Pssss...student loans, who cares

[WindRavenX]

I mean, it's not like I depend entirely for student loans to continue my education to become a teacher...
It's not like millions of kids are now going to never have a shot at attending PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES because of this...
And I mean, really, education? Is it that important? I mean, fucking Kansas shows you can be a dumbfuck and that's ok because apparently saying "we can't explain it so we're gonna say God did it" is just as valid as a SCIENTIFIC FACT.
It's not like my best friend won't be able to finish school if his aid is cut.

I really really can't take this shit anymore. So many of us students are trying to get an education because we want to learn and we're having doors shut. Fuck this shit. Revel in your ignorance, America, because I'm leaving this shit. I don't care anymore. If your kid is dumb, stop whining. I was trying to stop that by becoming a teacher, but hey, if you don't care anymore, I won't care about you anymore. :cry:

[Catherine Vincent]

1. It does seem hopeless at times.

Unbelievable what the Bush cabal is doing to this country.

[Davis_X_Machina]

2. A Republican is someone...

...who can't drive by a treehouse without imagining himself inside it, pulling up the ladder.

[Horse with no Name]

3. I remember once being told

that this WAS the land of opportunity.
That anyone that wanted an education could find a way.
I don't believe that anymore.:cry:
I have a daughter in college and one entering college next fall.
I wonder how I will be able to make it all work.:(

[ObaMania]

20. This isn't the ;and of opportunity and there is no 'Murkin dream..

.. anymore.

Compliments of Smirkie!

[WindRavenX]

4. you know what?

I'm dropping out. This is the last straw.

I don't care anymore.

[MissB]

7. Please don't.

Bush won't be in office forever.

[WindRavenX]

9. it doesn't matter

There is a SYSTEMATIC approach to KILLING education in this country and making it availible only for the fucking aristocrats that run this fucking coutry. And people embrace that.
It's not going to get better. They're cutting funds, dumbing down education- this will outlast long after Bush.

I can't deal with it anymore.

[linazelle]

5. In the words of my favorite president, "I feel your pain."

Hang in there. These are trying times but you will find a way. What's sad is so many others won't--they don't have a clue how to begin to find their way.

Oh well, we either pay now or pay later.

Fuck them.

[ClevelandSportsCurse]

6. You're not alone

I depend entirely on student loans to get through law school. I take out both the subsidized and unsubsidized loans. Paying the interest every month on the latter just to keep the principal at its original amount is getting more cumbersome with rising interest rates.

Hopefully, if I become a successful lawyer someday, I can make enough money to pay it all back, but with the Republicans making a society of haves and have nots, that is far from being a guarantee.

[mtowngman]

8. Every time I ask anyone at school what they're majoring in

and they tell me education, my response is always "Thank you". Don't quit. Let this make you more determined. Become a teacher. We need you.

[WindRavenX]

10. I want to teach biology

But I won't be able to BECAUSE I TALK ABOUT EVOLUTION. That's what SCIENTISTS DO.

FUCK THESE FUCKING ASSHOLES. I'm losing it.

[mtowngman]

13. I'm taking bio. this semester

and my professor made it clear from the first day that he believed in evolution by natural selection. In fact, we're doing two chapters on Darwin. You're right, fuck these assholes, they don't even think. Now why let them determine our future?

[WindRavenX]

14. Seriously...

I am at the point where I literally tell people to fuck off if they say evolution doesn't exist. I'm sorry, but I don't talk to fucking morons. It's the exact same thing if you say gravity is "only a theory". I don't talk to fucking idiots.

[annabanana]

16. So far it's just Kansas...

And I get a feeling THAT won't last long. Nobody wants to live in the State most famous for being stupid...
Take a deep breath shug..count to ten and hang in there. We need as many scientists and science teachers as we can get so we can rebuild this Country's reputation.

[hfojvt]

31. it is not just Kansas

although non-Kansans seem to want to bash Kansas like it is. It fits the preconceived notion that Kansans are a bunch of hayseed farmers who have something wrong with them that some book explains. Read the article, or the snippet.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051108/us_nm/life_evolution_kansas_dc_2

Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Pennsylvania have in the past few years introduced questions about the validity of evolution into their curriculum but Kansas goes farther.

[jbnow]

11. Wait, were they already cut?

I thought the house put off voting on budget because of objections to cut in student loans, food stamps and medical programs.

As far as who cares, not that it helps but Lou Dobbs sure does. I walked back into the room during his show and he sounded angrier about what they want to do (or did do?) to student loans then you do.

I wish they could cut loans and replace them with grants. It's crazy how much debt people come out of school with.

[WindRavenX]

12. I just was txd from a friend

(Who's also a bio/ed major). They were cut.

[damntexdem]

15. And it's not just cuts to student loans.

States have severely cut their support of state universities, leading to rapid tuition increases for students who find it harder to get loans. Talk about killing the goose that laid the golden egg! And what's China doing? Developing research universities, preparing for the future in which they plan to dominate us.

[WindRavenX]

17. china is going to kick our asses

Seriously.

[Selatius]

18. I'm a student as well

I've got the equivalent of a car note's worth of college debt on my back. I wonder about the fairness of a system where the wealthiest have the most ease at affording an education, while those who are of more modest means have to struggle.

[WindRavenX]

19. we're almost at the point where unless you ARE rich...

..you can't get ANY higher education Even public colleges/universities are now becoming OUT OF REACH for middle America :(

[Selatius]

23. Yeah, I've had to take time off to earn money, actually

Things were a lot easier if you were a student back in the 1960s or 1970s. A third of the time I've been in college has been devoted to trying to pay off the damn bills instead of studying. I'm a pretty sharp person, I believe. I avoid credit cards like the plague, unlike so many others I know, and I try to keep the living as cheap as possible, but it's not easy living on something that's barely more than $5.15 an hour.

[Cleita]

21. Actually, our government should offer free education to

all students who have worked hard and deserve it. It's an investment in our country's future to make sure the best and brightest are educated regardless of their circumstances. There shouldn't be any student loans needed. There was a time in California that all residents could get a university education providing they met the entrance requirements. Governor Reagan changed all of that.

[Rainscents]

22. I heard today on Ed Schultz show,

Democrats is going to come out with 10 - 15 points they're going to introduce to America people and I heard one of first 5 point is going to be about free higher Education to all who work (while going to school) for exchange for higher education. My understanding is, this was talked about this past Sunday on Tim Russet Sunday morning. I don't know when DEM'S is planning on coming out with this... I am very excited and can't wait!

[Selatius]

24. Well, we've failed, Cleita

We've fallen behind most if not all other industrialized countries. The consequences could be severe. I've run into many who think such an idea is a waste of money. "Why should I spend money on somebody I don't know? Why should I spend money so that frat boys and college students can blow their first year of college on booze and parties?"

[Cleita]

26. Err, wouldn't the frat boys be the ones whose parents

are wasting their money putting them through college? Back in the days when you could get a free education in the University, those kids were also working part time jobs to support themselves. There wasn't any money or time for drinking and partying.

I also forgot to add that the standards were higher so any kid that didn't keep up their average grades and met their requirements were usually told to leave even the rich kids.

[Selatius]

28. You sure that's true?

Bush was a poor student, and he got into Princeton, was it?

The arguments I've seen most from people against subsidized college education for all students is mostly based on taxation. I live in Mississippi where public education is needed the most, yet they fail to understand the fundamental concept that the less taxes people pay, the fewer services they get in return.

[Cleita]

29. The University of California was tuition free for all

California residents back in the early sixties, PROVIDING THEY MET THE REQUIREMENTS. The standards from high school were your grades in high school, B or more, you had to meet certain minimum classes in math, science, english, languages, like so many classes or years in this and that. Then there were the entrance tests or SATS as they are called now.

This really determined wether you could get in or not. But once you met the requirements, your tuition was free if you were a California resident. You still had to buy books, pay lab fees and support yourself, but so many kids were able to manage this. Also, the GI bill helped many vets get through college.

Now you could still go there if you were rich and join the club of frats and sororities, but you still had to meet the requirements. Once you were attending you had to keep a C average and do a minimum number of units a semester to stay in. Anyone who fell below the standards was kicked out.

I think one of the reasons they cut out the tuition free benefit was because many of the rich kids weren't able to meet the standards. When they cut the tuition benefit then the university had to lower its standards to attract students who could afford to pay, and maybe they weren't as bright as the previous ones.

I think it's a shame.

[Selatius]

32. Tell me, how come California didn't reverse Reagan's policies?

Why can't the Democratic Party in California reinstitute this?

[Cleita]

33. From what I understand there was a lot of other politics going on.

For one the Hearst family of Republicans were also regents and a big part of how the University would eventually be governed. I'm not really familiar with exactly how it all ended but I think you would find a lot of the rich Republicans of this state are very much involved. They really don't think anyone should go to college unless they pay for it and really struggle for it. Of course that doesn't apply to their inbred offspring.

[Selatius]

35. Well, what has the Democratic Party done since then?

I know very well the nexus between Republicans and the financial elite in this country, but what is holding back the Dems from campaigning on this???

[Cleita]

36. I think they have been fighting Ahnold and the Bush

machine behind him. I do hope they can get back to doing what needs to be done for our kids and our citizens one of these days.

[darkmaestro019]

25. oh, yes

I hit that neat little wall of parents-won't-help, kicked out, and told that without their cosigning, despite their refusal to give me a dime, I could get no aid till I was 25. By then, I couldn't get enough aide to go back. And I'm told I'm unemployed because I'm lazy and I should just "go back to school" Fabulous little catch-22, there.

Opportunity to slave for next to no pay and zero benefits, maybe. And my brother, whom my parents liked, owes ludicrous money back, and makes about what I do an hour when I actually AM employed. So I don't know if I'd bother going back to college even if I could, having seen it do the few friends I know who managed it next to no good.

[No Exit]

27. Get up and vote the damn repukelican robbers out!!!!

I feel your pain! My son also needs student loans!

If we can't vote the repuke criminals out, and put in people who will keep student loan options open, then we need to just revert to the days of the French Revolution. I've had it, too!!!

[kentuck]

30. Education may be the most important issue out there but....

..with a war going on, people losing their freedoms, their jobs, their homes, it is not at the top of most "average" person's agenda. It will not win a lot of elections, in other words. Just my opinion.

[NuttyFluffers]

34. plan as all the students i know -- get ready to leave america! :D

think about how in demand you'll be elsewhere! you have 2 great advantages! you already speak english, currently the international language of business and money. AND, you are working to get a degree in education -- of a hard science!!! :D china, korea, japan, parts of europe, will be scrambling over themselves to get you to teach their students BIOLOGY in ENGLISH! ;) all the technical terminology and all the american slang! they'll love you!

and there's always new zealand! they want more people! it's beautiful there.

remember, you're in demand! (warning, offer not valued in cultural backwaters, decaying empires, and lands where dark ages feudalism is resurging... which currently now include america.)

ps: you can always send your absentee ballot from overseas! :D