These college students need a lesson on LBYM

[Koolau]

As a "townie" I missed a lot but had some real advantages - like actual home cooked meals and "free" laundry service plus my own room (bathroom was STILL down the hall, but...)

What I really missed out on until my Senior years was the ad hoc and eststablished study groups. Those got me through some rough patches in senior year but I had to drive to them at 9PM (study/cram/do homew*rk one hour - watch Mission Impossible for an hour with the guys - study/cram/do homew*rk until 1AM and then drive home. On campus would have been so much easier but...

 

[Koolau]

Back in the early 1980s lived in the dorms. Two student to a room and old steel furniture. Most of us survived and learned how to manage our time and balance an active social life … partying … with school work.

But those parties on Thursday nites were epic! Recall a couple guys hauling dozens of bags of sand into their room and hosting a beach party! They never did get that sand out of the carpet!!!

I got invited to a Frat party at university. The guys had installed an above ground pool in the "great room" and had a couple of tons of sand around it. That was a memorable party. I got my invitation because DW (GF at the time) got invited (and bring a date) by one of her friends at a sorority that had all been invited. Those were the days. Wish I had pictures. Kind of epic. No one drowned but I'm sure it was only because the water was only 3 1/2 feet deep.

 

[FedRetired50]

Our dorms in the 60s were painted concrete walls, concrete ceiling, and asbestos tile floors with built in small desk and old steel frame bed rails with 4 inch ticking mattress. Two students/12'x14' room. One bathroom to serve 4 rooms. The walls were usually decorated with black light posters. Great fun.

Sounds exactly like my first 2 years (at MTSU). It was better than most of the other, older, dorms that had bathrooms down the hall. My only complaint was they switched over the HVAC on a given day from A/C to heat to A/C, and it didn't matter what the actual weather was after that day.

 

[rodi]

I have two kids in college. Both lived in the dorms their freshman year because it was required. Neither was able to get in campus housing after that because their weren't enough rooms.

I bought them the bedding for the extra long twin beds because it wasn't provided by the school. It was from Target. Not designer.

When they moved off campus to shared divey apartments I bought them flea market dishes/pots.

They can't overspend our college saving budget. That's because I follow it out based on the qualified cost of attendance figures from their 529. They both have jobs to supplement because the schools posted figures are not accurate but it's what the IRS says to use for qualified distributions.

Younger son has definitely seen some if the designer living among his peers. A surprising number if his friends "come from money".... Surf trips to Costa Rica over spring break type money. He drives the 25 year old pickup we let him use, to our house for spring break. But both boys will graduate with bachelor's with no student debt.

 

[youbet]

I see it as another in a long line of symptoms of parents spoiling kids rotten, which is a very bad thing. "I'm going away to college" "OK we'll buy you a house to live in" Seriously? Absurd.

"Spoiled" is a relative term motley. Relative to me, you were extremely spoiled during your path through college. I read your description of what was provided for you and was dumbfounded by how you could have made it through a career and into early retirement after such a cakewalk financial journey through your formative college years.

I would have really enjoyed being "spoiled rotten" just a bit............

As far as the $10k dorm room designers, that's just clickbait and a gossip starter. I suspect the number of college students living at that level is a tiny percentage of all college students.

 

[youbet]

Sounds exactly like my first 2 years (at MTSU). It was better than most of the other, older, dorms that had bathrooms down the hall. My only complaint was they switched over the HVAC on a given day from A/C to heat to A/C, and it didn't matter what the actual weather was after that day.

Hello fellow Blue Raider! The dorm I lived in featured a quad pattern. Four rooms shared one bathroom. There was no interior hallway. Our room doors went directly outside. It was fine.

My roommate and I were both grad students and TA's. We got our tuition and room paid for by being TA's so no thought of off campus living. We had to pay for our own food and there was no kitchen in the dorm so we could either go to town for meals or eat on campus. We got permission to eat lunch at the faculty dining room ($1 at the time, 1969) and found we could gorge ourselves at the buffet and need very little else the rest of the day! The woman who refreshed the buffet never said a word when we'd make a sandwich and wrap it up to take with us. She was a sweetheart. Weekends were more of a challenge.

 

[Golden sunsets]

Wow. $9,400 tuition is a bargain.

 

[motley]

"Spoiled" is a relative term motley. Relative to me, you were extremely spoiled during your path through college. I read your description of what was provided for you and was dumbfounded by how you could have made it through a career and into early retirement after such a cakewalk financial journey through your formative college years.

I would have really enjoyed being "spoiled rotten" just a bit............

Wow that's one impressive reply. Ignorant assumptions, gross hypocrisy, and ad hominems to top it off.

Hilarious how you had tuition and room paid for, got to eat for $1 a meal (etc) after playing the "oh I had it so much worse than you" bit. Poor thing. Were you one of the four Yorkshiremen in that Monty Python skit?

 

[Gumby]

MODERATOR NOTE: Before this goes further, how about the two of you retreat to your neutral corners? This argument is going nowhere and it should stop. Now.

 

[motley]

Got it. Pardon.

 

[Koolau]

Hello fellow Blue Raider! The dorm I lived in featured a quad pattern. Four rooms shared one bathroom. There was no interior hallway. Our room doors went directly outside. It was fine.

My roommate and I were both grad students and TA's. We got our tuition and room paid for by being TA's so no thought of off campus living. We had to pay for our own food and there was no kitchen in the dorm so we could either go to town for meals or eat on campus. We got permission to eat lunch at the faculty dining room ($1 at the time, 1969) and found we could gorge ourselves at the buffet and need very little else the rest of the day! The woman who refreshed the buffet never said a word when we'd make a sandwich and wrap it up to take with us. She was a sweetheart. Weekends were more of a challenge.

Sunday night was the "no-meal" at any dorm on our campus. Many of the the faith-based organizations on campus held a "cost supper" on those nights. For maybe 75 cents (ca 1970) one could eat his/her fill of burgers or hot dogs or chili or whatever was on the menu. To say they were well attended would be an understatement.

There was always a way for "poor" kids to survive on campus.

 

[youbet]

There was always a way for "poor" kids to survive on campus.

Yeah, where there's a will there's a way, so they say.

As an undergrad I worked an average of 30 hours a week as an engineer/announcer at a radio station in town from my Freshman 2nd semester through my Senior first semester. I really got lucky as I was paid the same hourly wage as the full time engineers. That was far more than any available campus jobs.

In grad school, as mentioned, I worked as a TA and that also was a good deal in terms of payback vs hours worked. A much easier row to hoe than my undergrad years.

Sometimes I'm mystified by all the shoutin' about student loans these days. I never even heard about the opportunity to borrow the money and pay it back later. You just worked now and paid in real time. The fact that most of my buddies didn't have to work because their parents could help never really bothered me.

 

[HFWR]

Some blacklight posters and a lava lamp…

 

[youbet]

Some blacklight posters and a lava lamp…

+1

BTW passed through your old stompin’ grounds on our way to Clifty Falls not too long ago.

 

[Koolau]

Yeah, where there's a will there's a way, so they say.

As an undergrad I worked an average of 30 hours a week as an engineer/announcer at a radio station in town from my Freshman 2nd semester through my Senior first semester. I really got lucky as I was paid the same hourly wage as the full time engineers. That was far more than any available campus jobs.

In grad school, as mentioned, I worked as a TA and that also was a good deal in terms of payback vs hours worked. A much easier row to hoe than my undergrad years.

Sometimes I'm mystified by all the shoutin' about student loans these days. I never even heard about the opportunity to borrow the money and pay it back later. You just worked now and paid in real time. The fact that most of my buddies didn't have to work because their parents could help never really bothered me.

I w*rked 50 hours/week in the summer and then most Saturdays plus pick-up w*rk during the week. It helped to w*rk for the family business as they knew my schedule and never scheduled me during school time.

Yeah, I never heard of borrowing for college. You either saved up or w*kred or both (both for me.) DW (GF at the time) dropped out for a year to make enough money to finish the year after I did.

 

[punkinhead]

When I went to college in-state tuition plus dorm and meal plan was about $5,000/year. Minimum wage was $3.35/hr and $5/hr was considered darned good for a part time job. So it took 1000 hours of work, or 19 hours a week, to pay my way through college. Tuition plus room & board at that same university is now $29,000/year. There are part time jobs near campus paying $12/hour. So now a student has to work over 2400 hours per year or 46.5 hours a week to cover tuition room and board.

People shaking their heads at kids who won't just get a part time job like we did back in the day are completely out of touch.

 

[GrayHare]

Once Federal student loans became available, it was only a matter of time before universities would figure ways to collect that money. Consequently, tuition has outpaced inflation since those loans began, and campus amenities have greatly expanded.

 

[youbet]

When I went to college in-state tuition plus dorm and meal plan was about $5,000/year. Minimum wage was $3.35/hr and $5/hr was considered darned good for a part time job. So it took 1000 hours of work, or 19 hours a week, to pay my way through college. Tuition plus room & board at that same university is now $29,000/year. There are part time jobs near campus paying $12/hour. So now a student has to work over 2400 hours per year or 46.5 hours a week to cover tuition room and board.

People shaking their heads at kids who won't just get a part time job like we did back in the day are completely out of touch.

I like your analysis punkinhead. I agree, it seems to be far tougher today to finance school through simultaneous part time work like we did "back in the day." Still, it doesn't seem like it would be a bad idea to work and cut down on the size of the loans you need.

We went to school full time while working part time. I guess today's students need to go to school part time and work full time! Or maybe the junior college while living at home route? Or?

My son and DIL were co-ops at a midwest engineering school. It took them five years to complete their BS degrees (one mech eng and one chem eng) but the money they earned during their co-op semesters covered a significant chunk of their school costs.

 

[punkinhead]

Once Federal student loans became available, it was only a matter of time before universities would figure ways to collect that money. Consequently, tuition has outpaced inflation since those loans began, and campus amenities have greatly expanded.

This has been my position for years. Want to bring down the cost of college? Get rid of the federally backed loan program. The buildings on my campus were ugly concrete block. I was astounded when I started touring campuses with my kids and saw the virtual palaces they'd become. Meal plan food was very basic and meal cards couldn't be used off campus. Now there are amazing buffets, Starbucks in many buildings, and the meal cards can be used at off campus restaurants. It's insane. And I blame most of it on student loans that make paying for it all painless. Painless right up until graduation and reality sets in.

I started saving for college when my kids were born. I assumed a rate of inflation and a reasonable rate of return. My savings did better than my conservative rate of return assumption but the cost of college outpaced inflation by a bunch. In some years it was double. I had to constantly adjust my savings level to account for my bad assumptions of tuition vs. inflation.

 

[JoeWras]

This has been my position for years. Want to bring down the cost of college? Get rid of the federally backed loan program. The buildings on my campus were ugly concrete block. I was astounded when I started touring campuses with my kids and saw the virtual palaces they'd become. Meal plan food was very basic and meal cards couldn't be used off campus. Now there are amazing buffets, Starbucks in many buildings, and the meal cards can be used at off campus restaurants. It's insane. And I blame most of it on student loans that make paying for it all painless. Painless right up until graduation and reality sets in.

This right here! I'm glad you mentioned it. So much concrete block. When I went back for a visit, marble. What the?

Maybe this is why kids need designers for their dorms. Our expectations have gotten so high.

 

[HFWR]

+1

BTW passed through your old stompin’ grounds on our way to Clifty Falls not too long ago.

Headed there this weekend for a memorial service, if the remnants of Francine cooperate.

Madison is a pretty good hang.

 

[FedRetired50]

Hello fellow Blue Raider! The dorm I lived in featured a quad pattern. Four rooms shared one bathroom. There was no interior hallway. Our room doors went directly outside. It was fine.

My roommate and I were both grad students and TA's. We got our tuition and room paid for by being TA's so no thought of off campus living. We had to pay for our own food and there was no kitchen in the dorm so we could either go to town for meals or eat on campus. We got permission to eat lunch at the faculty dining room ($1 at the time, 1969) and found we could gorge ourselves at the buffet and need very little else the rest of the day! The woman who refreshed the buffet never said a word when we'd make a sandwich and wrap it up to take with us. She was a sweetheart. Weekends were more of a challenge.

Hey! Yup, I was in Judd Hall for 2 years. I'd bet you were in that one or just across the way. I much preferred the quad setup over what the other residence halls had. After 2 years I transferred out. I had the meal plan the first year, loved the AYCE buffet. Didn't do that the 2nd year but I wish I had.

For most of my college career I worked and went to school at the same time. Towards the end it was both full time. I graduated with no debt.

 

[Koolau]

Visited my Alma Mater recently. IIRC they have increased enrollment by about 15% but increased the administration many fold. No wonder tuition is 60 fold what it was when I started school there 60 years ago.

 

[isisdave]

Sounds exactly like my first 2 years (at MTSU). It was better than most of the other, older, dorms that had bathrooms down the hall. My only complaint was they switched over the HVAC on a given day from A/C to heat to A/C, and it didn't matter what the actual weather was after that day.

Just like mine, only there WAS no AC. Heat came on October 1 whether we were ready or not. So we just continued to leave the windows open.

 

[youbet]

Headed there this weekend for a memorial service, if the remnants of Francine cooperate.

Madison is a pretty good hang.

Have a cold one at Shipley's!