Sick of the upper class bashing

[Chloe'sMom]

I'm glad you were so fortunate. I wasn't able to live at home and attend college. I didn't get a scholarship or grant, or an inheritance. I paid my tuition out of pocket in cash for my first three semesters, put it on a credit card and paid it off over time for the fourth, and then had to quit because I couldn't afford to continue. And I was using birth control when I became pregnant, and my at the time fiance decided when I was in my fourth month that he "couldn't handle it" and took of to the west coast leaving me with all the bills--and never paid me a dime of support.

I had a few lucky breaks here and there, I'll freely admit that. But I got where I am today through hard work and determination, and no one will take taht away from me.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't be proud of what you have accomplished. I'm dang proud of it. BTW - I got $1000.00 scholarship and the rest of my tuition I paid out of pocket for 2 years at a community college and then got student loans when I transferred to a University.

~Amanda

 

[Chloe'sMom]

I should also mention I had a work/study job, I think the government contributes to that as well. I am happy to say that in less than a year I will be finished paying back my last outstanding student loan.

bragger!

Just teasing. My husbands school loans will be paid off next year - Whoo Hooo! Then we will take his payment and apply it to mine to double the payment. I think I still owe over $10,000. I only went to the University for 2 years but it was an expensive university.

~Amanda

 

[cc1013]

I think it's important to remember that EVERYONE (no matter their financial status) has their own personal challenges to overcome. My best friend, who lives a VERY comfortable life as a stay at home mom in a million dollar home lost her mother at a young age and is very grounded. Looking at her from the surface, you would assume she's spoiled at 28. Well, she's the first person to flat out say that she would give up everything to have had more time with her mom. Meeting her, you would never know that her husband is so successful and they have so much.

For me, I hate the term 'yuppie' and take offense to it. Yes, my DH and I live comfortably, but we both worked very hard during undergrad (combination of loans, grants, part time work and saved money) work full-time now and are getting our graduate degrees at night. We've worked our tails off to get where we are at and continue to do so on a daily basis. So do I apologize that we take at least two vacations a year? Absolutely not. This is the life we chose to have and we've worked hard. If someone takes offense to it, it's their problem, not mine. Are the people who are casting opinions on our lifestyle there when I'm up until 3am on an school assignment and then flying out for a work meeting at 7am? Nope. They only see what they choose to see.

Not everything is as easy as it appears on the surface.

Just my two cents..................................

 

[cardaway]

I fail to see the point of comparing student loans and grants to welfare and other similar programs. IMO there is no comparisonto hand ups like loans. Loans that have to be paid back. Anybody paying back welfare or any other hand out?

 

[Laura]

I fail to see the point of comparing student loans and grants to welfare and other similar programs. IMO there is no comparisonto hand ups like loans. Loans that have to be paid back. Anybody paying back welfare or any other hand out.

A Pell Grant doesn't have to be repaid.

 

[Chloe'sMom]

I fail to see the point of comparing student loans and grants to welfare and other similar programs. IMO there is no comparisonto hand ups like loans. Loans that have to be paid back. Anybody paying back welfare or any other hand out.

I disagree.

I was able to get those loans because they were federally backed. Had they not been then there is no way that I would have qualfied. Not mention they are at a very low and locked in rate and I didn't have to repay them until I graduated. Any other loan I would have had to start paying back right away.

As far as grants and scholarships - if they didn't exist there would be plenty of people who couldn't go to school.

Those programs exist as a hand up as you said - to help students get a higher education. They can also be abused just as easily and people default on those loans all the time. I had a girlfriend who took out a student loan for $2000.00 more then she needed to she could go on Spring Break.

~Amanda

 

[cardaway]

Grants are hand ups.

If anybody can show proof that the aubuse of grants and loans approaches the level of welfare abuse I would like to see it.

 

[connorlevismom]

You guys keep attacking ducklite and all she is saying is that she thinks that people should attempt to get themselves out of their situation before automatcially turning to the government. I have never seen her say that she does not want to give money to ANYBODY but rather she would be more than happy to give it to those who honestly cannot make it. I don't see anything wrong with it.

Kristine

 

[CheshireVal]

I'm glad you were so fortunate. I wasn't able to live at home and attend college. I didn't get a scholarship or grant, or an inheritance. I paid my tuition out of pocket in cash for my first three semesters, put it on a credit card and paid it off over time for the fourth, and then had to quit because I couldn't afford to continue. .

I worked my butt off in high school-- took the SAT three times until I had the highest score in my graduating class so that I could go to college on so many scholarships that it was free.

We all work hard in our own ways. Everyone's different. I never would have allowed myself to NOT get a scholarship like you did. But it wouldn't be fair for me to come on here and tell everyone that they have to make the same choices and sacrifices I made, would it?

 

[ducklite]

Grants are hand ups.

I disagree. I think taxpayer funded grants are hand outs, loans are hand ups. Yes, loans are backed by the Fed, but because it's an interest bearing loan the government gets paid back with interest that is generally tied to the Prime. I don't see Federally guaranteed student loans as a hand out at all. And if I understand correctly, the Fed will just take your tax return for the rest of your life if you don't pay them back. (I have no problem with a private university who has various endowed grants and such--that's private money for them to do with as they please.)

If anybody can show proof that the aubuse of grants and loans approaches the level of welfare abuse I would like to see it.

I dont think anyone is saying that is the case, although just like Chloe'sMom, I know someone who took a larger student loan than she actually needed so she could take a vacation.

 

[Chloe'sMom]

Grants are hand ups.

If anybody can show proof that the aubuse of grants and loans approaches the level of welfare abuse I would like to see it.

I have no proof in terms of numbers but I can remember that my community college began taking attendence in every class as there were many many students who received assistance for school and then never went to class.

I already mentioned my girlfriend who took out the extra money to go on Spring Break.

I can remember students taking out big loans for a full time schedule and then dropping to a part time student.

People claiming they had no jobs because they were getting paid under the table somewhere.

It's the same abuses that you hear all the time.

~Amanda

 

[Chloe'sMom]

I disagree. I think taxpayer funded grants are hand outs, loans are hand ups. Yes, loans are backed by the Fed, but because it's an interest bearing loan the government gets paid back with interest that is generally tied to the Prime. I don't see Federally guaranteed student loans as a hand out at all. And if I understand correctly, the Fed will just take your tax return for the rest of your life if you don't pay them back. (I have no problem with a private university who has various endowed grants and such--that's private money for them to do with as they please.)



I dont think anyone is saying that is the case, although just like Chloe'sMom, I know someone who took a larger student loan than she actually needed so she could take a vacation.

There was a girl on Oprah for one of those budgeting shows who showed how she took out larger student loans then neccessary so she could go on great vacations with her son. He was better travelled then I!

I work for a national lender - and not paying back your student loans will ruin your credit - but I'm sure they take all the tax return money. Plus from my own experience those who are the worst at paying student loans is Doctors. And they have lots and lots of "expenses."

~Amanda

 

[connorlevismom]

I have no proof in terms of numbers but I can remember that my community college began taking attendence in every class as there were many many students who received assistance for school and then never went to class.

I already mentioned my girlfriend who took out the extra money to go on Spring Break.

I can remember students taking out big loans for a full time schedule and then dropping to a part time student.

People claiming they had no jobs because they were getting paid under the table somewhere.

It's the same abuses that you hear all the time.

~Amanda

Wow- this just makes me sad. I was not able to get any assistance to go to school because my parents made to much money. Never mind that they refused to pay for a cent of it, just the fact that they made to much was enough for the government to say no. So people who abuse this make me just sick because I would have loved to go to school for free or at least with some help.

Kristine

 

[Chloe'sMom]

Wow- this just makes me sad. I was not able to get any assistance to go to school because my parents made to much money. Never mind that they refused to pay for a cent of it, just the fact that they made to much was enough for the government to say no. So people who abuse this make me just sick because I would have loved to go to school for free or at least with some help.

Kristine

I completely understand. I was to "average" to get many scholarships and grants. But there were a lot of people of different ethnic origin, physical handicap, and student visas who abused the hell out of the system.

One of the biggest screaming matches I ever got into was with a boyfriend of a friend. He was from Bosnia, got paid under the table at a Bosnian resturant his father's friend owned. He went to the same college as I did completely on the government's dime. Him and I got into as I didn't think it was all that right he was skimming the government telling them he didn't make the $20,000 a year he was making! Which is what I was making as well and I had to get student loans to pay for school.

~Amanda

 

[ducklite]

I worked my butt off in high school-- took the SAT three times until I had the highest score in my graduating class so that I could go to college on so many scholarships that it was free.

We all work hard in our own ways. Everyone's different. I never would have allowed myself to NOT get a scholarship like you did. But it wouldn't be fair for me to come on here and tell everyone that they have to make the same choices and sacrifices I made, would it?

I'm glad that you had that opportunity. I could have taken the SAT's 20 times and still not gotten the highest grades--I was an art major in high school and never took any math past algebra.

I'm not saying that no one has made sacrifices. Of course almost everybody has at one point in time or another. All I am saying is that far too often people turn to public social services before exhausting all possible alternatives to help themselves, and that our government has made it far too easy for many people to collect tax payer funded benefits long term without expecting them to be taking positive steps towards becoming self-sufficient.

 

[CheshireVal]

One of the biggest screaming matches I ever got into was with a boyfriend of a friend. He was from Bosnia, got paid under the table at a Bosnian resturant his father's friend owned. He went to the same college as I did completely on the government's dime. Him and I got into as I didn't think it was all that right he was skimming the government telling them he didn't make the $20,000 a year he was making! Which is what I was making as well and I had to get student loans to pay for school.

~Amanda

I wonder how that was possible, though? My husband was on a student visa here and he wasn't eligible for ANYTHING fromt he government. No scholarships, no work study, nothing. He got an in-state tuition break because he had good grades and agreed to do community service, but he still had to take out some private loans (with me co-signing).

 

[ducklite]

I wonder how that was possible, though? My husband was on a student visa here and he wasn't eligible for ANYTHING fromt he government. No scholarships, no work study, nothing. He got an in-state tuition break because he had good grades and agreed to do community service, but he still had to take out some private loans (with me co-signing).

I'm taking a wild stab in the dark and thinking that maybe he was here as a displaced person after the wars over there, and there were federal aid packages offered for refugees. But I could be really wrong.

Anne

 

[Chloe'sMom]

I'm taking a wild stab in the dark and thinking that maybe he was here as a displaced person after the wars over there, and there were federal aid packages offered for refugees. But I could be really wrong.

Anne

Nope - you've got it.
~Amanda

 

[Chloe'sMom]

I'm glad that you had that opportunity. I could have taken the SAT's 20 times and still not gotten the highest grades--I was an art major in high school and never took any math past algebra.

I'm not saying that no one has made sacrifices. Of course almost everybody has at one point in time or another. All I am saying is that far too often people turn to public social services before exhausting all possible alternatives to help themselves, and that our government has made it far too easy for many people to collect tax payer funded benefits long term without expecting them to be taking positive steps towards becoming self-sufficient.

So you would prefer to punish the many, for the sins of a few?

~Amanda

 

[ducklite]

Wow- this just makes me sad. I was not able to get any assistance to go to school because my parents made to much money. Never mind that they refused to pay for a cent of it, just the fact that they made to much was enough for the government to say no. So people who abuse this make me just sick because I would have loved to go to school for free or at least with some help.

Kristine

Actually you would have been eligible for Stafford Loans--they aren't needs based, but they do need to be paid back with interest. I was never given that option either--I found out about them after the fact and used one when I attended business school to become a paralegal ten years after I left college.