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I work at an ivy league university. What grabbed my attention when I first saw the job posting was "tuition exemption." I got the job, but I thought simply being employed meant automatic admission; it didn't. So I put off applying for a few years. Finally, I applied and got in. I had to pay for books and student activities fees, but tuition--zilch! Now I have a BA!

My current job at the university sucks, but I think I hang around because of the opportunities to further my education. I've been thinking about grad school lately. Even if I don't get into one of the schools at my university, my union benefits will pay for classes elsewhere.

Which French disdain American private schools? I know plenty who want to come here to school, esp. Ivy League, perhaps for socio-economic reasons, or because resources are better. Nor did the French rank so well on the recent OECD test. Finland was #1, Canada #3 USA and France way down the list.

sorry for the typo ("universities" should have been "univerisity's" -- they did tell me at the French university that they didn't want people who couldn't spell well teaching their "little ones" when I complained about losing ten points for one tiny orthographic error in a three page essay! I'll never forget it.)

The difference between SUNY and "public" universities in Europe as far as I know from my experience in both the USA (BFA) and France (Masters), is that in Europe, you get in if you achieve your BAC (equivalent is a little higher than High School).

Then, every year, the worst students are sloughed off by the system. First year in my university (Paris 7), for example, had 4000 students. Second year, 2000. Third year, 1000. And fourth year, 500.

The bad students dropped by the system had the choice of going on to private universities (which they had to pay for, thus the idea that private universities are for failures, and thus the disdain for USA universities).

Since I was one of the survivors who made it to fourth year, I had no problem with this system. I did wonder, though, if the fourth year classes could have been bigger, or if the teachers were required to whittle down the population according to a combination of their discretion and the universities own capacities.

I love this, people has kids & lives them to pay the biggest amounts of money if they want to have a good life

When i was applying for college, i had very limited options because i knew from the get go i was going to be majoring in Jazz Saxophone. I'm from Illinois, but did not like any of the state programs there for music. I ended up going to Indiana University for 2 years and the SUNY Purchase for 2 years, where i finished/graduated. I have now about 18,000 in loans, which i dont regret, but if i had gone to the jazz program at Manhattan school of music, Berklee College of music, or the New School, I would have been even more in debt. Since the actual degree one receives from music school is pretty much useless, its strange that conservatories cost so damn much.

My husband and I are both finishing our last year of graduate school at Sarah Lawrence College. I gave birth to a daughter two weeks before grad school began and because of the expenses of moving from California and having a child, we've relied completely on student loans to pay for our education. He works full time, I work part-time and stay with our daughter, and we are making it work. Our first loan payment begins next month and although we'll live paycheck to paycheck for awhile, the education has been completely worth it and I wouldn't go back on the decision--even not for the $75,000 of debt we've accumulated. The education I've aquired has beniffeted me personally, my relationship with my husband, and it will be an important example to our daughter in the future.

This topic definitely touches home with anyone of our generation. We were thrown into the college world with no knowledge of how to properly, and responsibly take out loans, grants, etc. and after college find ourselves knee-deep in debt with no idea how to get out. I believe there should be a personal finances course that is mandatory for all high school students, which would walk each student through the proper way to obtain good credit, take out loans for school and actually understand the large responsibility you are taking on with these loans, how to save your money correctly, etc. Its absurd to think that 18 year olds will know what to do when their parents themselves have no knowledge of this new student loan process that we are all required to go through.

For cheap college options, students should take a look at Canadian Universities. There are some excellent schools there that cost about the same as a state school, with ivy-league caliber education. I went to McGill in Montreal (I am a New Yorker), and it was great and cheap. University of Toronto, Univ. of B.C., Guelph and Queens are also all great schools, just as good as top American Universities.

College students need to know that if they can get into a good PhD program, they are not only tuition free, but the school gives you a stipend to live on so you won't need to work during school.

There's one thing I rarely hear: not everyone needs to go to college! There's a sort of college inflation now, that leads everyone to think they need to have a college degree in things like cartooning, pasta making... it's silly! There are some things a person will become whether they mean to or not, and a minimum of degrees is necessary.

If your kid doesn't know what to do with his life, don't waste your money sending him to college learning nothing in particular. Send him to Europe with a Eurail pass. Don't add to the useless degrees begin accumulated out there which oblige people to get degrees for stuff they don't even need in order to succeed in their eventual chosen discipline.

There are technical schools out there just waiting for sound technicians, patternmakers (less glamorous than fashion designers but certainly more indispensable!), plumbers, electricians.... My brother is a GREAT electrician, and an artist, and very fulfilled in his life. He didn't need a degree from a fancy university.

You are not going to pay off $60,000 in loans in one year making $50,000 per year. It's called rent, food, car insurance, you will need basic clothes that will cost money!!

Wake up and smell the coffee!

I am paying off $40,000 in loans from undergrad eight years later still.

When I was applying to college, I started out in CUNY because it was less expensive, then transfered to NYU for my last year and a half of college. I had to take out student loans to attend NYU, but the amount of college loan debt was less than half of what it would have been had I gone to NYU for all four years.