ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $$$$

[MNCyGuy]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

Schools need to do a way better job on counseling high school kids on making good education decisions. 4-year college is great...if you at least start with some sort of career goal. There's nothing wrong with culinary school either, it's the debt this kid racked up while arriving at that decision that's killing him. If we did a better job steering kids to the education appropriate for their goals, a lot of them would be way better off.

 

[vmbplayer]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

I call Bull on this story.

His parents only being willing to cosign the loan if he stayed in engineering tells me they pointed out to him the risk of taking out a huge amount of debt for a profession that wouldn't pay much. That being the case his claims that he wasn't aware of what he was getting into are asinine.

I'm sorry that the career he would like to do isn't one that pays enough to pay back 150K of debt. Turns out the guy scrubbing the toilets isn't living out his dream either.

 

[ISU_phoria]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

Why do you need a degree to flip burgers?

You could probably get some good insight on this from a bunch of recent iowa grads.

 

[CloneIce]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

How did he become disabled at work? Weird that the article didn't go into that, seems like a pretty major cooking injury would be required if he can no longer work. Wonder how disabled he is?

 

[madcityCY]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

Schools need to do a way better job on counseling high school kids on making good education decisions. 4-year college is great...if you at least start with some sort of career goal. There's nothing wrong with culinary school either, it's the debt this kid racked up while arriving at that decision that's killing him. If we did a better job steering kids to the education appropriate for their goals, a lot of them would be way better off.

So true. I'm all for people following their dreams, even if it's got limited earning potential. But we must root ourselves in reality as well. I have HS friends who weren't as good as student as me, who opted from a community college/ trade school, and are doing just fine right now. Their earnings may be limited somewhat in the future, but they also don't have the student loan debt that I have. Some has started their own businesses, and will live quite comfortably.

 

[Hawkeye11en1]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

You could probably get some good insight on this from a bunch of recent iowa grads.

That's hilarious. I actually laughed. I swear.

 

[cytech]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

I call Bull on this story.

His parents only being willing to cosign the loan if he stayed in engineering tells me they pointed out to him the risk of taking out a huge amount of debt for a profession that wouldn't pay much. That being the case his claims that he wasn't aware of what he was getting into are asinine.

I'm sorry that the career he would like to do isn't one that pays enough to pay back 150K of debt. Turns out the guy scrubbing the toilets isn't living out his dream either.

I agree I am sure his dad told him exactly what would happen. He is just ****** he didn't listen.

 

[MNCyGuy]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

So true. I'm all for people following their dreams, even if it's got limited earning potential. But we must root ourselves in reality as well. I have HS friends who weren't as good as student as me, who opted from a community college/ trade school, and are doing just fine right now. Their earnings may be limited somewhat in the future, but they also don't have the student loan debt that I have. Some has started their own businesses, and will live quite comfortably.

Right, if you want to be something like a social worker, a chef, or a teacher, because that's something you're passionate about, I do still think that's a valid life choice. But maybe that also means you go to community college or directional state instead of whatever prestigious university was your dream school, so that your future income and the cost of your education are better to scale with each other.

 

[Cycl1]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

Schools need to do a way better job on counseling high school kids on making good education decisions. 4-year college is great...if you at least start with some sort of career goal. There's nothing wrong with culinary school either, it's the debt this kid racked up while arriving at that decision that's killing him. If we did a better job steering kids to the education appropriate for their goals, a lot of them would be way better off.

Yes. Still, $60k in debt for a 15 month program (3 months of which is externship) and room and board. ISU tuition for engineering instate is $4,247 a semester.

$4.247 x 9 semesters(he takes his time) = $38,223
Lets say another 9,000 a year for food/rent =45,000
Total=$83,223
If he made $5k a year with part time work and internships, he would still be better off paying for 4.5 years of engineering than going to culinary school.

 

[MNCyGuy]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

Yes. Still, $60k in debt for a 15 month program (3 months of which is externship) and room and board. ISU tuition for engineering instate is $4,247 a semester.

$4.247 x 9 semesters(he takes his time) = $38,223
Lets say another 9,000 a year for food/rent =45,000
Total=$83,223
If he made $5k a year with part time work and internships, he would still be better off paying for 4.5 years of engineering than going to culinary school.

I suspect that maybe this kid's heart wasn't ever really in engineering. That's the only place where maybe the parents are at fault here, because I do think there are a lot of parents who assume the best thing for their kid is to go to college and put a lot of pressure on them to do so, even when it might be a poor choice for them.

 

[longtimeclone]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

Schools need to do a way better job on counseling high school kids on making good education decisions. 4-year college is great...if you at least start with some sort of career goal. There's nothing wrong with culinary school either, it's the debt this kid racked up while arriving at that decision that's killing him. If we did a better job steering kids to the education appropriate for their goals, a lot of them would be way better off.

Either this or someone is going to have to take a hard stance on the process of accepting loans. Force people to be much more accountable for their decisions before they actually get the money and to have a plan.

 

[CLONECONES]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

Either this or someone is going to have to take a hard stance on the process of accepting loans. Force people to be much more accountable for their decisions before they actually get the money and to have a plan.

this... two friends I met my freshman year are going into year 6 for a 4-year degree... some people just don't get it.

 

[MNCyGuy]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

Either this or someone is going to have to take a hard stance on the process of accepting loans. Force people to be much more accountable for their decisions before they actually get the money and to have a plan.

You're still dealing with 18 year olds. Even if you had to submit an education plan for student loans and faced penalties if you deviated from the plan, you'd just end up with a bunch of 20 year olds who still changed their minds and are now paying penalties on top of their debt.

 

[IcSyU]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

They need to cap the amount of student loans you can take by degree field based on the expected earnings of that field over x period of time.

 

[Hawkeye11en1]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

this... two friends I met my freshman year are going into year 6 for a 4-year degree... some people just don't get it.

I know a guy that got loans for 7-8 years of school between DMACC, ISU, Iowa, and Kirkwood. He graduated with a city planning degree (I think?) and sold life insurance for a year and now works at Wells Fargo. Pretty sure he will NEVER be done paying off his debt. Amazing.

 

[MNCyGuy]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

They need to cap the amount of student loans you can take by degree field based on the expected earnings of that field over x period of time.

That would make some sense and probably do a lot to funnel students to schools they can afford.

 

[IcSyU]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

I know a guy that got loans for 7-8 years of school between DMACC, ISU, Iowa, and Kirkwood. He graduated with a city planning degree (I think?) and sold life insurance for a year and now works at Wells Fargo. Pretty sure he will NEVER be done paying off his debt. Amazing.

Friend of mine got a degree in English from UNI (started at Iowa State) over 6 years. She's staring at $72,000 in student loan debt.

 

[vmbplayer]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

Either this or someone is going to have to take a hard stance on the process of accepting loans. Force people to be much more accountable for their decisions before they actually get the money and to have a plan.

You're still dealing with 18 year olds. Even if you had to submit an education plan for student loans and faced penalties if you deviated from the plan, you'd just end up with a bunch of 20 year olds who still changed their minds and are now paying penalties on top of their debt.

This.

I'd say burdening your life with copious amounts of non-dischargeable debt is as big of a penalty as is necessary. It made this guy homeless. If as the article suggests the government forgives all these loans that's when we get into trouble.

The system is not broken. There is just loads of user error because the end user is an idiot.

 

[IcSyU]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

That would make some sense and probably do a lot to funnel students to schools they can afford.

Private schools would never let it happen though. Yeah an accounting degree from Iowa State is about the same as an accounting degree at Notre Dame but one of those schools is a helluva lot more expensive than the other one and that allotment of money is going to go a helluva lot further at ISU than Notre Dame.

 

[vmbplayer]

Re: ISU student drops out of engineering, opts for culinary school. Wonders why no $

Friend of mine got a degree in English from UNI (started at Iowa State) over 6 years. She's staring at $72,000 in student loan debt.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH6PTamLIlE]Avenue Q: What do you do with a B.A. in English - It sucks to be me - YouTube[/ame]