OT New Random Thread Pt. 3

[Julia Cole]

There's a basketball tournament in my town this weekend hosted by Kyle Singler (literally all people know how to do here is party and play basketball) and my brother and my boyfriend both made it to the finals! Hopefully they bring home first tomorrow. It's my brother's first basketball championship and my boyfriend's 6th! So proud of my boys :)

 

[nicolee]

I cannot wrap my head around the U.S. College system and I went through it. It's infuriating. I watched a little of some college focused documentary (maybe it was Ivory Tower mentioned above) and I couldn't get through it all because I was so angry.

This, though, is my favorite college related idea that the NY governor had recently: they wanted to give inmates free access to get a 2 or 4 year degree. YUP. Can you see all the things that are wrong with this idea? Let's ignore the fact the you want to give felons a free education while millions of families who have followed the law are struggling to send their children to college every year. Let's ignore the growing debt that each new graduating class will have when they graduate but then tell me that it would cost $5,000 for an inmate to get a degree. Let's ignore the fact that people with college degrees AND a clean record are having a tough enough time finding a job as it is. Like they cant find ways to solve those problems instead? Let's give the felons more opportunities instead. The felons that you claim cost $60,000 per person per year to keep locked up when none of the adults in my family even make that much per year and try their best to live an honest and comfortable life. Lol ok.

I may look like I'm smiling but I'm actually screaming on the inside :banghead:

There are so many things wrong with the system that it just completely baffles me. A family has to start saving pretty much from the time their child is born in order to pay for college. And if a family doesn't have the capacity to pay? Try and get a scholarship, otherwise college is simply unaffordable. This is the reason why there are such disparities in education levels across income groups, because only the wealthy can afford higher education.

Back home I have multiple cousins and friends at university. The government is currently paying for their schooling through a system of Australian student loans. No money required up front except a $150 amenities fee, or rent if they stay on campus. And they won't have to pay a cent back until they reach a (fairly high) income threshold, after which a small percentage each year will simply be paid back to the government automatically. Plus a standard 4-year degree costs roughly 1/2 or 1/3 of an American one.

The current Federal government is trying to move to an American system of payment, but they faced so much protest and backlash that they sheepishly backed down.

 

[vannahlexis]

Since we're on the topic of school/careers.... I wanted to be a psychologist but now I'm kind of thinking about becoming a lawyer??? I don't even know to be honest. I'm not really sure psych is for me, mainly because the whole phD thing. I've always had the idea of a lawyer in the back of my mind.

Its soooo annoying because so many people are passionate about what they want to go to school for, and I can't find anything that can hold my interest for more than 25 minutes.

 

[KPep]

My dear Australian family still cannot get their heads around the US college system.

"Why does the government not pay for it?"
"Why does a degree cost the same as a mid-sized house?"
"Why does everyone move away for college?"
"Why can you not study a specific course in undergrad?"
"Why do you have to write entrance essays?"
"Why does everyone care about where they go, not what they study?"
"What are the SATs and why does every second teen movie go on and on about them?"

Those questions are mine too.

Our governement (*couch* us tax payers *couch*) pays for the most part of it. A year in college here costs around 3000$ per year to the student.

We have universities everywhere here and the goal is for it to be accessible to whoever. You may be super smart and don't have a penny. You won't see anywhere here a college for the society's elite.

 

[12mowerd]

a little late to the party, but my ex boyfriends graduating class had a girl who was ranked number ten with a 2.8 GPA. Either my school is really dumb, or having only 50 kids in the graduating class really shows lol

 

[luv2cheer92]

a little late to the party, but my ex boyfriends graduating class had a girl who was ranked number ten with a 2.8 GPA. Either my school is really dumb, or having only 50 kids in the graduating class really shows lol

Dang! I was around 140 with a 3.8, that was out of almost 800 though. I think the class size makes a big difference.

 

[12mowerd]

Dang! I was around 140 with a 3.8, that was out of almost 800 though. I think the class size makes a big difference.

Yeah I was 19 with a 3.0 (don't judge, I screwed off in high school) out of 54. Although my graduation was still 3 hours long -_-

 

[HeatUniqueJ]

does anyone here own a triangl bikini? I really like them but i feel like 80 dollar is a loooot for a bikini that might possibly not even look good on me

 

[HeatUniqueJ]

My dear Australian family still cannot get their heads around the US college system.

"Why does the government not pay for it?"
"Why does a degree cost the same as a mid-sized house?"
"Why does everyone move away for college?"
"Why can you not study a specific course in undergrad?"
"Why do you have to write entrance essays?"
"Why does everyone care about where they go, not what they study?"
"What are the SATs and why does every second teen movie go on and on about them?"

Witnessing first hand how people struggle to pay for their college education in the US makes me value our system over here so much more! University here is basically free, all we have to pay is like 120 Euros a semester (we have summer and winter semesters here which are both about half a year long)
For a little while we had to pay about 500 Euros for each term but the government decided to let go of that again because education should be free for everyone! There are already restrictions for those who do not graduate from the highest types of schools we have , so the people who graduate from those should all be able to go to school , not matter how much money they have

I could never imagine having to get student loans for school. I heard some people talk about that in the UK too

 

[alexamarysouza]

Talking about school..I literally just had the worst semester of my life. Like I've never done this bad in school like..ever. And it's not that I didn't try really hard, because I turned in all my work, studied really long and hard, and just overall pushed myself a lot...I just don't know what I did wrong. It's annoying because I'm probably going to have to do summer school and stuff next year. So frustrated.

 

[UCFKnights07]

heres my breakdown on college, if you dont know what you want to do with the next 20 years or so of your life, dont go till you figure it out. i cant tell you how many times i wasted three years of my life obtaining only an associates degree in one thing, to realize i hated it and wanted to something completely opposite, and then realizing i had to start ALL OVER...
i even contemplated joining the military to do something in aviation at one point, which i still havent decided if i regret not doing that either. so theres that.

i know a good handful of people that were in that kind of situation, and to spend that long in college just to get out and realize the job market was in the toilet, and were left in thousands of dollars of debt.

i spent three years getting an AA and then decided i could get my degree i wanted in my job field at a technical school for A LOT cheaper.

 

[Nikaa]

I just can not understand how is it possible for college to be this expensive in US. Where I live (Slovenia) college is free and goverment pays for it. Same with health insurance. Everything is free here. I cant even imagine paying for a doctor visit. and I was always wondering if you break a leg do you have to pay for cast, xray... with your own money or what?

 

[stuntjumptumble]

Talking about school..I literally just had the worst semester of my life. Like I've never done this bad in school like..ever. And it's not that I didn't try really hard, because I turned in all my work, studied really long and hard, and just overall pushed myself a lot...I just don't know what I did wrong. It's annoying because I'm probably going to have to do summer school and stuff next year. So frustrated.

Same thing happened to me and I'm freaking out


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gofriars610]

Talking about school..I literally just had the worst semester of my life. Like I've never done this bad in school like..ever. And it's not that I didn't try really hard, because I turned in all my work, studied really long and hard, and just overall pushed myself a lot...I just don't know what I did wrong. It's annoying because I'm probably going to have to do summer school and stuff next year. So frustrated.

I've been there. I had a 2.5something second semester of my junior year. (parents divorced, I was quite ill from stress, etc. yeah, I gave up academically, basically.)

But what's done is done. All you can do now is dust yourself off, take a deep breath, pat yourself on the back for surviving, and kick booty next semester.

 

[UCFKnights07]

7 countries where Americans can study at universities, in English, for free (or almost free) - The Washington Post

since we are on this topic.
dang... i should have moved to germany ha.