“My friend and I were joking around one day about having a sliding refund scale. Like if you do well , you get some of the money you paid back that you could put towards books, other credit hours, or living expenses. It was half jokingly, but I think it’d be an interesting program to try out somewhere”

That sound like a great idea. You should try to propose it at your state congress. Great incentives to do well.

And why only to 12 grade? Because you can get a decent paying job with a high school diploma. You won’t get rich, but you’ll be able to save money. Before that, its difficult to get a job that pays higher than minimum wage.

I have a friend who has her GED. She dropped out of high school when she was 16. Before her GED she couldn’t get a job that paid well. After her GED she is making over $30,000 a year! Plus, her boss is going to pay for her to go to college.

and that’s another thing – there are many companies that have tuition reimbursement. My sisters friend was sent to law school by the company she worked for. That was 8 years that they paid for. She did have to sign a contract that she would work for them for X amount of time. But she has no plans on leaving. I think my sister also had some help in tuition when she went back to school to be a RN from the hospital she is now working at.

SoMG –

I love statistics but hate statistic classes! I do much better without a teacher. I guess it doesn’t hurt that I have my husband to answer my questions about it.

Jess –

“My major is English with a concentration in creative writing”

That is what I want to go back to school for!!!!

The true purpose seems to be, to impress the students with how difficult and important statistics is. And to teach a little vocabulary, just enough to talk with statisticians about whether your data really prove anything.

To read what happens when people overcompartmentalize essential expertise and try use technical vocabulary they don’t understand, read “Mr. Feynman Goes to Washington” which is a section of a book called WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK?.

You should take the undergrad stats courses and be prepared for a long haul if you want to really get into that stuff. If for some reason you must take a professional stats course, the one least likely to suck would be in the grad school of epidemiology.

What’s your major?

Cutting financial aid and raising fees like is going to happen is just shooting MA in the foot. Our economy is essentially based in people getting their degree and staying in the state. Some study was released last week saying how MA has one of the largest numbers of college graduates in the nation giving the state a long term advantage. It seems their willing to sacrifice any economic advantage for short term relief, and its an awful strategy IMO.

We’re working towards free college education here, eventually. A pilot program for free community college is set to roll out soon. Patrick wants to roll it out first for low income families, the organization I’m a member of simply wants a few select, strategically placed schools to run the program for a year as a pilot and see what challenges/costs/etc crop up that may or may not be expected.

There is only so much money out there. Yes, there is more money then some might lead you to think, but I couldn’t afford to go to my top choice. I must have applied for around 100 scholarships or so, and got NOTHING. I got need based from the government, along with some merit based from the government and from the schools I applied to. I couldnt afford to come out 120,000 dollars in debt, so that’s how I ended up at UMB.

My friend and I were joking around one day about having a sliding refund scale. Like if you do well , you get some of the money you paid back that you could put towards books, other credit hours, or living expenses. It was half jokingly, but I think it’d be an interesting program to try out somewhere

The only bright spot is my GPA went up because I did get three A’s and a B in my other classes.

As a non-traditional (soon to be – again!) student, the money is there. You just have to know where to look. Non-traditional students actually have a huge advantage when it comes to low interest loans.

Education is a right to the 12th grade. After that there are scholarships, grants, loans and many other avenues to take. Once again – it takes work and you might not get to go to school right when you want to, but you’ll go.

All that said – tuition needs to be on a sliding scale. I would have no problems with that. I have huge problems with everyone getting tuition paid considering the amount of drop outs and flunky’s there are. (And this is from a former flunky!)

I’m covered all four years if I keep a 3.2. I’m more concerned about the “non-traditional” students that the school serves, along with those who couldn’t afford to go anywhere else. Education ought to be a right, not a privilege.

Prostitution is not abuse. FORCED prostitution is. And I’m not just talking about women. Men are prostitutes too.

You wrote: “Do you honestly think ANY woman would willingly become a prostitute?”

Yes. And, I know people who would not become full-time prostitutes but would happily practice prostitution on the side to make extra bucks every now and then.

You wrote: “Some may say they do, but most have a history of some kind of sexual abuse.”

You think a history of sexual abuse implies you can’t make decisions for yourself freely or “willingly”???

You wrote: “No self-respecting woman would consider this a reasonable profession and most would love to get out of but feel they’ve no real way to accomplish this.”

(* shrug *) You could say the same about models. Or lawyers.

You wrote: “I feel disgusted by this young woman.”

Nice compassion. The Rabbi from Nazareth would be proud of you!

You wrote: “And how terribly sad that she can’t think of a more dignified way to raise money – like actually getting a friggin job and saving.”

I’ll bet she makes money faster by prostituting.

NEWSFLASH: Sex-industry workers are not very different from everybody else. (My mom wrote a novel with a prostitute in it and she interviewed a lot of them and she would dress up like one and go hang out with them.)

You wrote: “Maybe that would entail hard work and sacrifice. Heaven help her that she has to sacrifice.”

She IS sacrificing. Her virginity.

I don’t really understand why people want to bone virgins. They tend to be awkward and tight. Then again people seem to have all kinds of sexual desires I don’t understand.

Fight and then fight some more. However, remember all those scholarships that are available that no one seems to know about. If you need that info, I can get it to you.