Yes. If it was 40k here I would've never gone to a college (not that I wanted but still..). I don't pay anything here and honestly I don't feel like I deserve it I mean some people would do anything to go to college but can't. It's crazy how much you have to pay

This whole argument is kind of dumb. College is overpriced period.

As someone who admittedly goes to one of these expensive schools, I can tell you that you're paying that money as an investment in the future. For these top tier schools, you're essentially paying for a title, for a network, for connections. And you know full well how much you're paying. I'm fortunate that my parents saved and worked hard to send me to a school likethat, but not everyone is as lucky. A lot of people have financial aid and scholarships that help them cover the costs but some people definitely have to pull out loans.

Ultimately, I believe the name and brand of my school will help me somewhat later in life. It's definitely helped me prepare well for medical school and its opened job opportunities that weren't available before. I mean being real for a second - if you were faced with two identical candidates for a job, one from Harvard and one from a good but less well known European school, who would you hire for the position? You would likely hire the Harvard student because of the brand associated with that name (again assuming that the candidates were identical in terms of grades, internship experience etc.)

Now does this mean you can't build the same network or be as qualified going to a cheaper state school? Absolutely not. Ultimately hard work and determination always win out not matter what college you go to, but I definitely think these expensive schools can give you a leg up, especially with certain types of job fields. Finance, Medicine, Law etc - those schools just have alumni, networks, and resources for these fields that other cheaper, smaller schools just might not have.

This is entirely situational - I'm textbooks for getting scholarships and grants and all, being under a $50k income with a near perfect ACT and a strong GPA and extracurriculars, and Illinois State offered me next to nothing.

For a lot of people, state schools are incredible greedy and it's the private schools that are generous.

I would argue against the point that you can get a "quality education" for any price. Even community college charges thousands per year, and they're becoming more and more just another requirement to get any decent job. Getting a four year education of actual quality can be a lot more expensive for people unlucky enough to be in the wrong not-too-high, not-too-low income bracket who aren't academically "gifted" but still work hard.

The college system in the U.S. really does screw a lot of people over - the fact that government and school-based financial aid is so limited for state institutions is a part of this.

And I mean, this isn't even getting around to how the new Common Core standards for high schools don't adequately prepare students for college courses, or how people are essentially pigeonholed into choosing what they want to do with their lives at age 17 only to end up changing that over 50% of the time or dropping out at a rate of 41%.

College in general, not just the cost, is grossly mishandled in the United States. Things need to change.

As an American, yes. Something as important to the whole nation should be free.

Totally depends on the state school. The only good state school in my state is $30,000 a year.

Uh, yes? You do realize that people can't buy your **** from your business while they're in crippling debt, right? The economies are better in Scandinavian countries because of the free tuition. Stop being such a selfish asshole.

Chi I was top ten percent, 4.45 GPA, a SAT score 200 points over what was required for the top school in my state, a member of Business Professionals of America, and a UIL CX sate qualifier, and I got jack **** for scholarships. Your experience doesn't speak for everyone because some people just get ****ed over by the system.

No.

I feel sorry for countries where education is not even an option or is incredibly sub-par.

I don't feel bad for some Americans because some of them like to live above their means when it comes to colleges and just jump on the top wealthy schools when they KNOW they don't got money like that. If you have a scholarship, then that is different. But not everyone has a scholarship. There is nothing wrong with the other alternatives like community colleges or trade schools to get what you need to get done. I go to a community college and I don't have to deal a whole bunch of stress and crap like what other college students have to go through.

I feel really bad for americans they live in the most horrible western country there is

I don't target those people with my business so I can't care any less about them. God forbid their life is not handed to them on a platter and they have to work to pay off some loans. We have gone from the greatest generation to the nanny state generation in less than a 100 years. Congrats.

You're such an ignorant ****. You're not gonna have people to buy your **** if everyone keeps getting bogged down by debt. It's not possible to pay off most loans in a country where you garner so much debt just for a basic necessity in the ob market and then can't get a good job because A) Baby Boomers don't retire and B) automation is becoming more and more common in jobs that were once very profitable.

Maybe you should move your business to a country with free tuition and see how much more you make, and then you won't spend all your time on ATRL complaining about libtards.

bleh bleh bleh. Everyone in my company had or has loans they are paying off.

Streamlining and automation software is one of the things we do so I hope it becomes more common, that's good for me. With one software package we were able to eliminate 300 jobs from one company saved them a ton and we made a ton of money, it was a win win. Not to mention there reports are vastly more accurate with most of the human error removed.

Not everyone can go to college we need people to do stuff like dig ditches and wash windows and mow my lawn.

That's why you go to public schools and try to get scholarships.

Katy is the only good thing to come out of america, TBH

Not really, they have the best University, best teachers etc. Yeah is hella expensive but I mean they are getting the best.