<story><title>USC pushed a $115k online degree – graduates got low salaries, huge debts</title><url>https://www.wsj.com/articles/usc-online-social-work-masters-11636435900</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>999900000999</author><text>Ehh eh.&lt;p&gt;I went to a CSU for like 6k a year.&lt;p&gt;If you want to be elitist and attend the most expensive school possible, you have to eventually pay for it.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;
Ms. Fowler, a 2018 graduate, enjoyed the program but owes $307,000 in total student-loan debt, including about $200,000 from the master’s degree. She said she earns $48,000 as a community mental-health therapist in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.&lt;p&gt;This translates into paying 300k to feel prestigious. At dinner parties she gets to tell everyone about how she&amp;#x27;s a USC grad.&lt;p&gt;Adults have a right to make poor choices.&lt;p&gt;That said, having a hard cap of 100k unless enrolling in a high paid field ( Dr , Lawyer, anything that requires a state sanctioned license) would be a good idea.&lt;p&gt;The problem with Student Loan forgiveness is it would typically help the highest paid Americans. Most people with 100k plus in loans also make very good money.&lt;p&gt;Why in God&amp;#x27;s name would you go 300k in debt to make 50k ?&lt;p&gt;I see the same problem with boot camps, instead of accepting that building a six-figure career just takes a while, people want a shortcut. I got to six-figure figures without even having a BA, but it took a long time in a lot of very hard work.&lt;p&gt;Actually it only took me about 3 years from dropping out of college to my first six-figure job, but I was programming at least 40 hours a week back then. This was after work of course. Even now I&amp;#x27;m off and happiest when I&amp;#x27;m building my side projects.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>david38</author><text>Yes, adults can make poor choices.  Agreed.&lt;p&gt;Said choices should be constrained though.  She wouldn&amp;#x27;t be allowed to buy a 300k car with no possibility of bankruptcy.&lt;p&gt;The lender is made of adults as well.  They also made poor choices.  Why is a group of adults hiding behind a piece of paper allowed to be saved from their poor choices while an individual not?</text></comment>
<story><title>USC pushed a $115k online degree – graduates got low salaries, huge debts</title><url>https://www.wsj.com/articles/usc-online-social-work-masters-11636435900</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>999900000999</author><text>Ehh eh.&lt;p&gt;I went to a CSU for like 6k a year.&lt;p&gt;If you want to be elitist and attend the most expensive school possible, you have to eventually pay for it.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;
Ms. Fowler, a 2018 graduate, enjoyed the program but owes $307,000 in total student-loan debt, including about $200,000 from the master’s degree. She said she earns $48,000 as a community mental-health therapist in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.&lt;p&gt;This translates into paying 300k to feel prestigious. At dinner parties she gets to tell everyone about how she&amp;#x27;s a USC grad.&lt;p&gt;Adults have a right to make poor choices.&lt;p&gt;That said, having a hard cap of 100k unless enrolling in a high paid field ( Dr , Lawyer, anything that requires a state sanctioned license) would be a good idea.&lt;p&gt;The problem with Student Loan forgiveness is it would typically help the highest paid Americans. Most people with 100k plus in loans also make very good money.&lt;p&gt;Why in God&amp;#x27;s name would you go 300k in debt to make 50k ?&lt;p&gt;I see the same problem with boot camps, instead of accepting that building a six-figure career just takes a while, people want a shortcut. I got to six-figure figures without even having a BA, but it took a long time in a lot of very hard work.&lt;p&gt;Actually it only took me about 3 years from dropping out of college to my first six-figure job, but I was programming at least 40 hours a week back then. This was after work of course. Even now I&amp;#x27;m off and happiest when I&amp;#x27;m building my side projects.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>BizarroLand</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t know if there is a solution to this, but it seems like the cost should be somehow equivalent to the average payout. I feel that college in general would serve the country better if the results were tied to the expenses and efforts required. A Sociology degree that empowers people to make life changes for disadvantaged and neglected people (while living on subsistence wages) would serve our future better if it were basically free, whereas STEM degrees that increase your likelihood of retiring a millionaire by 50% over the average could be feasibly worthwhile if they cost $300k.&lt;p&gt;I took on $65k of loans for my BS but make six figures myself, so it was worth it for me. I can&amp;#x27;t image 5x the cost for 1&amp;#x2F;3rd the reward. That&amp;#x27;s just stupid.&lt;p&gt;I admit that the person who took this path is to blame for some of it, but a college tying $300,000 to a degree that earns $5&amp;#x2F;hr more than a fry cook is also at some level to blame along with the path society took to enable this scenario to exist in the first place.</text></comment>