C/P: Interesting article about college standards and student behavior

[Murphy101]

5 minutes ago, shawthorne44 said:

I guess I just find it odd to expect that an entry-level salary should be enough for a mortgage.    

 

A living wage for an adult should be enough to live on their own in at least a modest manner.   A mortgage is usually CHEAPER than renting, usually by hundreds of dollars a month.  So if a person can’t afford a mortgage payment, it’s unlikely they can afford rent either.

And entry level salary or any other salary, should be a living wage.

[Frances]

1 hour ago, Laura Corin said:

It does seem like an odd barrier. For comparison, medicine is an undergraduate degree in the UK. Entrance would be similar to the below for US applicants,  with the addition of lots of targeted volunteer experience. I don't see Organic Chemistry as a standalone module within the medicine course.

 

While I think the way the UK and many other countries do medical educations makes more sense than the US method, the main barrier to entry in the US is the fact that we don’t remotely have enough medical school and residency slots here in the US and many of them, especially on the residency side, go to people from other countries. About 25% of practicing doctors in the US are International Medical Grads with a mix of residents and non-residents. But whether a U.S. citizen went abroad for medical school (usually but not always because they couldn’t secure a US slot) or a non-citizen came here only for their residency, 25% is a very significant amount and reflects the dearth of opportunities available to US residents in the US.

Edited October 13, 2022 by Frances

[Frances]

34 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

A living wage for an adult should be enough to live on their own in at least a modest manner.   A mortgage is usually CHEAPER than renting, usually by hundreds of dollars a month.  So if a person can’t afford a mortgage payment, it’s unlikely they can afford rent either.

And entry level salary or any other salary, should be a living wage.

I can’t say I agree with the living alone part, especially for renters. I think that is an almost uniquely American perspective.

[EmilyGF]

4 minutes ago, Frances said:

I can’t say I agree with the living alone part, especially for renters. I think that is an almost uniquely American perspective.

I agree @Frances. It struck me when I was living in the former East Germany and working with a very international crew, and the Italians were talking about how the East Germans didn't realize how wealthy they were. To the Italians, the fact that Germans expected that young people could live on their own was a sign of unacknowledged wealth. I think the same is true in the US. 

It is nice to be wealthy, though, and to take it for granted. 

[Murphy101]

51 minutes ago, Frances said:

I can’t say I agree with the living alone part, especially for renters. I think that is an almost uniquely American perspective.

I don’t really care if they are alone or not, but they should be able to live on their own. That’s 2 different things.

While I think multigenerational living arrangements can be great - it’s not so great when we need workers in places where their parents don’t live.  Having a roommate to save money is great except all the times it isn’t.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable for people to ponder that after approx a quarter of a century of education and work, they should maybe hopefully be able to at least provide for themselves on the wages they earn with some prospect as to providing for a few kids over the next 5-10 years.

[whitestavern]

I lived alone after college but it was in a 3 room dumpy attic apartment. I left there shortly after and lived with two different people in two different apartments until I was married because it was cheaper to do so. Dh and I rented a tiny house until we could afford a down payment for a small house. That was a smart buy as it rapidly increased in value and we made $100k in less than a year and purchased our current home in another state. This one wasn’t such a great buy because home values haven’t increased much. Mortgages around here are quite a bit more expensive due to high property taxes. 

[Heartstrings]

I think a huge issue with teachers salary is how slowly they go up.  Saying an engineer needs a roommate for a few yeas before bringing in decent money is different than a teacher who is going to be raising very slowly unless they go into more debt for more education.