College is free in Germany, even to foreigners. At least that's what they told me when I was visiting there last year. There are surely incidental costs that one would have to cover on one's own, but the college education itself is provided by the Sovereign.
You lose Skippy
Yes — many of the public universities in California, especially those in the University of California system, were tuition-free for in-state students for much of the 20th century.
Here’s the key context:
What “free” actually meant
- Students did not pay tuition (called “tuition” or “instructional fees”).
- However, they still paid small fees for things like campus services, housing, and books.
Why it was free
- The policy came from the California Master Plan for Higher Education, which aimed to make college widely accessible.
- The state government covered most of the cost through taxes.
When that changed
- Starting in the 1970s, California began introducing and gradually increasing fees due to:
- Budget pressures
- Economic downturns
- Reduced state funding per student
- Over time, these fees evolved into what we now recognize as full tuition.
www.commondreams.org
Here is a stat that I find enlightening: In 1930, only 25% of Americans graduated from High School. And we all know that HS at that time was a much more rigorous learning challenge than it is today. I figure in a sane world, about 25% of the population (mainly in the male population, in my opinion) can be trained to be LEADERS and highly-educated technical professionals. Nothing wrong with being in the 75% that's left over, but sending someone with a 100 IQ to college is a fool's errand. They are not college material.
Charlie Kirk never graduated.
It's not JUST me, it's OVER HALF OF COLLEGE STUDENTS.
WSJ: Half of College Grads Are Working Jobs That Don’t Use Their Degrees — The Burning Glass Institute
A new study by the Burning Glass Institute and Strada Education Foundation reveals that nearly half of recent college graduates are underemployed, working in jobs that do not require a degree. Tracking over 10 million career paths from the past decade, the study highlights the long-term effects of uwww.burningglassinstitute.org
College is not worth it if you graduate with 6 digits of debt and a low paying job that doesn't even require a college degree. HALF of all college students will find themselves in this situation. Something that has a failure rate of 50% doesn't work.
My degree was in insurance and risk management. I couldn't find any jobs in risk management and the only insurance job I was offered was driving around in my PERSONAL VEHICLE collecting 1 dollar premiums for 1000 dollar life insurance policies from old people in a small town 30 miles from where I lived at the time.
Um no, thanks.
Unless you go into engineering or nursing, college is simply not worth the expense. Instead, go to a trade school, learn how to weld, how to do plumbing, etc, THEN you make major bucks AND have no debt. I make 30 dollars an hour driving a truck, WHEN I'M ROLLING. My neighbor owns his own HVAC company. He charges 125 an hour for his labor. He's never been to college. He's certified in HVAC, though. His little one-man company grosses well over $350,000 a year. 5 years ago he installed a new AC system in my house. Took him 2 days. He charged me 3000 dollars labor. He said today, that unit costs TWICE as much. $3000 in profit in TWO DAYS, 5 years ago.
If you don't want to get your hands dirty, you can drive a truck like me. Some companies, albeit the sucky ones, offer FREE CDL school in return for you working for them for 12 months. Not the best way to do it, but if you're living on a park bench, it is a way to get yourself into this industry. With some experience you can really go places. (no pun intended)
Holy shit! I didn't even put together the fact that you said Charlie Kirk didn't have a degree and I came back with 2% of murders in the USA are college educated.
Everyone knows someone who went to college and couldn’t get a job
No need for college. Just google the subject. Easy peasy.
I'll be honest. I'm not that bright. At least not book smart. And I will admit I think a 4 year degree probably isn't the best way to train a great salesperson. But that's step one. Go get a degree. If you can't get a good degree in business or engineering maybe you just get a communication degree like me. Do you know what it takes to get an associates? General studies, math, English, a foreign language, science, political science, electives, etc. A well rounded list of courses to teach you a little bit of everything. Then you pick your major and minor. I barely got through the level 1 business classes so instead of a business major I just got the minor in business and majored in organizational communication. You learn all the interpersonal stuff you will have to deal with in corporate America.
Google was invented by a college graduate
College grads do better, but is the nation better because of them? Wasn't it the 'best and brightest' that outsourced our manufacturing to China?
Kudos to that person.
To me it's just more dumbing down America. When we were kids, our parents all wanted us to go to college. College has become too expensive. What is the Republican solution? Don't worry about it. Just go to trade school or plumbers school. Settle. Long before you know what you want to be, settle for being a blue collar person who will never make $100K.
Well don't expect that to change. The rich people who run our largest corporations will continue to do that while they convince you not to send your kids to college so they can go to work for them cheap. They want the cheap labor.
You make a good point. The nation right now needs farm workers not college grads. Farmers say since you ran off all their workers they can't find any help. And that's affecting our prices.
I've been to Texas.
If I don't work for the post office, how come I know the Postmaster Generals ACE ID?
Like knowledge, a little GOOGLE is a dangerous thing.
Well the only other option is Florida and when I was there I saw that just like in California, 50% are living paycheck to paycheck and thinking about moving.
