Once upon a time, people who 'got to go' to college generally came from rich families. It was determined that this was unfair, that 'anyone' should have a chance to go to college.
So student loans began as a way for those who do not have the cash in hand, or in daddy's bank account, to be able to attend college or university and pay back the loan starting 6 months after graduation from the program.
But one day, this became too difficult. Former students did not want to pay back the thousands of dollars that were loaned to them by tax payers, or they were in financial distress and could not pay them back, so many loans were forgiven or the interest was removed, or a lower payback amount was negotiated. Eventually the govt decided that Student Loans were a nightmare and too much money was being thrown away, so they discontinued much of their aid. Some students could still get different loans from various institutions, or apply for grants that they did not have to pay back at all, and life moved on.
But then one day, students started complaining that college/uni was too pricey and they were leaving school with tens of thousands of dollars in debt, unable to live off the money from their new jobs while paying back the loans. Many people began to cry out that post-secondary education should be 'free' or vastly cheaper for the students, with the bulk of the cost picked up by tax payers. After all, these students are the future of our land, the future taxpayers who will be paying for us when we retire. So let's help them out by subsidizing their choice of college program. As long as they are enrolled and passing their courses, we will foot the bill. It's only fair, as fellow human beings.
A generation of college students enjoys this new bliss, making way for the next generation. The new kids never had to worry about tuition fees because they started college after the new funding began, they didn't know what it was like to struggle with tuition, books, exam fees, prof salaries, janitorial services, cafeteria staff, support staff, etc.... But they discovered another problem - it was very difficult to work part time jobs while studying. The students were struggling to pay their rent, buy their food, pay their utilities, and put gas in their cars. They were studying their little hearts out, working hard to do well in their courses, so why should they have to struggle with bills? Maybe taxpayers should pay for that as well! After all, these students are our future, so how can we expect them to flip burgers at night when they should be studying for tomorrow's exam? That is so unfair!
We should subsidize their education and their living expenses.
It will all pay off for us one day, I promise!
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a glimpse into the future ©KLT2010
Hate to mention it but I am finding your article very hard to read. Gray print on green back ground makes it difficult to see.
ReplyDeleteAnd then the graduated, got a job, had a baby and bought a lot of new furniture, toys and a home they could not afford. So they want day care and 5 year-old kindergarten, and a year of funded maternity leave, as it takes two incomes to pay for everything they bought with borrowed money. They got free education, so their children should too. After all, they are raising the next generation and we should pay for that too.
ReplyDeleteAnd now you need a university degree to be a call centre operator. If everyone has one - it stops being special and stops having a worth.
ReplyDeleteKat
You have seen the future in the mob rule that has taken hold in our universities. You have seen the future in the way the school administrators and law enforcement knuckle under to these snot-nosed radical criminals.
ReplyDeleteThe situation has become thus: you will conform to the precepts of the commissariat or you will be threatened with violence.
The following is prohibited: you will NOT post any writings, pictures, or notices which are in favour of Jews and Israel, or anyone who supports the view that the Hamas and its ilk are a bunch of murderous thugs. You may NOT, in any way, speak approvingly of development in the oilsands. You may NOT offer any opposing views to the idea that global warming is anything but sanctified holy writ. You may NOT profess any sort of support for the western style democracies or business in general. You may NOT tender support, Tacit or otherwise, to members of the Canadian armed forces. You may NOT, either in word or deed, allow the satanistic anti-abortion proponents to be permitted to speak or disseminate any information in support of their viewpoint. You WILL offer homage Al Gore, David Suzuki, Hugo Chavez, Osama bin Laden, Judy Rebick, Maude Barlow, Mao and any member of Hezb' Allah or the Taliban. You WILL undertake, to the best of your ability, to see that professors who do not preach the doctrine of governmental control over every citizen's life are removed from their posts. This will enable us to ensure that we only have teachers who will indoctrinate new students in the path of socialistic elitist control. You WILL harass, vilify, and threaten anyone who opposes the views expressed here, in conformance with the dictates of true communism. No act of non-conformance shall be allowed to go unpunished no matter how innocuous or trivial.
Most importantly you WILL whine, snivel, whimper, and complain about the lack of taxpayer funding with which to support our movement to silence the critics who cling to the outmoded ideas of free speech, free thought, or individual decision making. These people are dangerous to our policy of total mind control over the populace. It is our right and entitlement to attend university with no other intent than to avoid getting a job and to rabble-rouse as much as possible.
That folks, is the aim of the student bodies who allow themselves to become cowed by the tactics of the professional bullies that infest our campuses...the ones you and I fund. To them, my only answer is to demand, of all levels of government, that they cease funding these institutions and their verminous crowd who are intent on making a mockery of our democratic society and and making us all beholden to the nanny state government; with these enlightened little scum-suckers telling us what to do as they skim the cream off the top.
I think it's time we answered their tactics in kind...only we should up the ante with shotguns and pitchforks.
Powell Lucus, well said! I put myself through university without any student loans or grants by working three jobs during the break from May to September. I started saving for university when I got my first job at 15 and have worked constantly since then except for two breaks to have kids.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Kez, but lefties will not see the problem with getting freebies. It is their right after all because they have contributed SO much to our society! NOT!
This might sound insane, but when I hear more and more about people saying things like education (college etc) is a 'right', I wonder why on earth we have to pay for FOOD and WATER.
ReplyDeleteWe have the right to LIFE.
We WILL die if we do not have food and water. That is a given. We WILL die without it.
A basic need is shelter - in many parts of the world, with harsh weather conditions, we WILL die if we do not have adequate shelter - so why do we all have to buy homes (rent, buy, whatever).
If people really want to whine and cry about what rights we have and what taxpayers should help fund, why not food and water???? It drives me crazy. And another 'given' in this world is that at some point, we are all going to DIE. So why do we have to pay for funerals? Why isn't there a free funeral for everyone and if you want to spruce it up a bit, you have to pay the extra costs on top of that? I see ads all the time saying that the avg funeral cost is far far above any social security type benefit - so why is that?
We all need food and water to survive, but we have to buy it. We will all die one day but our families have to pay for it (or we need to save money for it ourselves). Why?
Instead, I see people going after education, welfare and other social programs for lower income people/families to pay for their food, shelter, lodging... while the rest of us are forced to pay for OUR RIGHT to 'life'. Why don't we all get a lovely little govt subsidy each month, no matter our earnings, to ensure we have enough money to pay for this life-saving food and water (and sometimes shelter)? Why not? If it's our 'right' to education and taxpayers should fund it from age 5 to a university degree is attained, why shouldn't taxpayers also pay for everyone's food and water?
I could move out into the country and set myself up a well and collect rain water and filter it myself and get 'free' water, but not food unless I go back to hunting and trapping like my ancestors lol.
And no, I don't really think that should happen - it just aggravates me that people are talking about education being a 'right' when LIFE is the main right anyone on this planet has and we will ALL die without the main two basic needs of food and water -- but we have to buy it ourselves for the most part. It's really really bizarre.