College Student Earns 4.0 GPA,Then Drops Out: "You Are Being Scammed!"

It's not a good idea to rack up a huge debt period.

If you can afford college that's great ( or if your parents can afford to send you to college)

If you or your parents cannot afford to send you to college without bid loans, then go to a less expensive path. You could go to a community college or perhaps it's time to join the work force and then take classes that complement you work.

People need to use common sense

a reply to: tigershark1988
Portland CC? Small world.

a reply to: Edumakated


If its intangible then you get # all so why should you pay for it?

originally posted by: luciferslight
As a recent graduate.. December 9th.. the final exams we were preped for was bu#.. so easy everyone passed. I've seen it in high school though.

Its like the school system dropped along the 2008 crash.

If your exams were easy, you picked the wrong major.

The grades at my school were just posted yesterday. Two of my five classes this semester had an 80% failure rate, another was 50%.

a reply to: ketsuko

I suppose every school is different, but cutting the general education classes in my program that you don't actually need would only remove 4 classes total from the degree audit. 4 out of 48.

originally posted by: Edumakated
Something like 30-40% of freshmen in college need remedial course work. This doesn't reflect well on our high schools...

In high school (and all grade school for that matter), state funding is based on the pass rate of the students. If a school holds someone back for not meeting the requirements, they lose money. A friend of mine used to be a college professor. He would occasionally get people in his classes that literally could not read or write. And by that I don't mean read/write poorly, I mean not at all. They would be assigned "helpers" to read tests to them, and write down the answers people said. This was because the schools passed them without actually teaching them.

High schools are a mess.

originally posted by: anonentity
a reply to: Edumakated


If its intangible then you get # all so why should you pay for it?

Education isn't a physical good. Once you learn something, you can't unlearn it. It isn't like car where if you don't pay, they can repossess it. It isn't like a house where if you don't pay the mortgage, they can foreclose on the property.

You go to XYZ school and they charge a certain amount to teach you. You are paying for use of their facilities. Professors. Materials. Etc. After you graduate, it is presumed you know a certain amount and you have the right to say you have a degree from ABC school.

You decide you can't afford the student loan payments and file bankruptcy. So now you've essentially gotten an education that you have not paid for. The school can't repossess your brain and make you forget all you learned. They aren't going to come to your house and take your diploma.

originally posted by: Aazadan
a reply to: ketsuko

I suppose every school is different, but cutting the general education classes in my program that you don't actually need would only remove 4 classes total from the degree audit. 4 out of 48.

Crazy, for a transfer degree I've had to take 3 remedial math courses, two writing courses, and more credit requirements from the social sciences, science, foreign language, physical ed, etc.

originally posted by: MiddleInitial
a reply to: tigershark1988
Portland CC? Small world.

Yea it is, What do you think of the curriculum? I try to poke holes in their bubble when I can.

a reply to: Edumakated

First it's XYZ School, then it's ABC School. And you call yourself edumakated.

a reply to: tigershark1988

I haven't been at PCC for probably 9 or 10 years. I took classes at Rock Creek WAY back in the day, then some at Cascade. When I first started at Cascade, that part of town was not particularly nice. Then I returned in 2006 for a couple brush-up type of classes and WOW. It was like a completely different place.

Honestly, I'd like to return for math classes - I love math and and even though I'm pretty good at it, I just never cared. (They say: youth is wasted on the young.) I have been to three colleges for a total of 7 separate times, and never graduated. I'm either a straight A student or straight F student, and I could never really walk the line in institutions. Took me a long time to realize that I'm actually quite a lot better at educating myself than the colleges are.

Oh yeah, the Whiteness Month thing I saw in one of their recent catalogs was pretty precious.

a reply to: Aazadan

Yeah true I did unfortunately. But on the other hand my sister studied for the final exam. She studied the harder parts. Turns out it was easy and she (kinda) wasted her time.

Granted it was better she did learn the hars part. Its usefulness will prove later on in life.

She is taking dietitian classes.

originally posted by: tigershark1988
Crazy, for a transfer degree I've had to take 3 remedial math courses, two writing courses, and more credit requirements from the social sciences, science, foreign language, physical ed, etc.

The way my university is set up is that you have to take 3 English, 1 Math, 2 Science, 1 Fine Arts, 2 History, 2 Science, and an Ethics.

But, my program already requires a few levels of physics, a lot of math (Calculus 4 and some other stuff), and the English is pretty low. Any half decent HS English grade will bypass the first two levels. So I guess it's 5 gen ed's. 1 English, 2 History, 1 Fine Arts, and Ethics that could be dropped.

I can honestly say my school isn't packing our non major classes with useless stuff, and I think I've gotten some real value out of the English, History, and Ethics classes. Now some of the in major stuff on the other hand, I would argue is pretty useless. But that's only useless for my planned career path, not for everyone at large. I suppose any program that has to be generalized a bit is like this.

originally posted by: luciferslight
Yeah true I did unfortunately. But on the other hand my sister studied for the final exam. She studied the harder parts. Turns out it was easy and she (kinda) wasted her time.

Granted it was better she did learn the hars part. Its usefulness will prove later on in life.

She is taking dietitian classes.

Professors and classes are always different. Sometimes finals don't matter. I've always taken the approach in life that I don't study, I don't even know how to be perfectly honest. I work by learning the theory behind something, 1-2 explanations is typically enough for me to grasp it. From there it's just a matter of applying the theory to get a result.

That approach is good for some things and less good for others. I think it's a better skill set for real life because it makes me great at problem solving, but sometimes a professor will want something really specific on a test that was class related rather than related to the topic and I don't do so well with those questions. It plays out interesting in my classes, because I'm on the bottom end of my peers (perhaps the bottom) in GPA yet they all consider me to be the one who knows how to do everything, so when people get stuck they go to me if an instructor isn't available.

a reply to: infolurker

Colleges have a monopoly over their prices because of federal student loans.

If the government will pay money to anyone to go to college, obviously colleges are going to inflate their costs.

Someone for real needs to get rid of FAFSA and all government programs like it. When less people can afford college, which means less customers, the colleges will have to lower their prices.

originally posted by: Talorc

originally posted by: olaru12

originally posted by: rickymouse

originally posted by: olaru12
a reply to: rickymouse

Going thru a University course of study and attaining a degree shows that at least you have the determination to achieve a goal. That counts for more than the actual knowledge...at least in a corporate setting. Team players and all that jazz....

Corporations are like the NFL...if you can't measure up, you get cut, traded or sent back to the farm team.

Life in the Rat Race. I lived in the Rat Race till I discovered other Rats consume you if you leave your guard down.

That's very true. Competition is fierce and the meanest rat always gets the big piece of cheeze.

Truth be told....I wouldn't hire most ATS members. To many crybabies.

Aren't you the same clown that I've seen boasting about his "good looks" and "money" on this website before?

You are a rat, for sure, just maybe not the kind you imagine yourself to be.

Bless your heart and thank you for following my posts and threads on ATS. I'm truly humbled.

Yes, I am constantly amazed at the blessings the good lord saw fit to bestow on me.

What kind of "rat" do you see in me. Your opinion really matters to me.

originally posted by: olaru12

originally posted by: Talorc

originally posted by: olaru12

originally posted by: rickymouse

originally posted by: olaru12
a reply to: rickymouse

Going thru a University course of study and attaining a degree shows that at least you have the determination to achieve a goal. That counts for more than the actual knowledge...at least in a corporate setting. Team players and all that jazz....

Corporations are like the NFL...if you can't measure up, you get cut, traded or sent back to the farm team.

Life in the Rat Race. I lived in the Rat Race till I discovered other Rats consume you if you leave your guard down.

That's very true. Competition is fierce and the meanest rat always gets the big piece of cheeze.

Truth be told....I wouldn't hire most ATS members. To many crybabies.

Aren't you the same clown that I've seen boasting about his "good looks" and "money" on this website before?

You are a rat, for sure, just maybe not the kind you imagine yourself to be.

Bless your heart and thank you for following my posts and threads on ATS. I'm truly humbled.

Yes, I am constantly amazed at the blessings the good lord saw fit to bestow on me.

What kind of "rat" do you see in me. Your opinion really matters to me.

Good man. My opinion means nothing, it's true.

I rescind my earlier statements.

originally posted by: FrogGod
a reply to: infolurker

Colleges have a monopoly over their prices because of federal student loans.

If the government will pay money to anyone to go to college, obviously colleges are going to inflate their costs.

Someone for real needs to get rid of FAFSA and all government programs like it. When less people can afford college, which means less customers, the colleges will have to lower their prices.

I disagree. Assistance for college exists, because getting into college is prohibitively expensive, even for a lower cost school.

I think we can shave tuition in places though:
1. No more dorms. Instead of dorms, build 4 person apartments. Students start their college buying these apartments for 1/4 their value each. Over 4 years, they pay off this charge (it's about $550/month, what rent would cost, or less than a dorm). When they graduate, they own 25% equity in a home and have a place they can stay cheaply and work up, or job search.

Periodically have the state buy these homes back and resell them to the next batch. When people won't sell, just build new ones instead.

This teaches property management and investment. Imagine getting out of college and owning property just for having attended.

2. More internships. The schools should reach out to local business and put students in a job for training/real life experience. I think these are called practicum's. For credit, but they should be free to the student (currently you pay tuition to get the job). Fund them through a split on the proceeds of the students work.

3. Revise schedules, it has been my experience that a lot of programs run their degree requirements pretty loosely. Tighten things up, get Bachelors degrees down from 120 hours to 105 hours, with the final 15 being job seeking assistance. This is tough to do in practice though, because the only people qualified to criticize a degree audit are the experts teaching it or graduating from it (after some RL experience). I'm more pro gen ed than most people here, and I think it should be along the lines of 45 hours gen/60 hours major.

4. Entrance exams into any program. Getting into the school should be open to anyone. Test scores should matter for the specific program. With remedial classes for those who don't make it.

5. To pressure the money changers: College debt vanishes after 15 years. If you can't collect in that time, you're out the money. So only fund programs that turn out a return on investment.

AAANNND.....what makes it worse, S.S. Being reduced to pay back student-bad debt just to make sure it sucks for everyone.

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