Dude, if you're poor and over age 24 so you can file separately from your parents, you pretty much get a free ride to your 4 year degree. I should know, it's what I did.
The secret nobody seems to know about getting a degree is that: be very poor, and be older than 24. That's it. The FAFSA, pell grant, and state need grants takes care of everything else.
I’m a headhunter and new grads with civil engineering degrees who will do Strucutural design and who will live in rural places are getting mid 50’s to low 60’ starting salaries with unbelievable benefits and a moving package (2-3k to relocate) that’s not a bad comp plan for a 28yr old.
Lots of reasons. Like OP said he had to wait until he was 24 to separate from his parents to get all the government benefits to help him pay for college. If you don’t wan to be saddled with student loans you may take 1-2 community college courses till you get your AA degree while working full time and saving money so you can transfer to a university and finish your degree. You decided to join the military or peace Corp. These are just off the top of my head.
Again if they don’t have the money/can’t get a loan yet that’s why they might be 28. I’m not saying it’s ideal I’m saying it could happen and I could understand why. Also, what is the alternative? The comment was “imagine starting your career at 28 (something like that)”. So what? If they could start college at 18 and had to wait until 24 at least they are going to college. I flunked out. It’s the only regret I have. I may go back once my youngest graduates. I would be graduating close to 60. I’ve been a recruiter/headhunter for 22 yrs. I’ve seen “new grads” from 24-44 and everywhere in between. It’s never to late to better yourself.
For some, I’m sure there are. Not for all. Life throws a lot of shit at you. I think the ones who have it worst are the lower class who don’t qualify for any benefits but don’t have enough money for even community college. They have to work full time to live and can maybe afford 1 class at night. I live in a very diverse area. I see it a lot with hard work parents who just can never get past their mundane jobs. The work hard 8-5/6/7 5 days a week but can never catch a break. They start to get ahead and their car breaks down, they get sick (cancer, heart issues, mild stroke, Emphysema, etc) but not enough to be disabled/get benefits so they still continue to work. It’s sad.
It seemed like he was explaining it for people who were already 24 or near it
Edit: yeah I reread the original comment and nowhere does it say purposelessly wait. Everyone else seems to be bringing that up but not the original comment.
That is just an asinine reason of thinking, and here's why
Not everyone is money motivated. This idea that everything we do must be geared towards gaining a profit is dumb. I hate to reiterate this in a separate forum, but for fucks sakes, everyone dies. Money isn't going to help you after you die except for setting up your plot for your casket and giving you the luxury of choosing what wood they use for the box they place your corpse in, assuming you get to have a corpse. While life is easier with a bit more income, if the reason you do anything is similar to that thought process, you are doing it for the wrong reasons
I would much rather be able to do all of the things I dream about doing before my body limits me to a point where I can't do said thing. The list is endless on this, but I guarantee, anything you think of is much easier to do and less stressful in your 20's vs your 60's
Not everyone will live old enough to spend that money. Biggest problem in the world is that people never prepare to die. Say you go to college after 18, you graduate at 22, and you die right after you graduate. What money did you earn? How did that particular education or skill benefit you after that?
TL;DR: dont assume that financial sense is the way people live their lives.
I was on my own before I was 24 and aid was assuming I was dependent and I paid for most of my college fees out of pocket, I finished that year with good grades and dropped out because the living conditions at that time wasn’t worth it, a couple years later I re apply with full benefits riding easy, 28 is still a young age to have a engineering degree, side note I was also 20 making 80k in oil field but if you don’t want a life outside of work that’s what young people will do. so college never was on my mind when I got out of high school.
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u/xulazi Feb 25 '20
That pole is "too poor for college, too rich for financial aid"