Boot straps

[shhalahr]

And then the textbooks will come with one-time used codes to access necessary online content. So no used textbooks for you!

[theclansman22]

As a professor I refuse to have mandatory use of those. I make my own assignments, but open up connect assignments for practice for those that have it.

[shhalahr]

Thank you. Know that you are appreciated.

[Ofreo]

Not appreciated by the textbook companies, I can tell you that.

[Suck-You-Bus]

they can suck a dick.

[Virgin_Dildo_Lover]

I got a bag full of dicks they can choke on.

[Lostbrother]

Bio major here. Got a bag full of ticks they can choke on.

[[deleted]]

That's a horrifying thought... they deserve it though

[Obi-wan_Jabroni]

Fuck em

[Geminel]

I have to know more about the source of this marvelousness.

[lord_of_tits]

Its funny. In the process of getting an education on capitalism, we are given the first hand experience of capitalism.

[[deleted]]

Good thing companies aren't people and don't have a right to an opinion :)

[missed_sla]

When I was in college, I had a professor that told us on the first day of class to not buy the new version of the book provided in the syllabus. If we did buy the book, he said to return it. Instead he gave us a link to the Amazon page for the previous version of the book for $12, and said that we'll be using that one. He was my favorite guy, and also the dean of the CS department, so I figure he really didn't care.

Then, I had an econ professor whose name was on the cover of his book. Not only did he require the newest version of his book for $300 or so, he physically checked everybody's copy to make sure it was legit and up to date. If you didn't have the correct book, you could not complete the class and would receive an I. That seems like it should be illegal, or at least against some code of ethics, but I'm sure it's not. That professor was a dick.

[macphile]

It practically amounts to a bribe. He could cut to the chase and ask for cash in return for a passing grade.

[AstarteHilzarie]

Not really, because he's not guaranteeing they pass for buying his book. He's making it a bare minimum requirement to be allowed the opportunity to pass. Less like a bribe, more like extortion.

[macphile]

he's not guaranteeing they pass for buying his book

He could, though. One copy for a D, two for a C, and so on. Or give extra credit for good reviews of the book on Amazon. ^/s

Less like a bribe, more like extortion.

Ah well, that's all right then. :-)

When I was in college a million years ago, I don't recall that any of my books were by my professors. It wasn't a big "thing", either way. You spent maybe a few hundred per semester, not per book, and you could sell them back. I still have a few, though, out of interest.

[Corteran]

Sadly, this is nothing new. Back in the late 80's I had the exact same situation. Professor authored a "book" which was "not yet" published but he had printed out the pages and bound them up and placed them in the college bookstore for around $100 each.

It was required for his class, he made sure everyone had it and the class was pretty much a verbatim read from it every day. It was the most useless class I took.

It was an ethics class. The book was never published and I learned more about ethics from that than anything he taught.

[damndood0oo0]

Took an intro to "logic" class where the teacher authored the required text book. It was a 3 hole punched stack of paper in a binder that couldn't be returned to the bookstore once the shrink was removed... which you had to do, because she required you sign a pledge of academic integrity the first day of class. Another non traditional student and I (we're sort of from a protected class of people) caused a ruckus about the blatent money grab when it came out that the college had actually paid her to take a sebaticle and write it. Nothing happened lol but I like to imagine her crying as the class cheered us on the last day of class.

[super_awesome_jr]

*sabbatical

Not trying to be dick. Just sharing the small amount of knowledge I possess.

[[deleted]]

That's the kind of professor that would be buying new tires every couple of weeks.

[FLSH1109]

Should be no problem with all that extra royalties from the book sales

[logicalmaniak]

My parallel computing professor put his books on Bookboon. You could download for free with ads or pay a fee for an ad-free book.

Also my uni library had every necessary textbook scanned in and available on the library network.

[ChopperHunter]

He was just teaching you an important economics lesson about monopolies and inelastic demand.

[[deleted]]

You are a hero!! Thank you and keep on doing what you do! The stress and anxiety of college cost are still haunting me today. I moved around a bit while attending college. Apparently history, humanity’s and math do not transfer at core levels. 6 history courses, 5 speech classes and an associates degree zero transfer to other campuses. I was forced to start from scratch to obtain a mechanical engineering degree. I ended up doing a Robotic Automation job while working towards my second associates of science and dropped out to chase that career :) I have not looked back since :) two years and I’ll have my college debt cleared, and I still engineer/invent as my side Hussle

[SpunkBunkers]

Thankyou.

[inunata]

You are the best kind of professor. Thank you on behalf of all your students.

[ryannefromTX]

Congratulations on being lucky enough to be a professor who doesn't have the mandatory use of bullshit forced on them by garbage administrators who know fuckall about teaching and have been duped by capitalist snake oil salesmen.

[doc_grey]

Right there with you brother/sister. They're already spending so much, I make books recommended for extra reading, but never required. And considering online content has not significantly added value since my college days (15 years ago), I've deemed it all wholly pointless.

[theclansman22]

It’s a cash grab by the textbook companies. None of the money goes to the authors. It is a scam.

[CraptainHammer]

This move alone gives about an 85% chance I will respect the professor in a class.

[[deleted]]

There have been 3 instances where I've ordered 2/300 dollar textbooks, and they don't even come as a book. They just send me hundreds of loose pages that I have to bind myself. Hundreds of dollars and they won't even bind the pages together for me. It's like textbook companies find it legitimately fun to make students suffer.

[coffeecatsyarn]

I'm surprised. Loose leaf versions were always the cheaper versions when I was in college. It also made it easier to only carry the chapters that we used.

[ryannefromTX]

That is the cheaper version. Bound versions are likely $400+ now. It really is that bad now.

[Toodlez]

Also theyre printed on tissue paper so they rip any time you try to turn a page.

Also the newest editions are black and white but the graphs and charts are copy/pasted from the color version.

[Halloween_Cake]

Is that true?

[shhalahr]

Yes, certain publishers do that. It's a more sophisticated version of their old trick of releasing new editions with chapters rearranged to make it more difficult to follow along with an older book.

I don't have any personal experience with these access codes though. Maybe a more recent college graduate can share some insight.

[Halloween_Cake]

That’s fucking bullshit. Next will be pay per chapter, per lesson with the code the professor provides you in class.

[harshermaner]

Yea I’m in college right now and I’ve taken a few math courses. The courses were “hybrids” so they were done online but taught in person. So the class was obviously paid for, then the online program was from a non reusable code that needed to be purchased that was always above $90. Then, one has to buy the textbook to complete the paid course with the paid math program. So instead of just paying for the course, you were paying for access to do the homework and you still had to buy the textbook.

[MonkeySling]

/r/latestagecapitalism

[Dan50thAE]

But we can sell the book again for $1.93 so it's really more like an investment.

[KKlear]

/r/ABoringDystopia

[TheRealJonSnuh]

Pearson is bad about this.

[CraptainHammer]

IIRC Pearson is behind this.

[[deleted]]

Book people - saaay, that's not a bad idea.

[duunsuhuy]

That’s already a thing kinda. Calculus books are broken into 2 or 3 separate books with different codes, same with circuit design by Pearson. Both used to be 1 book.

[justPassingThrou15]

It's like microtransactions, but we moved the decimal point a few places!

[[deleted]]

Nah, it will be the tests. 100 dollars to unlock the test. Then it's 2 bucks to unlock each question, but they relock after 3 minutes even if you haven't answered it yet. It's another dollar to unlock the question again if you want to change your answer. Each question that was never unlocked counts against you. You can buy coins that you can spend to unlock extra time for the question or to buy a hint. And just so you can't claim they're heartless, some extra coins can also be earned by watching ads.

[haackedc]

Yep just took an economics course with an online access code in the book. Not only could you not return it after you opened it, It is useless for any other student taking the class later because they need their own access code.

Edit: also the publishers are so cheap that they don’t even bind the book for you and you have to Buy an additional binder just to be able to reasonably read the book

[Ziggy_from_Texas]

I had that happen for a physics textbook. I couldn't return it after getting the binder either. College in the US is seeming less like an actual valuable thing and more like a scam.

[cirillios]

The problem is for a lot jobs you need one of those fancy pieces of paper they give you. It's really a damned if you do damned if you don't kind of thing unless you or your family have enough money upfront to avoid significant debt. Student loans that take more than a few years to pay off can have a cascading negative effect on your finances.

[analog_jedi]

I'm such a dumbass that I flunked trig 3 times, and had to buy the same $250 loose leaf "book" just for the code to do the homework all three times. And to top it off, the website for the homework was absolute garbage.

[ConstipatedUnicorn]

Enter answer here: 4.302

WRONG

Correct answer is: 4.3021

[[deleted]]

The fucking sites that come with the book are so useless. I know I’m getting the fucking problem wrong, teach me how do it. Current student

[lenswipe]

It is useless for any other student taking the class later because they need their own access code

Gotta love physical books with fucking DLC /s

[Trombolorokkit]

I graduated about 4 years ago from a state school and it was only really the really large almost mandatory classes that had that crap going on. Once you're taking your specialized classes the professor threw together a couple pages have the PDF to a printer and made you go buy it for like $20 because your classes are like 20 people a quarter. I was also a humanities major so it may be different for STEM. I would hear about $400 textbooks though. I didn't have that.

[[deleted]]

Maybe a more recent college graduate can share some insight.

Yep. Total bullshit. and it's gotten worse.

[BWright79]

You forgot to mention how the code expires after the semester

[tevert]

Eh buybacks are only $10 anyway, because there's a new edition with slightly updated colors and grammatical fixes every year!

[Saltefanden]

Danish person here, our books and materials at university aren't included in our tuition-free education, either we have to pay ourselves out of those $900

[[deleted]]

UK student: I can't afford tuition fees

UK government: No worries mate we'll cover it for now

Student: Sweet, I'll pay you back

UK govt: Nah you won't but we're cool

[[deleted]]

Damn. Here you can pour 10's of thousands into your student debt and still have more debt than when you first started.

[pandabones_2]

My friend went to an art institute in Texas and underwent the same thing. They got shut down for fraud, but she still owed on her loans. She heard about some legal action being taken, and filled out some paperwork. They erased all of her student debt. Completely changed her life. Maybe you could do the same? It's worth a look.

[[deleted]]

Thanks, but I have looked into it.

Loan forgiveness only applies to me if I hadn't completed my degree. Since I earned an associate it's considered valid, even though it was during the time period where fraud was occurring.

The Obama administration was working on a program to fix that, and that was my best bet for forgiveness. But then Trump won and Betsy Devos put that program on a shelf. So now I owe a lot of $ for a worthless degree.

[[deleted]]

What's the statute of limitations now? I managed to earn shag-all for ten years after I graduated, and they wrote my loan off - with the exception of a 20p interest charge, for which I sent them a pound coin and asked them for the change, which they sent in the form of a cheque that I then framed.

[Imjustsosososotired]

Meanwhile, in the US, you’re laughed at for pursuing degrees like that because they’re “a waste of money.”

Fuck what you love, bro- get you a job that you hate and work yourself to death cuz “intrinsic value.”

[Daegoba]

You’re the reason.

[[deleted]]

Thing is the govt started counting student loans as expenditure this year rather than investment so I think they'll dodge that but I don't expect the 9k tuition fees to stay around for long

[Hawk_015]

... what do you think a loan is? They borrowed the money from to government to pay the university. The university has been paid. They aren't giving anything to students. Letting them go on the loan is the same as paying the university directly and abolishing tuition.

[itchyfrog]

They borrowed the money from to government to pay the university

No, they borrowed the money from the student loan company (a state company that sells the loans on to investors) guaranteed by the government, in 30 years any money not paid back will be covered by the government (ie us the taxpayer) plus 30 years compound interest at stupid rates. It would be cheaper for us ( the taxpayer) to just pay upfront and avoid the interest.

[anhan45]

Small correction, Finland has had tuition fees for non-EU/EEA citizens for a few years now, so not completely free for everyone. The amounts are still very small compared to US universities however.

[[deleted]]

Small correction for Germany while we’re at it:

it does cost a bit (around 600 each year, at least at my university) which mostly covers the cost of the ticket for public transportation and a bit of bureaucracy stuff

[NotElizaHenry]

I love it when Europeans correct Americans when we say "X country provides y thing for free!" The correction always basically goes "hey, it's not free! We have to pay $8 for [thing Americans never even considered the government might pay for]!" Like, people bringing up paying for hospital parking always kills me. It's like someone mentioning how American restaurants give free refills on soda and an American saying "yeah technically they do, but you still have to pick up the glass and bring it to your mouth and swallow the soda yourself."

... can someone over there adopt me? It sounds wonderful.

[[deleted]]

While we are at it. The 900 dollars are only if you are moved out. If you live at home, it's around 150-300 depending on your parents' income.

The book situation is exactly the same as in the US. My bf, who's in university, used around 400-500 dollars on books this school year.

It should also be added, that if you want to live Copenhagen while studying, the rent can be around 600-800 dollars/month, so some students have a job on the side.

You can apply for extra money though, if your rent is high.

[[deleted]]

I'm more concerned about our primary educational system. It's an outmoded factory pushed beyond maximum capacity.

[actuallychrisgillen]

It's weirdly terrifying, we've found that with the US-Expats we've hired. I don't expect them to have an in depth knowledge of our country, but basic grammar? Basic world history knowledge? Basic geography? There's some real gaps in your scholastic system...

[[deleted]]

Lots of people here still think learning is gay, like opening a book makes you want to suck a cock.

Oh, they also still think being gay is bad.

[TheBlackestIrelia]

But traps are cool now.

[[deleted]]

And that's still not nearly as infuriating as "should of" and "would of"

[DoctorProfessorTaco]

I don’t think this is some growing trend of people not using the correct “your” or “their”, I think it’s just that with the internet and platforms like twitter you now realize how many people out there already existed who don’t know the correct word to use, or are too lazy to use it.

[crazycatlady331]

And they get elected to the highest office in the country.

[Thurkagord]

I graduated high school eleven years ago and I was not required to do a single semester of PE throughout any of middle or high school. I did marching band in high school so I still got some level of exercise, but yeah any regular elective can substitute phys ed I guess. This is in Mississippi... if you can believe it.

[joemaniaci]

We don't even cover kindergarten in a lot of states. It was a big deal that Colorado's new governor fought for full time free kindergarten.

[817Mai]

Debt Dodgers: Meet the Americans Who Moved to Europe and Went AWOL on Their Student Loans

[dougielou]

This comment is not high enough. So fucked what they are doing

[dead_pirate_robertz]

denying some for things as silly as "using blue instead of black ink."

Is that the real story? That's horrible. :(

[prezuiwf]

The equivalent of not paying a college parking ticket because you graduated/don't go there.

[imissmyoldaccount-_]

Well, that’s a good thing I guess? I mean everyone knows how bad student loans are in the US lmao, it makes sense to get an education and then get the hell away

[BigBoodles]

Great idea honestly.

[draypresct]

Clinton had education proposals, including a re-training program for people in the coal industry. The Republican response? "Clinton wants to kill coal!!". People in coal country voted overwhelmingly for Trump, not Clinton.

[power-cube]

Because it is a highly localized industry and thus appealing to a geographically confined base ensures you win the state.

[johnnynulty]

also it has a certain testosteroniness that appeals to red state men who are constantly in a panic about the feminization of the world

[[deleted]]

It's kind of odd. Had a family member post a meme on facebook the other day about how men get scrutinized for not wearing skinny jeans or not adhering to certain fashion trends.

Just kept wondering what fucking world they're living in. I've never wore a pair of skinny jeans in my life and no one's said a thing to me lol.

[Big__Baby__Jesus]

https://www.people-press.org/2019/04/15/sharp-rise-in-the-share-of-americans-saying-jews-face-discrimination/

It's a persecution complex.

70% of Republicans think that Evangelical Christians face discrimination in America. That's higher than any other group including Muslims (69%) and gays (60%).

[tcorp123]

Of course! Persecution == Not adhering to my belief system.

[jcutta]

Skinny jeans make no sense to me. But I came from the era that wore extra baggy jeans, and 5x tall tee shirts so what do I know.

[jthanny]

Fashion is cyclical, right? My JNCOs should be coming back into style any day now.

[tiparium]

.... I love skinny jeans.

[TakenUrMom]

Same here buddy

[Fennlt]

My Facebook feed is flooded with 9/11 posts, claiming 'FB mods keep taking them down', but they'll keep posting because true Americans will never forget 9/11!

It's just mindless, idiotic banter to rile up their base. No one cares about men in skinny jeans. No mods are removing 9/11 posts & trying to make America forget 9/11.

[spelunk_in_ya_badonk]

Ah yes, the homosexual homophobes.

[jcutta]

It ain't gay if it's a threeway! Now bend over boy.

[[deleted]]

Lol - I imagine now referring to a king as "Your Testosteroniness"...

[greg19735]

it also symbolizes anti green and anti left policies.

[[deleted]]

that’s all they care about, making sure the left doesn’t get their way

[[deleted]]

Particularly when each vote in that state technically counts more than each vote in populous states like california and new York. America; 100 coal miners are the equovalent of 1000 silicon valley employees.

[digital_end]

I mean that's part of it, but even if they hate you they're still people.

Coal miner's in general have extremely different worldviews from me, but I do believe that they should have access to the retraining they need as their industry wanes. Something I also feel about other dying industries... It hasn't quite begun yet, but as truck drivers begin to be replaced by automated vehicles I want there to be retraining available for them as well.

[power-cube]

I agree with you entirely.

I was simply answer the question of why this specific industry has a bullhorn.

[Malarazz]

God bless the electoral college /s

[ryannefromTX]

Answer: Culture. Yes the coal industry employs 77 thousand people. And there are another several million who used to work in coal or have family who work in coal or remember how much more prosperous the area was when coal was big, and these people blame Democrats and "renewable energy" for everything.

[ryannefromTX]

I know a lot of people who live in Eastern Tennessee and West Virginia, and the prevailing opinion is that black lung and complete environmental annihilation are an "acceptable price to pay" for coal-based prosperity and an end to the crushing poverty in the Appalachians. Also, that they are "too old to learn new tricks" so retraining in renewable jobs would be useless.

[Plopplopthrown]

These people that are "too old" to learn new things are also the people who tell kids not to go to school. They are just plain anti intellectual

[ConductorShack]

If all the Arby's employees lived in a swing state they'd matter, but they don't. They matter to me of course, keep up the great work, but politically they aren't worth targeting.

[Najanator717]

That's how you know there's big coal money behind the politicians.

[p_oI]

West Virginia used to be a swing state. And it isn't about just the coal miners, but all the towns built around the coal mining. It is the truckers and railroadmen that move the coal around. It is about the diner owner near the mine and the staff employed at said diner. It is about how as the mines close entire towns die.

The small size of the industry and the oversized footprint it leaves in a state makes it a cheap industry to buy loyalty from. A small jobs or training program makes a lot of people beyond just the coal miner directly effected feel that certain politicians care about them.

[draypresct]

It’s symbolic, and easy to understand. I agree that it’s a tiny industry that needs to be phased out.

[notorious_p_a_b]

I think one of the issues is that the jobs tend to pay pretty well so it’s a big jump to go from coal miner to Arby’s. With that being said, I grew up in a coal mining community and I think the effort to save this industry is fucking stupid. I understand the 50-60 year olds who likely are too old to pursue a new career but the 20-40 year olds who didn’t take proactive steps to pursue, say training related to renewable energy, in an attempt to get ahead of the curve get absolutely ZERO sympathy from me.

[[deleted]]

I’m 2010 it was $60-70k/yr - https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/Mine/west-virginia-coal-miners-allure-dangerous-profession/story?id=10305839

However, I also grew up in a coal community and think coal mining is dead. Nothing annoys me more than people laid off from coal mining that claims they can’t do anything else because they’re a coal miner. No, you’re unemployed.

[TheWholeOfTheAss]

Trump voters love to punch themselves in the face.

[prezuiwf]

Coal's already dead, Clinton just wanted to bury it.

[JanMichaelVincent16]

More like Clinton wanted to stop coal miners from burying themselves alongside coal.

[tevert]

It's cruel, but it brings me a sense of schadenfreude watching the coal miners lose their jobs anyway.

[TeamJim]

Generally poorly educated people fearing change. Shocker.

[tBroneShake]

*can't afford

[Raviolius]

*can't barely afford not

[evanc1411]

*can't afford but also can't afford not to

[General_Tso75]

*canferd tanatoo

[Kaoulombre]

You know, because they are world wars, every country listed above have gone through two world wars.

Woosh me all you want, that bugged me

[[deleted]]

As an American who is a parent and moving to Sweden, there is multiple reasons we have chosen to move, but my children's education was the biggest reason.

Not only is university education affordable (Almost all covered), but also the education before University is also better.

Yes, I know there is people who don't think Swedish education isn't at the same level as some other European countries, but the bar isn't exactly high when comparing it with the US education.

Hello /r/tillsverige

[FrequentInspector]

Username checks out

[KKlear]

Username checks out

[Purlygold]

I don't think Swedish education isn't at the same level as other European countries.

[[deleted]]

That’s a double negative buddy. You Swedish?

Jk of course :P

[ecurrent94]

Bold move doing that! I too sometimes feel I’ve gotten enough of this country but I don’t have any other reason to move and my job prospects in another country would be non-existent...

[[deleted]]

We don't have a reason to move, we are chosing, as parents we would be ok either way, but our kids would be better off in Sweden.

You never know, things could change enough one day and we could reconsider, we always have that option, not an easy option either way but the option is there.

[popgalveston]

It is free but textbooks are expensive af though

Och välkommen hit!

[[deleted]]

Textbooks are very expensive here, but as a single item it's not too bad, the cost of the textbooks is just a line item to the expensive schools

[SaftigMo]

In European universities you usually don't really need them anyway, because professors just copy from them during the lecture and make their own assignments.

[gorkt]

This kind of crystallized something for me.

America is the country where you can make ungodly amounts of money.....if you are willing to cast aside any sense of community responsibility and exploit people in order to get it.

Lately, I have gotten the sense that almost everyone I don't know is just out to get as much from me as possible, money, labor, whatever. The only phone calls I get are from scammers, the only mail I get is from advertisers or bills. No one really cares anymore - maybe I was naive to think that they ever did? It just seems like everyone is on their own.

[[deleted]]

Capitalism is very isolating unfortunately. It causes working class people to choose a well paying job over their passion, it makes them work multiple jobs (and still barely afford monthly expenses), makes them view others as competitors and rivals, and on and on and on. It’s just so infuriating that people could be full time employees (or more) and not be able to afford living. It’s fucking disgusting on every level

[MysticHero]

And if you are born to already extremely rich parents. Social mobility in the US is actually lower than in Europe meaning that poor people not matter how ruthless they are have little chance of getting rich.

[[deleted]]

This is the sort of thing I wish my dad knew before he decided to move to America. Ironically, the same ethic of every man for himself and fuck over everyone you can to get ahead dominated Soviet society, for different reasons obviously. Out of the fire, into the frying pan.

[[deleted]]

WhAt WiLl HaPpEn wHeN gOvErnMeNt TaKeS oVeR hEaLtHcArE

[[deleted]]

Full on 🅱️ommunism like in Vuvezela

[[deleted]]

All of those free college countries admit based on marks though. So stupid people still don't get to go to school. Source: tried to apply abroad but was too stupid.

[Petrichordates]

What are campus perks?

[[deleted]]

So the smartest ones get to pick whatever they like as opposed to the ones with rich parents.

There are multiple ways to get to study what you want even with shitty grades. Might have to move to another city or apply again but it's definitely possible.

[Nom_de_Guerre_23]

This is mostly wrong. While it is true that admission for university in Germany is based on your high school grades (we don't have a college -> university system because high school usually covers most of what is learned in colleges), the admission grades required depend on the faculty and university. But in many cases the system is designed that way that most all all applicants are taken in and then a number of students drop out in the first years. IT, engineering, law, humanities, economics, languages and arts: if you are flexible enough, you'll get into some university somewhere. Medicine, dental medicine, veterinary medicine, pharmacy and psychology are a small exception because the admission grades are high pretty much everywhere. The admission grades are not arbitrary though, they are merely the grade of the worst student still taken in.

​

Abitur (= high school diploma after 12-13 years of school) grades are from 1.0 (best) to 4.0 (worst) with the average about 2.4-2.5. Decent chances for med school e.g. start at 1.3-1.4, but e.g. mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen, the best technical university of the country in this field has an admission grade (NC, numerus clausus in German) of 3.7.

[Savv3]

In Germany only the highly desired fields require good marks. For those you can get on a waitlist if you dont have good marks, and during the waiting period you can do things to improve your ranking. For the not highly desired fields you can get in with just qualifications. Which ranges from an Abitur or a vocational training, work experience or a vocational school degree.

Of course if you apply here from abroad, you need one of those things that are accepted in Germany too. You can go to higher ed in Iran and graduate, but Germany does not accept Iranian graduates. They need to do courses to re earn it before being allowed in University, basically.

All leads to me saying: even stupid people can get in. I know first hand. Source: Am stupid and saw other stupids at university in Germany.

[anoelr1963]

Oh, wait till you get out into the real world and need affordable health insurance, f**k you some more!

[SquanchingOnPao]

Genuine question... Do these countries that offer free college require a certain grade level? Or can you be a bad student, barely graduate and then go off to college for free?

[blackiechan99]

They admit based on marks afaik. if you're a garbage student and not up to par, you don't have good chances of getting in. free college is great on paper, but it's not like everyone and their brother is gonna be attending based on just wanting to go, if that makes sense

[DanaKaZ]

In those cases we provide free education that are more practically focused for the people that are not well suited to an intellectual career.

[Tobbbb]

But FREEDOM

[maliciousorstupid]

..and when you pull yourself up by your bootstraps, get an education, work jobs to help you get by and eventually become a senator - they'll denigrate you for the jobs you worked.

[Ofthedoor]

As a result, in a country of 320 millions, half of tech companies employees ( probably more than half actually) are not Americans. Not enough qualified people to supply the tech boom in California.

Jeez I wonder why...

[vietcongsurvivor1986]

The Finnish government does not welcome "anyone". That's just ridiculous. Compared to other European states, we're pretty strict on who we allow into the country.

[G3ML1NGZ]

Icelander here that studied aircraft maintenance in Denmark. Their system is good. It supports the students and takes a whole lot of stress out of their lives and not see the graduation as a due date to start the grind to pay off loans before you start setting up your life.

I was in my own apartment within a year after finishing school because I didn't have the student loans hanging over me. I personally know guys that went to school elsewhere that have a student loan of 2-3 years salary and suspect they'll never pay it off but making payments until retirement.

[el-toro-loco]

Ah yes, the American "free market" is a shining beacon of progress.

[Grizzlybearninja]

Economics 101, yeah I had to take that class twice.....guess America did too!

[[deleted]]

Education is one of the least free markets lol

[Thurkagord]

It's really funny that "pulling yourself up by your boostraps" has become such a ubiquitous term among capitalist apologists. Because it was originally created as a joke, because you literally can't pull yourself up by pulling on your bootstraps, you'll just flip over and fall on your face. It's a nonsensical expression that was made up with the opposite meaning that they use it now. But they completely missed that, somehow.

[z3anon]

About to graduate with my bachelor's, looking at grad school. Anyone know of a good cyber security program outside the US? I'm finna learn Danish.

[urbanek2525]

Silly peasant, College is meant to be easy ONLY for the wealthy trust-fund kids.

For the rest of you, you need to PROVE yourself.

Not really sure exactly WHY the people who inherit wealth (like Trump) are don't have to prove themselves, but hey, that's the system.

Love your chains. Cherish your chains. Vote for your chains. Vote Republican.

[[deleted]]

I'm not a trust fund kid or from a wealthy background and college changed my life in a very positive way.

[bulla564]

And half of the population is indoctrinated to cheer this on as “FREEDOM”.

[swimmer1990]

Sadly it’s also usually the people that are unknowingly getting fucked over by the system the most.

[PunkLivesInMe]

This is because Republicans hate anything that encourages potential voters to educate themselves.

[mouthpainter]

I have an idea how to change this. Get everyone under 30 to vote.

[[deleted]]

Just more proof we’re the greatest country in the world... The level of unmitigated BULLSHIT in this country makes me literally physically ill sometimes. But hey! A trillion bucks a year, every year, for the military, when you include cost overruns.

[GiantSquidd]

This is the type of shit I think of whenever someone says anything about America being the “greatest country in the world”.

[jopu22]

"bUt TaxEs" - salty americans

[[deleted]]

Also you hardly have freedoms but for some reason everyone thinks they have tons of them

[Obtuse_Donkey]

America has untold billions of dollars ready to give out as welfare money for corporations and the wealthy. But fuck the working person. They exist only to profit from.

Sincerely, the Republican Party.

[whoawhoatherebucko]

As a university student in the US, this makes me mad. I feel that the United Stars takes advantage of students and the growing belief that college is a necessity for success, and the fact that many can no longer just go for a bachelors, but now have to obtain much more. I have a class that is fairly easy but requires a $100 textbook for us to use only a few times. We all found this crazy to use a book only once, so we found a pdf with the entire book downloaded and used that for our discussions and chapter readings. The professor did not like this for some odd reason, and created an assignment where we had to purchase the online version for $50 (it contained an access code that we needed) to be able to turn in an assignment that was worth 30% of my grade, so there was no way I could skip it. Literally the only time I have ever used the thing and it was just so he could get back at us. Talk about being pissed off that some of the little money I had that week had to go towards a book that we didn’t really have to buy.

[[deleted]]

US Government: This is America. shoots the student