• ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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    10 hours ago

    It’s not just luck. Most people I know who started out poor are immigrants whose families worked extremely hard for their sake, and who worked extremely hard in school themselves so that they could get accepted into colleges that offered them favorable terms. There they majored in well-paid fields like finance, law, medicine, or engineering, and afterwards they were able to pay off their debts without issue and live upper-middle-class lifestyles.

    It’s a lot harder for people whose well-to-do parents refuse to help, but eventually those people do become eligible for financial aid without counting their parents’ income (easiest to do by either waiting until age 24 or getting married) and that financial aid will be quite large if they’re poor. As I’ve said, my family wasn’t poor by the time I went to college and my financial aid still covered 2/3 of the cost.

    • UrPartnerInCrime@sh.itjust.works
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      10 hours ago

      Just because you know some people that got through unscathed, doesn’t mean there isnt a greater problem.

      But I woulda thought your degree would have taught you about survivorship bias

      Also:

      immigrants whose families worked extremely hard for their sake

      Luck

      get accepted into colleges that offered them favorable terms

      Luck

      pay off their debts without issue and live upper-middle-class lifestyles

      Luck

      • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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        10 hours ago

        I think my experience proves that succeeding without student loan forgiveness is possible, even in difficult circumstances, and that’s why I think the problem isn’t student loans.

        Which family you’re born into is luck, and so is innate talent, but how hard you work in high school and which major you choose in college are deliberate decisions.

        • UrPartnerInCrime@sh.itjust.works
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          10 hours ago

          Its also possible to give your body to sports and go for free like I did. Doesn’t mean everyone is going to be able to do that.

          There are also people out there who give their all and don’t get accepted into the college that would be best for the financially. I’ve seen and and helped console them after they freaked out about having to pay a bunch more. I think the problem is student loans and those that benefit from praying on 18 year olds trying to make the “right” decision

          But it all brings it back to why can most every other developed nation send their students to University for practically free and still have people living comfortably even though they have to pay taxes for it, but its too hard for the US to do it?

        • frostedtrailblazer@lemmy.zip
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          10 hours ago

          after the need-based scholarships that I got

          Dude…

          You quite literally benefited from a fund of money set aside to help you go to college and you are okay with pulling the ladder up behind you.

          You didn’t need student loan forgiveness because you got a scholarship. I feel the most logical perspective would be that we shouldn’t be gatekeeping passionate individuals from continuing their educational journey.

          College should be free for anyone to go to. College students are adding more dollars to our economy for each dollar that we spend on their education. For higher level degrees, the benefits to our economy could be even greater for each individual.

          Take the example of a doctor, if we paid for more doctors’ educations then we could have more specialists available for complex surgeries, potentially extending lives and raising the quality of life for many individuals. Saved lives also means that there are more people contributing to the economy as well.