Whining is certainly unbecoming -- especially about money. But there are two points that need to be mentioned that mitigate her misguided pleas for assistance.

First, American higher education is highly over-rated and exorbitantly priced. With few exceptions, American colleges and universities teach very few skills that are useful in the modern economy and are exceedingly inefficient at imparting knowledge to students. Unfortunately, employers, especially in the public sector, validate the value of these institutions' degrees by making them the equivalent of "admission tickets" -- necessary for obtaining higher paying jobs and greater responsibility even though there are much better predictors of job performance than having obtained higher degrees. There are a myriad of examples of the inadequacy of higher education from extreme situations in the military (Would you rather have a platoon sergeant or a college-graduate 2nd Lieutenant lead you into a battle?) to private industry. (Many top programmers are literally kids, under 21, "geeks" who are frequently poor performers in formal education.) However, I can assure Ms. Sui Lang Panoke that if additional student loans, grants, student employment programs were funded by the government that this would only serve to allow the already inefficient, bloated bureaucracies of higher education to raise prices (tuition) because students would have just a greater capacity to pay. Therefore, further government subsidies of any kind will do little make higher education more accessible. It will only lead to administrators of these institutions "raising the bar," economically speaking. Because just like a five-star hotel on the holidays, they will charge "what the traffic will bear."

Second, Ms. Sui Lang Panoke's status as a "single-mother" is a choice that she made. (Don't liberals tell us all the time that children are a "choice?") Now, it's pointless to "blame society" -- the breakdown of the extended family, the degradation of the institution of marriage, those are issues that are beyond our control as individuals even though they all contribute to the plight of single mothers. All of us have had to reconcile careers and parenthood. "Having it all" is an ideal that few attain. One could even argue that it is a liberal invention that no one obtains. On a personal note, due to the demands of higher education, and the economic impact thereof, my wife and I did not pursue further post-graduate education when faced with a second, unplanned pregnancy. (Contraception doesn't always work, and abortion was out of the question.)

So, Ms. Sui Lang Panoke will have to be creative in the way that she obtains her higher education. True, she may not be able to receive her degree from an Ivy League school. (I am making these suggestions with no personal knowledge of her life's circumstances. They are made only for illustration.) Maybe she'll have to live with a family member, put up with a roommate, or two. She may have to use public transportation, or heck, even walk! Maybe she'll have to go to school online, or delay her graduation while she works as a co-op student, or heaven forbid, make a commitment to the military! Perhaps she can go to work for an organization that will pay for her to go to school at night. There are many, many, many options. Her situation is difficult, but asking the government for more money won't change her situation. It will only lead to her "indentured servitude" as she pays back bigger and bigger educational loans.

Sorry for the long post.

Richard Mason
Condi in 2008! website, blog

Whining is certainly unbecoming -- especially about money. But there are two points that need to be mentioned that mitigate her misguided pleas for assistance.

First, American higher education is highly over-rated and exorbitantly priced. With few exceptions, American colleges and universities teach very few skills that are useful in the modern economy and are exceedingly inefficient at imparting knowledge to students. Unfortunately, employers, especially in the public sector, validate the value of these institutions' degrees by making them the equivalent of "admission tickets" -- necessary for obtaining higher paying jobs and greater responsibility even though there are much better predictors of job performance than having obtained higher degrees. There are a myriad of examples of the inadequacy of higher education from extreme situations in the military (Would you rather have a platoon sergeant or a college-graduate 2nd Lieutenant lead you into a battle?) to private industry. (Many top programmers are literally kids, under 21, "geeks" who are frequently poor performers in formal education.) However, I can assure Ms. Sui Lang Panoke that if additional student loans, grants, student employment programs were funded by the government that this would only serve to allow the already inefficient, bloated bureaucracies of higher education to raise prices (tuition) because students would have just a greater capacity to pay. Therefore, further government subsidies of any kind will do little make higher education more accessible. It will only lead to administrators of these institutions "raising the bar," economically speaking. Because just like a five-star hotel on the holidays, they will charge "what the traffic will bear."

Second, Ms. Sui Lang Panoke's status as a "single-mother" is a choice that she made. (Don't liberals tell us all the time that children are a "choice?") Now, it's pointless to "blame society" -- the breakdown of the extended family, the degradation of the institution of marriage, those are issues that are beyond our control as individuals even though they all contribute to the plight of single mothers. All of us have had to reconcile careers and parenthood. "Having it all" is an ideal that few attain. One could even argue that it is a liberal invention that no one obtains. On a personal note, due to the demands of higher education, and the economic impact thereof, my wife and I did not pursue further post-graduate education when faced with a second, unplanned pregnancy. (Contraception doesn't always work, and abortion was out of the question.)

So, Ms. Sui Lang Panoke will have to be creative in the way that she obtains her higher education. True, she may not be able to receive her degree from an Ivy League school. (I am making these suggestions with no personal knowledge of her life's circumstances. They are made only for illustration.) Maybe she'll have to live with a family member, put up with a roommate, or two. She may have to use public transportation, or heck, even walk! Maybe she'll have to go to school online, or delay her graduation while she works as a co-op student, or heaven forbid, make a commitment to the military! Perhaps she can go to work for an organization that will pay for her to go to school at night. There are many, many, many options. Her situation is difficult, but asking the government for more money won't change her situation. It will only lead to her "indentured servitude" as she pays back bigger and bigger educational loans.

Sorry for the long post.

Richard Mason
Condi in 2008! website, blog

I do find it interesting that the single motherhood issue is brought up here. This tends to be common practice, even though I couldn't care less if anyone is a single mother or not. I'm a single grad student who made it through his 20's without knocking anyone up, so I don't see why I should have to subsidize those who couldn't control themselves or use protection. Sure, a child is a choice, except when it can be used as a club to beat money out of the rest of us. In a debate at another blog about minimum wage, some liberal brought out the "single mother" card. Sorry, I just don't care. I don't see why I should change my views on anything just because of the effect it has on single mothers.

Also, I've been involved in two different graduate programs and have never paid tuition due to graduate assistantships. So the money is already there, unless she believes that she shouldn't have to work for it, which evidently she does. My parents are wealthy, and even if they were I haven't seen a dime from them since I began graduate school. So, to sum up, this woman doesn't know what she's talking about.

"I didn't get any free money"

Aaron, let me be the first to say "Oh, what a bunch of crap." Unless you were home schooled in your college degree, you didn't pay 100% of the cost of your education. Nobody does.

Even at totally private schools, only about 60% of a student's education is covered by what he/she pays in tuition. Every College and University in the United States supplementents a student's tuition with thousands of dollars of donor money to provide a complete education. Sources of this supplemental money are private donors, churches, foundations, the government and other entities.

Once you aspire beyond a bachelor's degree, the financial aid door is pretty much closed unless you, or your family, have the economic ability to finance whatever costs are not covered by your guaranteed federal student loans.

Or, she could take out student loans as I did during undergrad and during the first year of grad school and then take one class a quater in the evenings until you've completed your masters in five years as I did. She could also attend a state university. Here in California the state already provides what amounts to about a $15,000 per student subsidy as it is.

Student loans, and student loan consolidation - Lock in the lowest rate with NextStudent. We also offer a scholarship search engine, private student loans and federal student loan applications.