Students

[Krill]

Dauphin, how does the rise of the £15k payback threshold to £21k affect former students under the old tuition fee regime?

[Riesstiu IV]

Sorry for missing the point, but it was Asher that decided to turn it into "Hauldren Collider is a self-centered privileged punk" thread.

Punks are rebellious kids who spurn authority by adopting an underground subculture. I think the phrase you're looking for is "smug D&D college libertarian."

[Asher]

How could someone who creams himself over the DMCA be considered libertarian?

He's a garden variety republican.

[giblets]

How could someone who creams himself over the DMCA be considered libertarian?

He's a garden variety republican.

Of the upper middle class variety, so at least he doesn't hate gays.

[Dauphin]

Dauphin, how does the rise of the £15k payback threshold to £21k affect former students under the old tuition fee regime?

Current loans will be repaid under the conditions agreed when entered into, and are unaffected by the new regime (both in terms of threshold, repayment rate and interest rates). Thresholds will however increase with inflation, as under the new regime.

I also think you are wrong about not having to repay loans if you are overseas. Other arrangements exist that mean that you are liable to pay the loan (you could just try and evade, but you would still owe the money and be liable to enforcement across borders).

[KrazyHorse]

If people adjusted their activities to qualify for government grants for engineering majors, that would probably be a good thing.

Why? What makes you think that directed government grants correct a misallocation of resources?

If engineers are more valuable than English majors (which they are, in general) then the market will pay the engineers more (which it does), and in proportion to the value they can provide to others. It's not like this is a secret either. For some reason, people still choose English as a major. Perhaps they value things other than money, perhaps they're too stupid to do engineering; who cares? Overamplifying the price signal is just as counterproductive as dampening it.

[KrazyHorse]

I think some degrees offer an external benefit. For one thing, people with higher incomes pay a larger part of their income in taxes.

So we're going to introduce an equality-reducing distortion in order to counteract an equality-enhancing distortion?

[KrazyHorse]

Do securities have to be converted to cash, or can the cash value be used?

An aquaintance inherited stocks. I am sure that he sold them when he decided he wanted cash to start a business.

Who cares? The transaction cost on purchasing equities is extremely low.

[KrazyHorse]

From the New York Times:

"A recent study by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University showed that teenage employment from 2005 to 2007 rose with household incomes that go up to $150,000 a year: 14 percent of teenagers from families earning less than $20,000 a year work, as do 26 percent of those whose families make $60,000, 32 percent of those earning $80,000 and 33 percent of those between $120,000 and $150,000. "

It goes on to say that only 28 percent of those with household income above $150,000 work.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/13/nyregion/13teens.html

I take this to mean that the children of the middle class work the most, the children of those in poverty work the least, and the children of the rich and working class work a moderate amount.

JM

That's a poor characterization. 60k+ has 4 data points, all between 26% and 33%, while 20k- gives 16%. The difference between the rich and the "middle class" (which apparently, in your estimation, consists of households making between the 76th and 94th percentile) is negligible compared to the difference between the middle class and the poor. Also, 60k (64th percentile) equaling "working class" is interesting.

[KrazyHorse]

My college education was partially financed through a Pell Grant.

Is this supposed to be a defence of subsidized education?

[KrazyHorse]

That's a start.

But the post-secondary education system should not have to rely on grants, scholarships, etc to PARTIALLY fund education for CERTAIN people.

The US should be a meritocracy. That's kind of the idea behind the American Dream, is it not?

If you're a good student, you should be able to get a good post-secondary education if you so choose. It's terrible that intelligent people put their talents to waste working menial jobs just because their parents were poor and they need to support their family.

Student loans in the US are easy to get. The number of "intelligent people" whose talents are wasted due to liquidity constraints is minimal.

[KrazyHorse]

I agree. It is a waste of human capital.

JM

See my post immediately above

[Kuciwalker]

Can't believe you're still squirming on this instead of just giving a mea culpa and moving on to something else.

Wait, did Asher just accuse me of stubbornly defending an untenable position?

If you're a good student, you should be able to get a good post-secondary education if you so choose. It's terrible that intelligent people put their talents to waste working menial jobs just because their parents were poor and they need to support their family.

This is why we have student loans. Or are you supposed to get it for free? People who get good grades in high school are entitled to tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of public money? Why don't the people who didn't get good grades deserve it? After all, they're far more likely to be poor.

Government subsidies for the rich

[Cort Haus]

Seven posts in a row. Is this a record?

[KrazyHorse]

Is it?