The pics thread

[Episteme]

How much do you guys pay for college semester fees? I was just wondering because it seems to be a big deal to be able to pay to get in and parents start saving up even before their kids are born.

[SentinelSlain]

I get half of mine paid with a grant. Woohoo. Engsoc delivers.

[zabu of nΩd]

when i was checking Virginia Commonwealth University's grad school info, it said something like $5500 for a semester of fulltime school (i.e. 4-5 classes).

So a common hourly rate around here seems to be $13. That's $26000 a year before income tax, which at a random guess would be about $3000. Say you pay a common rent-or-mortgage-plus-utilities cost of $800 to $1200/month. We're at 26000 - 3000 - 12000 = 11000 for the whole year. The same amount VCU charges for a year of tuition, which cleans out the remaining earnings.

That's relatively cheap for a college, many are closer to $20K per year. Also I didn't factor in food, car expenses, insurance and whatever the fuck else into my math.

I know my knowledge is patchy, this is just a rough picture i'm trying to paint. And it's a viable explanation for why there's so much debt here.

[Saparmurat_Niyazov]

Originally Posted by V.V.V.V.V.

Fuck that person. That's such bullshit and a false fucking dichotomy and they should go to hell if they think that everyone in America (rightfully) complaining about being bent over and assfucked by the way things go on here should just "pick themselves up by their bootstraps", stop buying beyond their range, etc. and just realize that very, very, very many people have been unduly screwed by the system, and that this person is an insignificant speck with a piece of paper that reads as self-gratifying and smug.

seriously fuck right the hell off with that shit

I don't normally agree with you, but this time I do. I'm just like the guy in the picture - I went to community college (and dropped out - my fault, I accept it), I have no debt, I rarely buy anything new (cars, furniture, electronics, even clothes sometimes), and go out to eat very rarely. My quality of life is pretty fucking great, but that doesn't mean that the abuse of power by those in the investment banking class is to be ignored. I make numerically the highest number of dollars per year that I ever have, but my purchasing power has vastly decreased. Inflation has grown ridiculously in the past 3 years, and corporatism is to blame.

[SentinelSlain]

I work when I need some money and use credit as necessary. I have a government loan with an artificially low interest rate that I wont have to pay until I'm making above the minimum wage.

[Episteme]

Originally Posted by zabu of nΩd

when i was checking Virginia Commonwealth University's grad school info, it said something like $5500 for a semester of fulltime school (i.e. 4-5 classes).

So a common hourly rate around here seems to be $13. That's $26000 a year before income tax, which at a random guess would be about $3000. Say you pay a common rent-or-mortgage-plus-utilities cost of $800 to $1200/month. We're at 26000 - 3000 - 12000 = 11000 for the whole year. The same amount VCU charges for a year of tuition, which cleans out the remaining earnings.

That's relatively cheap for a college, many are closer to $20K per year. Also I didn't factor in food, car expenses, insurance and whatever the fuck else into my math.

I know my knowledge is patchy, this is just a rough picture i'm trying to paint. And it's a viable explanation for why there's so much debt here.

Ouch! That's pretty close to how much international students pay for fees over here, sometimes even more depending on the course.

Local students have it pretty easy over here where the government basically pays for your higher education, and you just pay them back over time with no interest once you get a full time job. If you pay upfront, it's about $3600 for engineering for my university per semester. It can get as high as $9000, depending on which university and course you do.

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Originally Posted by Saparmurat_Niyazov

I don't normally agree with you, but this time I do.

high five bro

[Chanakya]

Originally Posted by Episteme

Ouch! That's pretty close to how much international students pay for fees over here, sometimes even more depending on the course.

Man, I'd be a rich fuck if I stayed back home.

[Pessimism]

Frankly most of the 53% bullshit (like that picture above) is utter horseshit.

[King Richard]

Originally Posted by V.V.V.V.V.

Fuck that person. That's such bullshit and a false fucking dichotomy and they should go to hell if they think that everyone in America (rightfully) complaining about being bent over and assfucked by the way things go on here should just "pick themselves up by their bootstraps", stop buying beyond their range, etc. and just realize that very, very, very many people have been unduly screwed by the system, and that this person is an insignificant speck with a piece of paper that reads as self-gratifying and smug.

seriously fuck right the hell off with that shit

It's a chick fwiw, and a stupid cunt at that.

I don't buy her "story" at all. I don't care if her tuition is 90% paid for, there's no way she can support herself working only 30 hours a week barely over minimum wage. No fucking way. You have to factor in rent, a car payment (maybe), gas money, car insurance, utilities for the apartment, supplies for school, groceries, etc etc etc. She's either extremely intelligent with regards to saving money or an extremely smug mooch. Either way, I agree with you Andy, fuck that bitch!

I've been working full-time and at certain points gone to school full-time, working over 40 hours a week make over twice minimum wage attending a community college and barely made by. Fucking liar.

edit: And that was only paying rent, car payment, car insurance and cell payment (crappy moto razr). I didn't pay for utilities, cable, etc., Ashley did.

[Blind Guardian]

Originally Posted by King Richard

I don't buy her "story" at all. I don't care if her tuition is 90% paid for, there's no way she can support herself working only 30 hours a week

Perhaps she sucks really good dick.

[Overwatch]

Besides, tuition is a handout of sorts. How is that "making it on your own"?

[Saparmurat_Niyazov]

[cookiecutter]

Originally Posted by Episteme

How much do you guys pay for college semester fees? I was just wondering because it seems to be a big deal to be able to pay to get in and parents start saving up even before their kids are born.

To give you some perspective, as an American student in Canada I paid 4x as much as a Canadian and it was still a great deal for my family. I was able to graduate with no debts thanks to the low tuition and my very generous family.

The only way to get remotely affordable University education (as opposed to Community College aka College) in the US is to go to the university of the state you live in. This is not a bad option, but most state universities are middle tier, and a lot of people don't necessarily want that as their post-secondary experience.

Originally Posted by Saparmurat_Niyazov

I don't normally agree with you, but this time I do. I'm just like the guy in the picture - I went to community college (and dropped out - my fault, I accept it), I have no debt, I rarely buy anything new (cars, furniture, electronics, even clothes sometimes), and go out to eat very rarely. My quality of life is pretty fucking great, but that doesn't mean that the abuse of power by those in the investment banking class is to be ignored. I make numerically the highest number of dollars per year that I ever have, but my purchasing power has vastly decreased. Inflation has grown ridiculously in the past 3 years, and corporatism is to blame.

I hate to nitpick because I agree with everything you said, but corporatism does not actually mean "rule by corporations" or a system where corporations are powerful. It's a economic system in which the economy is divided into various sectors by the state. It has more to do with authoritarian style governments (like Fascism and Absolute Monarchy) than it does with the kind of laissez-faire/neo-liberal model that has loosened regulations on corporations these past thirty years or so.

Again this is not a disagreement with your point, merely a clarification of terms.

EDIT: From Wikipedia "It should be noted that corporatism means different things in Europe and in the US. In Europe, corporatism refers at least in principle to the domination of the economy by the state, and the word 'corporatism' is obtained from the Latin word for 'body' indicating the belief that the economy should not be treated as something different from society and the state, but as one organ of a whole body. In the US, corporatism usually refers to the domination of the state by the economy, and the word is derived from "corporations", that is, a reference to big business which has enough power and money to challenge the state's political power. Therefore, what is understood by corporatism in the US and in Europe are in theory diametrically opposed notions."

That is why I was confused, because I learned the word in the context of study of European history

[waif]

Originally Posted by SentinelSlain

As if you have newky browns in America. They're rough as fuck. Good if you want to get pissed though.

They have them in Canada, at least. Not terrible, not great. Wouldn't try to get drunk off it

[V.V.V.V.V.]

They're an extremely popular brown, pretty much one of the only big names for the style in America anyway.

[Chanakya]

V5, you gotta try out Brooklyn Brown Ale. Shiz is so damn tasty!

[Overwatch]

Edit: King Dickard sucks

[King Richard]

I posted that earlier in the laugh thread.

pwned

[Cronopio]

Did I not just see that image in the You Laugh, You Lose-thread?

Yes, yes I did!

[Overwatch]

Originally Posted by King Richard

I posted that earlier in the laugh thread.

pwned

Oh well. I lost.

[Saparmurat_Niyazov]

Originally Posted by cookiecutter

To give you some perspective, as an American student in Canada I paid 4x as much as a Canadian and it was still a great deal for my family. I was able to graduate with no debts thanks to the low tuition and my very generous family.

The only way to get remotely affordable University education (as opposed to Community College aka College) in the US is to go to the university of the state you live in. This is not a bad option, but most state universities are middle tier, and a lot of people don't necessarily want that as their post-secondary experience.

I hate to nitpick because I agree with everything you said, but corporatism does not actually mean "rule by corporations" or a system where corporations are powerful. It's a economic system in which the economy is divided into various sectors by the state. It has more to do with authoritarian style governments (like Fascism and Absolute Monarchy) than it does with the kind of laissez-faire/neo-liberal model that has loosened regulations on corporations these past thirty years or so.

Again this is not a disagreement with your point, merely a clarification of terms.

EDIT: From Wikipedia "It should be noted that corporatism means different things in Europe and in the US. In Europe, corporatism refers at least in principle to the domination of the economy by the state, and the word 'corporatism' is obtained from the Latin word for 'body' indicating the belief that the economy should not be treated as something different from society and the state, but as one organ of a whole body. In the US, corporatism usually refers to the domination of the state by the economy, and the word is derived from "corporations", that is, a reference to big business which has enough power and money to challenge the state's political power. Therefore, what is understood by corporatism in the US and in Europe are in theory diametrically opposed notions."

That is why I was confused, because I learned the word in the context of study of European history

I'm aware that I'm using the American bastardization of the word "corporatism", and I feel it's the best fit for the point I was making. One could argue that there is a distinctive difference between capitalism and a market based economy which dominates the state. Perhaps stating a desire to separate corporations from the state would have been more concise.

[cookiecutter]

Yes, I realized after my post that the word has evolved to have a separate definition in regards to the American experience. You could say the same thing happened to the word "liberal".

[Saparmurat_Niyazov]

"Liberal" could mean basically any political philosophy of modern western civilization. Even neo-conservatism is liberal, especially within the context of the classic definition of conservatism.

[Overwatch]

I have come to realize I staunchly disagree with the general means and ends of political conservatives, while just against the means and some ends of political liberals. All in all, anyone who thinks that using violence to achieve their ends is legitimate, will eventually find the monster they created turning on them, whether they created it to fight hunger or gays, etc. It will eventually destroy them as well.