New York May Offer Free Tuition Soon

[miah]

Student loans should not be higher interest than auto or mortgages (IMHO) ... it's just not fair.... it used to be that attending college and higher education could help raise you up out of poverty and debt.... not so sure that is as true now for the masses that use the traditional route of achieving higher education degrees...

I know plenty of kids paying their way through school, or who have grants and scholarships.  You do NOT have to take out tens of thousands of dollars of student loans to get through school!  If you can't afford it, you can choose less expensive schools, choose to work for a year or two instead of going to school, find jobs where they will pay for tuition, etc.  People who go to schools they can't afford and then take out tons of student loans to pay for it...well, that was just not smart.  I'm not talking about $10k in student loans, I'm talking $50-$150k.  That's just dumb.

And yes, when I was 18, and got accepted to Stanford, I thought it might be a great idea to take out loans to go, and my mom said ABSOLUTELY NOT!  Thank heavens someone in my life was smarter than I was right then, because I was an 18 year old moron.

I used to think that as well, but sometimes you don't have a choice to stay local if you want to get a degree such as Veterinary Technology or some other similar majors that are not available at every school, like business and psychology or education degrees are.

My nephews went to NYS SUNY schools and still graduated in debt! It is can cost $25,000 a year to attend STATE PUBLIC SCHOOLS in NYS by the time you add together tuition and fees and room and board and books!

Maybe other states are less expensive for instate students, but the cost of room and board is more than the cost of tuition and fees so you can't use that blanket statement for all students!

A 4 year degree will cost at least $100,000 in NYS at SUNY colleges. These are state colleges and universities, not private colleges!

Don't most 4-year colleges offer business, psychology, and education? Those are the most popular majors in the country.

I would bet $1 million that most SUNY students take out nowhere near $100k in loans. I don't think people realize how difficult it is for dependent students to find that much loan money.

RE: "Don't most 4-year colleges offer business, psychology, and education? Those are the most popular majors in the country."

*** Yes, that was my point, and that is what I said. 
My point being that it might work out fine when you are going to college for a more common degree (psych, business, education)... but if you are going for a more specialized degree that isn't offered by that many colleges, then you are sort of stuck at the mercy of having to go wherever the degree is offered; 
and if it's not local, you're going to have to spend much more than if you could have stayed living at home with your family.
Plus, I personally know that middle class students are taking out that much because my family and friends children are spending that much paying back student loans for attending state schools!!!
So while it might be true statistically that the average may not be that high for a majority of all students,  but there are many that are carrying a significant student loan debt, and many of their families are carrying parental loan debts!!!