<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>alex504</author><text>The school spends 60% of its revenue selling itself as an elite education to people who don&amp;#x27;t qualify or need an elite education. They employ salesmen and incentivize them to be as aggressive as they legally can. They then deliver a subpar education, by every metric, compared to schools that cost half as much.&lt;p&gt;This is a predatory scam that targets low-income individuals who want an education and a career and pretty much guarantees an outcome of long-term financial instability.&lt;p&gt;Of course the victims have some of the responsibility, but&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;Adults have a right to make poor choices.&lt;p&gt;Puts these supposedly prestigious schools at about the same ethical level as a casino, a tobacco company or a pay day loan operation. What USC is doing is arguably worse than a casino because it&amp;#x27;s using the reputation of a prestigious university to take advantage of people who want an education, while simultaneously siphoning money from taxpayers.</text></comment>