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The Dead Zone
Feb. 8th, 2015 11:20 amToday I've sat down to really try and figure out what my options are with regards to continuing my higher education...with a desire to either become a secondary school teacher or off chance professor (majoring in Philosophy - so I'd probably end up teaching English/Literature.) I'd like to have a second major (even half-assed) in computer science simply to have something to fall back on - writing code is still a very lucrative skill - but it's sortof up in the air currently. I'm not sure I even want to major in Philosophy but I'm trying to focus on the more important details right now.
As the title notes, though, I'm basically living in a Dead Zone. I can pull up a map of every four-year university in Pennsylvania, and I LITERALLY live smack dab in the middle of nothing. Every university is at LEAST 1.2-1.5 hours drive away (60-80mi.) That's given perfect road conditions, and we all know for 1/3rd of the year (and 1/2 of the college year) that's simply not the case.
So what? The reason I'm interested in drive distances is because of the outrageous housing fees. $8,500/year is the average. That works out to be over $1,000/month - double the average two bedroom rent for where I currently live. A one bedroom efficiency should only run about $350-450/mo. I can make my savings last until I can be a high school teacher IF I can find a way to do this without paying that housing cost (if I DID have to drive, it'd run me something like $1,400/y in gasoline.) I'm sure it'd be great to live on campus and all and get absorbed into the popular culture, but it's something that's really out of the realm of economic feasibility. I could whine about how my parents never planned on this, knew nothing about university (and they don't) and had me grow up in probably the most retarded, economically depressed, opportunity devoid area in Pennsylvania (and I'm now stuck dealing with this completely on my own) but no. All of those things are true, but average joe middle class person - if they haven't saved for most of their working life to put kids through college - could not afford tuition, housing and meal plans. $24,000/y is the total for Edinboro all things included. Even with exceptional grant aid ($6,000/year), the average student would need to take on about 70% of that as loans - which means after four years (or six to become a high school teacher) you'll have somewhere close to $50-90,000 in loans. This doesn't seem right, does it? That's as much as a house mortgage. And if you read the articles in the papers, and watch the mass media specials and news, you'll hear them say the average student only graduates with something like $12,000-18,000 in debt. That's impossible. Literally impossible. That's what most people are going to take on in a YEAR. Most people can not work full time while at school. Even assuming a part time job, you're going to earn a paltry $12,000/y at best. Yes, it'll make a dent in the loans, but I'm willing to hazard a guess that most college kids aren't using that money to pay off loans.
So, what gives? Are they lying about the figures?
The more I research into this, the more I feel like the whole fucking system is setup for individuals like me to fail.
As the title notes, though, I'm basically living in a Dead Zone. I can pull up a map of every four-year university in Pennsylvania, and I LITERALLY live smack dab in the middle of nothing. Every university is at LEAST 1.2-1.5 hours drive away (60-80mi.) That's given perfect road conditions, and we all know for 1/3rd of the year (and 1/2 of the college year) that's simply not the case.
So what? The reason I'm interested in drive distances is because of the outrageous housing fees. $8,500/year is the average. That works out to be over $1,000/month - double the average two bedroom rent for where I currently live. A one bedroom efficiency should only run about $350-450/mo. I can make my savings last until I can be a high school teacher IF I can find a way to do this without paying that housing cost (if I DID have to drive, it'd run me something like $1,400/y in gasoline.) I'm sure it'd be great to live on campus and all and get absorbed into the popular culture, but it's something that's really out of the realm of economic feasibility. I could whine about how my parents never planned on this, knew nothing about university (and they don't) and had me grow up in probably the most retarded, economically depressed, opportunity devoid area in Pennsylvania (and I'm now stuck dealing with this completely on my own) but no. All of those things are true, but average joe middle class person - if they haven't saved for most of their working life to put kids through college - could not afford tuition, housing and meal plans. $24,000/y is the total for Edinboro all things included. Even with exceptional grant aid ($6,000/year), the average student would need to take on about 70% of that as loans - which means after four years (or six to become a high school teacher) you'll have somewhere close to $50-90,000 in loans. This doesn't seem right, does it? That's as much as a house mortgage. And if you read the articles in the papers, and watch the mass media specials and news, you'll hear them say the average student only graduates with something like $12,000-18,000 in debt. That's impossible. Literally impossible. That's what most people are going to take on in a YEAR. Most people can not work full time while at school. Even assuming a part time job, you're going to earn a paltry $12,000/y at best. Yes, it'll make a dent in the loans, but I'm willing to hazard a guess that most college kids aren't using that money to pay off loans.
So, what gives? Are they lying about the figures?
The more I research into this, the more I feel like the whole fucking system is setup for individuals like me to fail.
