An early message to the Class of 2013
Dear Class of 2013:
Next spring, much ink will be spilled with advice for you: to work hard, but not too hard; to laugh but also to cry; to love; and, perhaps most practically, to wear sunscreen.
I am not jumping the gun in writing to you now. If anything, I worry I’m too late.
In fact, if you are in the collegiate Class of 2013, I am too late. This message is for high school seniors. And that message is: Don’t wind up like Katie Brotherton.
Brotherton is a young woman from Cincinnati who last month wrote in her local newspaper that she’s overly indebted and rather hopeless, because she made bad decisions about her education.
OK, she didn’t write that last part. In her telling, she met “societal expectations” by earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees. But now she owes nearly $190,000, lives in her parents’ basement and “want[s] answers.”
She has a point, sort of. When she was in your place seven years ago, there might not have been anyone warning her against attending such expensive colleges or borrowing to pay for them.
Americans long have been told furthering their education is the path to prosperity, that the surest path involves attending the very best college they can get into, and, more or less, that the best college is the one that costs the most.
The first part is still true: You owe it to yourself to continue your education past high school. It’s the next two parts of the story that are coming into question.
Thirty years ago, it was different. Even 16 years ago, when I was a senior, and attending Harvard cost about $30,000 a year less than it does now, it was different. Since then, tuition has increased so sharply as to make the housing bubble and health-care inflation look like flat lines.
Is it still better to graduate from college than not? Yes: Housing prices peaked in 2006 and then plummeted, but people still pay for shelter.
But it does mean, if we could go back to 2005 and advise potential homebuyers, we would caution them about which house to buy, how much to spend on it, and not to believe home prices can only go up.
You, the Class of 2013, are like homebuyers circa 2005.
Yes, many of you should go to college. But you should also think deeply about which college and which major, including job prospects in that field. Others should consider technical school more strongly than they might have before now. In choosing a route, think very hard about the debt you stand to incur.
Washington politicians have made a big deal out of whether the federal student loan interest rate should return to 6.8 percent or remain 3.4 percent. On a $100,000 loan, that’s the difference between paying $1,151 a month or $984 a month … every month … for the next 10 years.
But halving the interest rate doesn’t make nearly as much difference as halving the principal: A $50,000 loan at 6.8 percent would bring a payment of $575 a month for 10 years.
You know what $576 a month (the difference between $1,151 and $575) would pay for? The better part of an apartment’s rent in Atlanta. Or a pretty nice new car. Over the course of 10 years, you could save up the down payment on a $350,000 house.
This is not a call to lower your educational ambitions. You still can, and should, try to make the most of your God-given talents. Nor is it a call to view everything in terms of money, only a reminder that money is the way you’ll have to pay back whatever you do borrow. Just ask Katie Brotherton.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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306 comments Add your comment
Bruno
October 12th, 2012
11:44 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDGGvxBqfkg
Hillbilly D
October 12th, 2012
11:51 pm
Gluten free water??? There really is one born every minute.
http://health.yahoo.net/articles/nutrition/photos/10-sketchy-enhanced-watersmdashexposed#6
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 13th, 2012
12:15 am
What Kyle exposed with his column is that we are raising a generation of functional idiots.
People used to have what was known as common sense. Sadly, it is all too uncommon these days. Lots of reasons for it; absentee parents, government education to the lowest denominator, and a shift to an entitlement society all contribute to this increasing mess.
Karl Rove
October 13th, 2012
12:18 am
Great Job Kyle- get them liberal college moochers to lower their expectations and quit borrowing money when they should be out working. If they can’t get a good job it is all the Chinese fault with that unfair labor stuff
.
Here is the kind of nonsense that gets published about our boy Mitt and his eight billion dollars invested in Bain Funds where he is just trying to make an honest buck :
“”"”"”"”"”"”"Mr. Romney also has millions invested in a series of Bain funds that have a controlling stake in Sensata Technologies, a manufacturer of sensors and controls for vehicles, aircraft and electric motors that employs 4,000 workers in China. Since Bain took over the operation in 2006, its investment has quadrupled in value. Bain continues to own $2.6 billion worth of Sensata’s shares.
Two years ago, Sensata bought an operation that made automobile sensors in Freeport, Ill. At the first meeting with the plant’s 170 workers, Sensata managers announced that by the end of 2012 all the equipment and jobs would be relocated, mostly to Jiangsu Province. Workers have staged demonstrations, pleading for Mr. Romney to intervene on their behalf.
Chinese engineers, flown to Freeport for training on the equipment, described their salaries as a pittance compared with Freeport wages. Tom Gaulrapp, who has operated machines at the factory for 33 years, said he fears he will go bankrupt after he loses his job on Nov. 5.
“This goes to show the unbelievable hypocrisy of this man,” he said of Mr. Romney. “He talks about how we need to get tough on China and stop China from taking our jobs, and then he is making money off shipping our jobs there.”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”
Can you imagine the nerve of these people they are just victims!
”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/us/politics/as-romney-repeats-trade-message-bain-maintains-china-ties.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Just remember if you pass gas always blame it on the other guy.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 13th, 2012
12:29 am
You DO realize, Karl, that Mitt Romney’s investments are held in a BLIND TRUST, don’t you?
Of course you didn’t!
fair and balanced
October 13th, 2012
1:14 am
Tiberius – you mean this blind trust???????????
“”"”"”"”"tNever mind that Mitt Romney has an estimated net worth as high as $250 million, or that some of it has been invested in offshore accounts of a sort never held by any previous presidential contender. He assures us that his assets are held in a “blind trust” over which he exerts no control.
But just how blind are such trusts, anyway? In Romney’s case, apparently not quite blinkered enough to keep his trustee—who is also his personal lawyer and longtime friend Bradford Malt—from investing more than $10 million of Romney’s money in an investment fund managed by Romney’s son Tagg.
In 1994, when he was running for the Senate against Ted Kennedy, Romney attacked Kennedy for disclaiming any responsibility for his investments, declaring at one point: “The blind trust is an age-old ruse.” He takes a different tack today, but even his own spokeswoman, Andrea Saul, has acknowledged that if he’s elected, he’ll move his wealth into a new, stricter blind trust, governed by federal rules.”"”"”"”"”"”"”"
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/purdum/2012/07/mitt-romney-age-old-ruse-blind-trust
:
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 13th, 2012
1:43 am
Blind trusts are blind trusts, neither fair nor balanced.
It’s not as if he has to worry about your vote, you know.
Chris Sanchez
October 13th, 2012
8:14 am
Kyle,
Your well-written article make no mention of the parents of the Class of 2013. In general, what of their responsibility to assist their children in making good educational choices. Of course these young adults are free to make those decisions but mom and dad still have a tremendous influence in their lives. Education changes lives and I always encourage others to get as much as they can stand AND afford. Going into such crushing debt is more than unwise, it is foolish.
carlosgvv
October 13th, 2012
8:28 am
In today’s world, high math and science apptitudes are worth a great deal and liberal arts apptitudes are worth very little. Unfortunately, most college students don’t have high math and science apptitude and liberal arts leanings are found in the majority.
I would say go to college if you can do the math and science. A BS degree will likely get you a good job. If you can’t do the math and science, go to a good trade school or go in the military and do the best you can.
It’s a cruel and unfair world for the liberal arts person these days and will probably remain so for the foreseeable future.
JDW
October 13th, 2012
8:29 am
Hey Tiberius, Bradford Malt has a bridge that he would like to sell you from Romney’s blind trust. He can’t meet right now though he is having dinner with Mitt picking up investment ideas.
As you should well know, a blind trust is only as blind as the relationship between the Trustee and and Beneficiary. When they are life long friends that interact on a regular basis thats really investment management.
curious
October 13th, 2012
8:43 am
Personal responsibility. Quit whining and get a job; they’re out there. It might not be your first choice, but maybe your first choice was a bad one.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 13th, 2012
9:06 am
And what are this weekend’s lottery numbers, JDW?
I mean, since you know so much about someone you’ve never met and all . . .
Just Saying..
October 13th, 2012
9:06 am
As a country, we should continue to cut education funding. We can find all the scientists we need in India…
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
October 13th, 2012
9:27 am
Just Saying, it is not the money, it is how the money is spent. Biden was whining about cuts for Embassy security even after the State Dept Security chief testified that money played no part in lack of Security in Libya. The State Dept spent much of their Embassy Security Money “going green” aka, supporting GM by mandating purchases of Chevy Volts for Embassy Personnel.
Education is the same, it seems to do poorly no matter how much money we give them. Math and Science is where the emphasis needs to be and where our schools are doing the worse. Giving them more money, that they will choose to spend for better facilities, higher salaries and benefits for the administrators, band uniforms, and new stadiums, doesn’t help Math and Science education.
Dems always choose to throw money at a problem, rather than make hard choices needed to achieve success. Maybe we need to do some politically incorrect things, like segregate by ability, in order to improve the math and science skills of those able to absorb the knowledge. Dems will vote no on that and continue to spend money that accomplishes little.
independent thinker
October 13th, 2012
9:38 am
Love how the cons will not talk about tax benefits for corporations that outsource and pay little or no corporate taxes overseas in one of those offshore corporations Mitt loves so dearly. When Obama proposes taxing that overseas profit and rewarding companies that insource with tax breaks, the cons act like it is welfare and fillibuster the bill to death. But oh yeah just past a trillion dollar in tax cuts for the rich, cut corporate tax rates and the rich will create instantly twelve million jobs. One word for that ———MALARKEY!
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 13th, 2012
9:51 am
“When Obama proposes taxing that overseas profit”
Yeah, ’cause it’s so great to control activities not within our own borders.
As if we don’t screw up enough companies here with our rules and taxation.
“But oh yeah just past a trillion dollar in tax cuts for the rich, cut corporate tax rates and the rich will create instantly twelve million jobs.
Given that that isn’t the platform of Romney/Ryan, there is only one word for that analysis ———MALARKEY!
You’re neither independent, nor a thinker.
redneckbluedog
October 13th, 2012
9:58 am
Dear Class of 2012…..When you sign someone’s yearbook, don’t sign “Keep Jesus #1 and you’ll go far……”….if you intend to support a polytheist culstist for the White House 20 years later….!!!!! You’ll look stupid….!!!!
redneckbluedog
October 13th, 2012
10:01 am
As a country, we should continue to cut education funding. We can find all the scientists we need in India…
==========================
To that end…we should cut taxes even lower, especially on millionares….especially during this time of record deficits….Then, when China forecloses….we will all have socialized health care….plus, the government will be all up in our women’s vaginas…and that’s what we’re after here, right…!?!?!?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 13th, 2012
10:04 am
Looks like some of the libs on here are members of the class of 2013 already.
Severe lack of critical thinking skills and no initiative to research information or develop opinions on their own.
Oh, and deep into religious bigotry as well.
Stupid beyond belief.
Just Saying..
October 13th, 2012
10:08 am
“Education is the same, it seems to do poorly no matter how much money we give them.”
“Math and Science is where the emphasis needs to be and where our schools are doing the worse.”
Agree.
Agree absolutely.
Have close to 10 teachers in the family, and from their accounts, there’s a cultural issue here. And taking politically incorrect a step further, I mean American culture, Honey Boo Boo on high…
ragnar danneskjold
October 13th, 2012
10:16 am
We hear politicians criticize banks for making house loans to people unable to pay, Perhaps it is time for us to criticize politicians who commit taxpayer funds to students who cannot pay.
Ragnar solution: abolish the student loan program. Set up a government grant program that will pay up to $500 per semester hour for courses in mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology, mechanical engineering, and maybe civil engineering. Nothing else, Anyone who wants to take something less useful would be able to do so, but without taxpayer funds. In the meantime, the taxpayers would be getting more bang for the buck, with fewer students in critical studies in basket weaving and more in fields with inherent value. Pay for the education grants by abolishing all other Federal research grants.
Otherwise Kyle’s advice is good, but I suspect most high schoolers who stumble across it will not bother to read it.
ragnar danneskjold
October 13th, 2012
10:19 am
Dear Thinker @ 9:38, the Obama program you cite is the worst idea since – and for the same reasons as – the Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930, which led directly to the breakdown of international trade and fostered a depression. We know Obama is clueless on economics, but we thought better of you.
JamVet
October 13th, 2012
10:20 am
Youngsters, get the best education you can afford and then move to Communist China, India, Singapore, Mexico, etc, where the Trickle Downers have sent the jobs.
40,000,000 of them since 1973…
JDW
October 13th, 2012
10:20 am
@Tiberius…”since you know so much about someone you’ve never met and all”
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 13th, 2012
10:27 am
So, once again, JDW, you’ve got nothing.
More unfounded accusations and nothing else.
Thanks for living down to my expectations.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 13th, 2012
10:34 am
AmVet: Proving every day he knows nothing about economics or job creation. A singularly stunning ignorance rarely achieved by even the most uninformed liberals on this blog.
Kamchak - "Socialism" is just a code word for "fear," the monster under you bed ~ Kamchak
October 13th, 2012
10:35 am
Brotherton is a young woman from Cincinnati who last month wrote in her local newspaper that she’s overly indebted and rather hopeless, because she made bad decisions about her education.
OK, she didn’t write that last part.
When you have to lie to make a point, you really don’t have a point.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
October 13th, 2012
10:38 am
When you have to call obvious sarcasm a lie, you really don’t have a functioning brain.
Kamchak - "Socialism" is just a code word for "fear," the monster under you bed ~ Kamchak
October 13th, 2012
10:40 am
When you have to call obvious sarcasm a lie, you really don’t have a functioning brain.
When your bar is set this low, you get kicked off of Jay’s blog.
cc
October 13th, 2012
10:44 am
“When your bar is set this low, you get kicked off of Jay’s blog.”
That blog is primarily for whiners and losers . . .
Georgia
October 13th, 2012
10:44 am
190k is a shocking burden for a grad.
JamVet
October 13th, 2012
10:55 am
Sunspot Tibby, go change your diapers and start taking responsibility for your enraged, brattish self, OK?
The day you stop making excuses will be the day you finally start making some headway in life.
And at least change your idiotic, cartoon name to Liar – never pulling the tail of the right.
Or don’t.
Watching you slobber endlessly on this blog is damn funny!
My advice to the unfortunate children of people like sunspot tibby is that you’re correct – they are hopelessly full of 1950s crap and you are wise to not listen to them.
Black people are stupid to not understand that neocons are their best friends.
Most Americans are lazy and don’t want good jobs.
American Jews are pinko leftist anti-Semites.
A devastated ed middle class is good for American capitalism.
The world’s most brilliant scientists are liberal tools who are trying to destroy the world.
Don’t worry, Donald Trump and Mitt Romney are going to take care of you.
Uncle Sam can do nothing right, is your enemy and needs to be drowned in a bathtub.
EVERYBODY is out to get us Republicans.
The list is endless…
MarkV
October 13th, 2012
11:03 am
“Setting a bar this low …” was a too generous euphemism for a denial of what was quite correctly called a lie, and what has become Kyle’s trademark – rephrasing statements to give them a meaning of his choice. In this case, he stated that the young woman WROTE that she was indebted” because she made bad decisions about her education.” She did not write that, there was no sarcasm, just a pure, unadulterated lie.
td
October 13th, 2012
11:45 am
You can tell when the Dems are losing and they know they are losing but are still in denial. They get mean, nasty and personal. Just read the blogs over the last week for evidence.
Obama is going down and you will be saying President Romney after the election.
bluecoat
October 13th, 2012
12:01 pm
We may not be saying President Romney.We may be as disrespectful as TD and all his aka’s are against President Obama.
JDW
October 13th, 2012
12:25 pm
@tc…”Obama is going down and you will be saying President Romney after the election.”
Possible but a more likely scenario is that Mittens goes on a nice long extended vacation to visit his money in the Caymans and we can get back to digging our way out of the hole left by the prior Republican Administration.
cc
October 13th, 2012
12:57 pm
Kamchak and MarkV:
“because she made bad decisions about her education.”
I believe that is quite obvious . . .
“OK, she didn’t write that last part. In her telling, she met “societal expectations” by earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees. But now she owes nearly $190,000, lives in her parents’ basement and “want[s] answers.”
Kyle immediately set this straight and clearly used this only as a lead-in to his column.
Lie:
1: to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive
2: to create a false or misleading impression
I don’t believe that either of you have enough to keep you busy, and you obviously lack the aptitude to engage in intelligent discourse.
shon
October 13th, 2012
1:12 pm
Everyone keeps giving advice but what high school seniors are actually reading this? I doubt very many if any are. It’s just adults telling their advice to each other and then bringing politics into it which leads to text arguments. Geez people.
JDW
October 13th, 2012
1:25 pm
O’Dear more math…
A nonpartisan analysis conducted by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation found that eliminating all deductions, taxing municipal bonds and ramping up levies on investments would only net enough revenue to cut tax rates by 4 percent.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/82366.html#ixzz29CVtypT9
Now where is that other 16% going to come from? Hey Tiberius, could you call your bud Mittens and ask him?
The Austrian Brotherhood
October 13th, 2012
1:30 pm
Thanks Kyle, that was hilarious. Love the end…she’s “owed answers”.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. That’s too rich. It’s 99% not her fault. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
cc
October 13th, 2012
1:36 pm
JDW:
Did you really read the article?
Centrist
October 13th, 2012
1:49 pm
@ JDW – oh dear, you left this out of the article you linked – quotes from the guys Obama heralded during his debate fiasco:
“The JCT analysis assumes the Bush-era tax cuts expire for everyone at the end of the year. Romney’s tax plan works off of the understanding that those breaks will remain in place.
Then the one sided experimental study has this: “Repealing itemized deductions generates almost $2.5 trillion over a decade. But a huge chunk of that — almost $986 billion — would be lost immediately to a repeal of the alternative minimum tax. Another $378 billion would be lost to the elimination of limits on itemized deductions for high earners. Taxing capital gains and dividends as traditional wages is another big revenue loser — to the tune of $850 billion — in part because of behavioral changes that would result for higher levies on investment.
A spokesperson for House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) criticized the report for assuming that taxes would rise on investments so much that money is actually lost: ‘Not only did they leave out base broadeners, they include policies that lost revenue,’ the spokesperson said. Like most static tax analyses there is no change in behavior for those who get the reduction in tax rates – like now willing to work more (productivity) to keep more.
“The authors of two leading approaches to deficit reduction — Alan Simpson, Erskine Bowles, Pete Domenici and Alice Rivlin — criticized the JCT’s report.
‘There is a growing bipartisan consensus for an approach that broadens the base, lowers rates and raises revenue as part of a comprehensive fiscal plan,” they said in a joint statement. “The JCT study looks at only a subset of the tax expenditures we reformed or eliminated, thereby leaving out a substantial amount of savings that were included in our proposals. Most notably, the JCT study does not address the employer health exclusion, the largest tax expenditure in the code, as our plans would.’ “
Centrist
October 13th, 2012
2:12 pm
Obama/ Biden are pretending (for partisan reasons to obscure) that ALL tax rates are scheduled to rise at the end of the year. Of course, they will not – a lame duck Congress and Obama will sign another extension of the current rates. They will NOT get just an increase in the top rate.
MarkV
October 13th, 2012
2:18 pm
cc @12:57 pm
You obviously lack the aptitude to distinguish between a truth and a lie. Kyle wrote that the young woman had written that she was indebted” because she made bad decisions about her education.” She had not written that, it was not true, it was a lie. As a matter of fact, she did not even write anywhere that she believed her education decision was “bad.” She admitted a mistake of “negligence and lack of awareness, over-borrowing,” but not a mistake of getting the education she got.
MarkV
October 13th, 2012
2:21 pm
Centrist @ 2:12 pm
“Obama/ Biden are pretending (for partisan reasons to obscure) that ALL tax rates are scheduled to rise at the end of the year. Of course, they will not – a lame duck Congress and Obama will sign another extension of the current rates.”
Do you understand what the word “scheduled” means?
Guest
October 13th, 2012
2:48 pm
“Unfortunately, most college students don’t have high math and science apptitude and liberal arts leanings are found in the majority.”
First of all, math and the natural sciences are, in fact, liberal arts majors. Secondly, according to Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce, only 9.7 percent of students major in the liberals arts. Business management, accounting, and nursing are the three most popular majors.
cc
October 13th, 2012
3:08 pm
MarkV:
Lie:
1: to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive
2: to create a false or misleading impression
Please point out where there was an “intent to deceive”, or where Kyle created “a false or misleading impression. After adding that single line he IMMEDIATELY wrote, “OK, she didn’t write that last part.” If you were “deceived” or “a false or misleading impression” remained with you as you read the column, I submit that you must be suffering from a mental deficiency or you are bored on a Saturday with little to do but nitpick. Which is it, MarkV?
the red herring
October 13th, 2012
3:28 pm
people who go to college must learn that going to college doesn’t mean squat. going to college and getting an education in a field that is hiring and will hire means something. many years ago i went to college and got a professional degree and worked for 34 years in order to get a retirement. i earned little early on but was able to work part time work at my profession until i saved enough to invest in a business and i purchased a 1/3 interest in that business—-later i purchased both of the other partner’s shares —i continued to work my regular job (40 hrs per week plus on call hours) and i also continued to work part time work—-i managed and did purchasing for my business—- now will someone explain to me why i should pay more taxes and my employees and the people who don’t want to work should pay less?? i don’t understand that logic. if you work 9 to 5 —–five days per week and take home no responsibility and none of your company’s headaches/heartaches then you will not become wealthy—- and you should not. but if you do all of that and work and extra job and invest then you should be allowed to succeed—- people earning a living and making wealth in this fashion should not be punished…..
cc
October 13th, 2012
3:41 pm
the red herring:
“people earning a living and making wealth in this fashion should not be punished”
No, you should not . . . but try telling that to a dimocrat!
JDW
October 13th, 2012
3:46 pm
@Centrist…indeed I read the article and they go to great pains to make this point…
“it’s a reminder of how tough it would be for Romney to stay true to his plan of slashing marginal rates by 20 percent while preventing a tax increase on investments and ensuring that the U.S. economy generates the same amount of revenue as it does today”
See that is the point Romney is selling smoke and mirrors. BECAUSE of this…
““Repealing itemized deductions generates almost $2.5 trillion over a decade. But a huge chunk of that — almost $986 billion — would be lost immediately to a repeal of the alternative minimum tax. Another $378 billion would be lost to the elimination of limits on itemized deductions for high earners.”
It is impossible to cut taxes by $5 trillion and make it up on reducing deductions…Romney’s plan is snake oil.