists were first published last year to fulfill a reporting requirement passed into law in 2008. The lists track tuition and fees as well as the average net price at public, private and for-profit colleges and universities.

It's one of several recent initiatives by the Department of Education to increase student and parent awareness on the costs of higher education. Last week, presidents from 10 colleges and universities agreed to provide students information on costs, financial aid and monthly loan payments after graduation in an easy-to-understand form. President Barack Obama also issued a mandate to streamline the application process for those who want to enroll in income-based repayment plans, which set a cap on loan payments based on discretionary income.

Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats in Congress are struggling against a July 1 deadline to avert a doubling of interest rates on new federal student loans for 7.4 million people.

The data released Tuesday shows increases for four-year, public institutions that are similar what has been observed over the last decade, though Duncan said costs have increased faster in recent years. Between 2001-02 and 2011-12, in-state tuition and fees at public, four-year colleges increased at an average rate of 5.6 percent each year, according to the College Board's 2011 report on trends in higher education pricing. That rate is higher than in previous decades: In the 1980s, tuition increased at about 4.5 percent each year, and in the 1990s at 3.2 percent.

"Obviously we're at a period of economic instability at the state level, so you'll see among public institutions the increases in tuition and fees are a lot of times a function of declines in state support," said Bryan Cook, director of the Center for Policy Analysis at the American Council on Education. "So we've not been surprised in seeing increases in tuition."

Certain states have been harder hit than others. Five of the 33 public universities with the highest net price, for example, are in Ohio. Six public universities in Georgia saw tuition increases that were higher than 40 percent. The University of California in Berkeley and Los Angeles also saw big price jumps.

The data released by the Education Department goes up until the 2010-11 school year, and in some states, tuition increased again last year.

Cook advised students to look at the data in context: Some schools with big rate increases, for example, still have tuition that is below the nationwide average.

"I think there is more comprehensive information that could be provided contextual information that could be provided for these lists if we really want to provide students and families with the most information to make a good decision about going to college," he said.

There were some bright spots in the data. Community colleges, Duncan noted, remain one of the most consistently affordable options for higher education: The average net price of a community college increased by less than 1 percent between 2007 and 2009. Tuition, room and board average $8,085 at a public, two-year institution in 2010.

"While community colleges have mostly done their part, there is much more the rest of us can and should be doing," Duncan said. "Keeping college affordable is a shared responsibility."

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Follow Christine Armario on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/cearmario



http://apnews.myway.com/article/20120612/D9VBRUK80.html

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