College Debt Is Hig- Oh Wait, There's A Graduate School?

At this time in our lives, high school students are looking ahead one step at a time, and college is as far as most people think to look. We even are confused as to what we should do when we make it to college, and after that we are left with crippling debt.

But what if none of that happens, you escape debt and all is dandy with a degree in hand. And what if you can't get a job? Well, most people go to graduate school to grab a few more credentials for their resumes to hopefully have a better shot at employment, and that's when the select few face the cold experience of debt.

"The jump in graduate school borrowing is bigger than I thought it was going to be," said the report's author Jason Delisle, director of the Federal Education Budget Project.

The problems with our economic stability and education system are getting more and more tangled as we explore them it seems. According to the article, roughly one trillion dollars comprises total student debt. Fourty-one percent of that is graduate school debt. 

This situation is a lot like a slow website, where people who frequent the site blindly expect it to run smoothly. When the site slows and encounters problems connecting, people ping the servers with rapid refresh requests and mouse clicks out of frustration (come on, we all do it) in an attempt to somehow make the site work. The economy is slowing down and getting choked up, so when it doesn't work correctly by offering enough opportunities for college graduates, people "click" more by requesting MORE loans to pay for more education, so they can get a job they "deserve" because they took the steps to attend college and get a degree.

This is getting repetitive, but again, we need to reboot the education system. People attend college because they are expecting a job, not because they want to develop skills and knowledge.

If people wanted knowledge and skills, most would realize that college is too expensive to accommodate those needs.

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Graduate Student Loans Are Ballooning

CNN

March 25th 2014

by Jennifer Liberto

Bill Gates: Robots Will Be Taking Your Jobs; Better Job Replacements, Though

Bill Gates, the Leonardo da Vinci of software. We've all certainly heard of him. Many people are not aware of his anthropology and kindness for humanity, however. In this article, the love Bill Gates has for humans is defined clearly, I think.

Sci-fi has shown us the product of automation and the year of the robot. Terminator, The Matrix, and other dystopian future films show the horrific possibility when robots become more than just servants. This seems like a drastic vision that is mere non-sense to us.

Bill Gates says that robotic undertaking is closer than we think, and it is alarming. 

"Software substitution, whether it's for drivers or waiters or nurses … it's progressing. ...  Technology over time will reduce demand for jobs, particularly at the lower end of skill set. ...  20 years from now, labor demand for lots of skill sets will be substantially lower. I don't think people have that in their mental model."

Furthering this discussion, is the effects on the economy that will occur, and the steps that will have to be taken to accommodate this change in work demand.  Gates believes that tax codes will need to be changed, removing income taxes completely. Alternatively, the minimum wage should not be raised (most of us would turn to this as the 2nd solution), because companies will take this as an incentive to purchase automated robots and systems, an alternative to the more expensive wages (resulted from the increased minimum wage) and responsibilities of hiring someone.

This is very concerning for youth, -teenagers and young adults who have to collect experience and income to start their careers- because the lowest rungs of the Opportunity Ladder will be taken away in the future. This puts more pressure for career choice on students at an earlier stage than usual. Kids will be sweating about what they want to be when they turn 15. 

We will need to start finding solutions, and for that, we need to escape the surreal aspect of robots becoming a commodity. Because it is a thing, and when it happens, it will sweep a lot of people under their feet.

POSITIVE NEWS:

I'm willing to bet, that there will be a greater priority for art, design, and other creatively demanding jobs that robots can't do. Ultimately, people will be happier with their jobs as well, because they will be actively engaged and participating in something that they would have to (most likely) be good at. Weigh the pro's and con's yourself, but I think this will be a shaky transition that will bring a great sigh to society.

Source:

Bill Gates:People Don't Realize How Many Jobs Will Soon Be Replaced By Software Bots

by Julie Bort

Business Insider

Low Graduation Rates: Not From Slackers

College, I love it. And so does Eduardo Porter. Just kidding, it’s a mess.

            The article opens by talking about colleges (bleh) and the price, supply, and availability of them. Right now in America, we have slow graduation rates for college. Slow-building rates that just aren’t impressive enough. We like to root these low rates to affordability, and financial aid factors. Porter raises a new factor in the equation however: Is there enough “college” to go around?

            It’s referenced as supply. And that term is very generally applied for a reason, it encompasses many areas of that definition: the supply of actual institutions, the supply of classes and majors, the supply of teachers. We like to talk about financial and student success as issues for the lack of college completion, and that rates would go up for graduation naturally because colleges desire to meet those needs.

Porter disagrees, there is a lack of interest in colleges to create more opportunities for higher education. From the article:

“John Bound of the University of Michigan and Sarah Turner at the University of Virginia tracked college education through the second half of the 20th century. They found that when states had a large college-age population, public spending per student declined and graduation rates suffered.”

So there is a concern here, that part of the problem with lack of graduation is the lack of colleges to graduate from. As well as lack of actual institutions, there is a lack of space in the institutions available for students who are accepted. So as well as occupying ourselves with solutions for mandatory education, there are some things that need to be addressed with higher education and it’s increasing rates of unreliability.

Article: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/27/why-college-supply-matters/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Business%20Day&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs&region=Body

Title: Why College Supply Matters

Author: Eduardo Porter