sailingfun

You guys do know that in this country there are literally hundreds of options to get a college education without going into deep debt. Perhaps the easiest is two years of junior college followed by a transfer to a state school. Apply for scholarships and grants and have a job.

tunes

yeah but it's the hipster thing to do to bash college

TED74

Lots of exceptional college incentives for those who join the Guard and Reserves part time too.

gloopy

Actually its the hipster thing to do to take on crushing debt for useless majors with a guaranteed zero ROI, then act as if that debt should be forgiven, coincident with an overarching sense of entitlement, because of one's "education".

TED74

Have you actually spoken to a sober human being who said they feel this way?

I think by "hipster" you MIGHT have meant "fictional caricature". But if it supports a narrative about snow flakes, I guess we can pretend such an attitude is commonplace and feel better about ourselves because "we" aren't like "them."

gloopy

A large part of an entire generation is like that. Its not just because the "snowflakes" are being unreasonable. It never would have gotten to this point had the generation (or two) before them not created the current system to begin with. Constant programs after programs throwing more money after it has made it as bad as it is. Generation Snowflake isn't really entirely to blame. They're even latching on to self-outed socialists in the hopes that their poor decision making to blow 6 figures on a 4 year deferment of reality will be financially forgiven. Its actually a major cornerstone of the campaigns of more and more these days. As the over trillion dollar "big Ed" debt bubble continues to inflate on its way to collapse, the sense of entitlement will only grow.

Right now I happen to like that most airlines require (or if not, at least heavily prefer) degrees for the vast majority of applicants. That shrinks the already anemic supplies even further. But when the rubber meets the road and they get really short on bodies, that will be one of the first things to go. As critical as pilot supply is, pretty much the entire industry has done little to nothing about it. Eventually it'll be way too late to try and ramp up massive ab initio programs that pair both 6 figure degrees with additional 6 figure training programs, regardless of who pays for it. When that gets to a certain point, guess which requirement will be cut loose first?

TED74

So...you have or haven't spoken with these people you describe, who make up such a large percentage of this generation? I don't interact with many people who have a sense of entitlement, but I know a lot of people who are convinced that there is "a whole generation" of entitled snowflakes. I guess I'm like mother Delta...show me the data?

I can understand someone being frustrated that a Master's degree may not yield the volume of job opportunities that a high school diploma once did...or that the cost of said degree has exploded...or that buying a house in their childhood neighborhood requires substantial dual-income when it once could be afforded on a single teacher's salary...or that the cost of health care has become almost prohibitive under many circumstances.

It's easy to point the finger and disparage a large percentage of the population. Personally, I think a lot of the snow flakes are doing pretty well given the s&it sandwich we threw their way.

FWIW, the only people I know who have already had (literally) hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt paid off by the tax payer are military members who got caught by poor timing after speculating on their local housing market.

MikeF16

https://www.facebook.com/KamalaHarri...PAGES_TIMELINE

If this link doesn't work, Google "Kamala Harris Facebook Education Loans".

For those who don't know, Kamala Harris is one of California's senators. The link provided has a significant number of comments from people with student loans who all have great reasons why they shouldn't have to repay them. I only wish they were drunk. One of the hipsters went so far as to call anybody who says students have to pay back their loans a bigot. These people are real and out there en masse.

crewdawg

I know they're out there, but are they as "en masse" as it seems...or are they the ones that just yell the loudest? Squeaky wheel gets the grease... Get out of the city and into the rest of America and a good percentage of the "millennials" are as hard working and as entitled as any other generation.

I will say they do have some good points wrt college tuition. It is ludicrous how expensive college has become. I just looked, at my college, tuition has quadrupled since I graduated 12 years ago. Has the quality of education or the worth of that piece of paper really gone up that much in 12 years? I recently had the chance to sit next to the current President of the college I attended (yes I sat 1st class on a DH). It was pretty eye opening...she seemed really sickened by how much it has become more about a business than higher education. She was on her way to fight some changes that we're going to make matters worse.

Having said that, I agree, these took on the debt, it's on them to pay it back. Yes they're are many idiots out there (ref...the individual who made the bigot comment from your link). I'm technically a millennial and I joined the Guard to help get me through and have long since paid off the little debt I took on for college.

Here is a non-millennial talking about millennials. Worth a watch, some points, even the "I walked both ways..." generation will agree with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MC2X-LRbkE

MikeF16

Bernie Sanders received over 13 million votes in the democratic primary; his #1 demographic was millennials. I'd call that en masse. Nobody who should be taken seriously says that all millennials are a bunch of whiny babies who only want handouts; however, there is more than just a vocal minority who seem to think everything is owed to them.

Regarding college costs, I agree 100% -- especially considering I have 14 and 16 year old children about to empty out the nest egg. The issue at hand is how do we fix college costs? I'm just smart enough to tell you that I probably don't have the quick fix, but I would bet my life that the answer is NOT "free" college or forgiving debt on student loans. If you want "free" college, work your butt off in high school and EARN a scholarship or attend a military academy. If you don't want massive debt, attend community college for 2 years then transfer to an in-state college as somebody else already mentioned, if you want to be able to pay off your massive debt from a big-name school then get a degree that leads to a high paying job when you graduate. Better yet, recognize that maybe college isn't for you, save the 6-figure debt and learn a valuable trade.