patrick.net

Almost all the money is payment to individuals ("Civil servants") either Professors or nonteaching employees, either salary or bennies.

I haven't met or heard from such a person yet who complained about what a crappy job or lack of security they had. On the contrary, all the non-faculty I've ever known who worked for UC or CSU felt pig-lucky to have those Civil Servant jobs. I worked along side of some of them for awhile as an (unpaid lab-researching) grad student during the afternoon, working in low wage jobs in the Real Economy in the mornings and weekends. Got to see upfront, first hand, the Civil Servant Work Ethic.

As for the faculty jobs, they are some of the most coveted jobs in the USA, very competitive to get.

The tax burden in California should not go up any more, because so many working stiffs in low wage jobs are paying high rates of sales tax and state income tax already. While I agree with the concept that the rich can pay more, it is not practical to soak the rich in one single state in the USA. Increasing the state taxes burden will damage the economy more, because it will be more reasons for businesses to expand somewhere else, and it will reduce the purchasing power even more of already overtaxed Working Families.

That leaves tuition hikes on the students to pay for the rich bennies of our UC and CSU servants. The anger of those protesters oughta be directed at them and their unions, who are OK with passing along the costs to the students before sharing the pain with the rest of California. They should not direct their anger at taxpayers.

B.A.C.A.H. says

The tax burden in California should not go up any more, because so many working stiffs in low wage jobs are paying high rates of sales tax and state income tax already. Increasing the state taxes burden will damage the economy more, because it will be more reasons for businesses to expand somewhere else, and it will reduce the purchasing power even more of already overtaxed Working Families.

That leaves tuition hikes on the students to pay for the rich bennies of our UC and CSU servants. The anger of those protesters oughta be directed at them and their unions. Not the taxpayers.

Well, some of this cost can be attributed to salaries. But those have always been there. I think a lot has to do with construction of new facilities and state cutbacks in funding. Ever been on a college campus that doesn't have any construction? Likely not. That should be the first thing they do is freeze all new construction (not necessarily modernization for things like seismic retrofitting) for a period of 5 years. That would save literally billions in the UC system. State cutbacks have killed tuition.

As for taxes, why are the rest of the taxes going up? Because property taxes, which are relatively stable, make up a much smaller percentage of state revenue. Know how much LA County prop tax valuations as a whole have changed over the past year? 1%. Sales and income taxes are much more volatile when the economy heads south. Therefore, they raise our state income and sales taxes to crazy levels, which drives away businesses. Repeal parts or all of Prop 13, lower the other taxes to manageable levels, and we keep business here.

Waitingtobuy says

why are the rest of the taxes going up? Because property taxes

Dude, I live on a block where almost all of my neighbors have jobs like, roofer, janitor, carpenter, NUMMI assembly worker (not anymore!), drapery installer, drywaller, etc. These are real examples. My assessment was less than 300K, and the tax on that was $4221.

I am not complaining; I just pay the tax, it is part of my housing cost.

Prop-13 or not, whatever, $4200 is a lot of money for blue collar working families to pay, either directly as owners or through the rent as tenants, for a less than 300K assessment, when we have 10% income tax on incomes over 30K, and almost 9% (regressive!) sales tax.

New construction is not paid with operating money which is for the most part what Working Families are getting strapped to pay for, and the loan-strapped students for the cushy jobs of faculty and other associated Civil Servants on the campuses.

B.A.C.A.H. we agree. 10% income tax and 9% sales tax are ridiculous.

My question is why are we all paying this much, yet some guy who has owned his $2.5M place in Malibu since 1978 is paying property taxes as if the house is worth $300K? Why are you bearing his burden? Wouldn't you rather be paying 6-7% sales and income tax? And why did your house cost you $300K when in non-Prop 13 states, it would be a lot less? (Hint: no one wants to give up their house, which might be reassessed, so it limits supply) And what about the strip mall owner down the street who skirts reassessment because he bought the property with two other partners, limiting his ownership to under 50%?

The point is you should be complaining. Your anger towards public employees in understandable, but in my opinion, it is misdirected.

Waitingtobuy says

Your anger towards public employees

Please show me that quote, that I am angry with public employees.

Regarding the assessments and taxes myself and my neighbors pay, through the rent or whatever, my assessment is 275K. The recent appraisal is 330K. For that I get, and my blue collar neighbors get, the privilege of a very big 4.2K tax bill. We are not "holding onto our homes" for that coveted prop-13 assessment. Values have fallen enough to make it irrelevant for most of us. I agree with your remarks about the rich and the commercial properties. Everyone needs to feel the pain. Not just the blue collar taxpayers and loan-strapped students. Everyone includes, Civil Servants."

Stop feeding the beasts. That's the only way to "fix" it.

B.A.C.A.H. says

Please show me that quote, that I am angry with public employees.

B.A.C.A.H. says

Almost all the money is payment to individuals ("Civil servants") either Professors or nonteaching employees, either salary or bennies.

I haven't met or heard from such a person yet who complained about what a crappy job or lack of security they had. On the contrary, all the non-faculty I've ever known who worked for UC or CSU felt pig-lucky to have those Civil Servant jobs. I worked along side of some of them for awhile as an (unpaid lab-researching) grad student during the afternoon, working in low wage jobs in the Real Economy in the mornings and weekends. Got to see upfront, first hand, the Civil Servant Work Ethic.

That doesn't look like you are a big fan. I do agree that everyone, including civil servants, needs to feel the pain.

Regarding the price of your home, it might be right now, but I can tell you a lot of people bought when it wasn't and are now feeling the pain. Prices in my area are still too high, and Prop 13, whether through masking the true cost of property taxes, or limiting supply, has a big role in this and increasing sales and income taxes. The little guy that is working is bearing the burden for the rich cats and people that bought 30 years ago. I'm paying 2x your property taxes, AND 9% sales taxes, and 9% income taxes, just because my neighbor was lucky enough to be born 3 decades before me. He uses the same police and fire department, his grandkids go to my kids' school, and his son will send their kids to the UC system (if they can afford it).

As for UC construction funding, it doesn't come from operating costs, but it does come from general obligation bonds or short-term commercial paper. This debt service requires money, which the state doesn't have, so it moves money from one category (state university operating costs) to another (debt service for GO bonds and commercial paper). Same difference.

This article explains it: http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/general/01-10Construction.asp

waiting,

where did I express the anger? Please show me. Everyone needs to feel the pain. Including the Civil Servants.

OK, you win, you didnt expressly show anger. Disdain?

I'm no fan of professors and employees getting lifetime seniority or tenure. However, the real issue to me is lack of funding, and we can point to employees. Freeze the salaries. Great. Still doesn't make up for the funding shortfall.

The major change is the UC system, and K-12 education in California, is that both have been shortchanged over the past 30 years since the onset of Prop 13. Our local school district has had its budget slashed by more than $10M over the past two years. We used to be 13th in state funding of education. We are now 46th, just ahead of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Hawaii, all of which have "stellar" systems. Do we want our education system to be compared with these states?

Waitingtobuy says

Disdain?

I'm no fan of professors and employees getting lifetime seniority or tenure. However, the real issue to me is lack of funding, and we can point to employees. Freeze the salaries. Great. Still doesn't make up for the funding shortfall.

Disdain? No. Balance.
Civil Servants keep complaining about the revenue side of it. They are half-right. But the revenue is not An Entitlement, and they don't wanna talk about the other half of the problem.

At least, other Civil Servants outside of UC/CSU like K-12, public safety, etc. don't have the option to impose "tuition" to their Customers and send them to the arms of Student Loans to pay it. At least not yet.

We agree there. Revenue, and even a job, should not be an entitlement. But freezing and or even cutting salaries won't make up for the loss.

I deal with the K-12 budget a lot. I'm not an employee either. (I won't get into what I do). Budgets have been cut to the bone, and yet we still need people to run school districts. Until robots can teach, education is a people business. 85-90% of all school district budgets, well run and not well run districts, goes to salary and benefits. Same goes for private schools too.

Waiting, the reason you are paying 9K a year in property taxes, is because it was your choice to pay for (or borrow for) > 600K for your house. That is not your Senior Citizen neighbor's fault. S/he did not ask you to bid up the cost of living on his/her street.

What is sad is that, so many people made that choice, to overpay and get over-assessed and paying way too much property taxes that it created a positive feedback loop rising of assessments and revenues which allowed postponement of the reckoning of the whole system. That delay exacerbated all the problems with it and now in blue collar places at least, The Gig is Up.

At least from what it sounds like, you're in The Fortress where the values remain high, and thost who became residents during the recent years of high assessments are affluent enough to pay those bills. It's different over here where it's mostly lower wage folks.

Partially true. I did make that choice, and I've been fortunate enough to build up wealth over the years (and the value of my last home went up, which allowed me to trade up). I am paying my fair share to support services.

However, you can't ignore the fact that a law that allows you to enjoy the same benefits of living on the same street, receiving the same services, reaping increased property values, yet paying 25% of the property taxes I pay, is fair to me or anyone else. (How about giving him a police or fire dept response time that is 75% slower than mine?) And the ability to pass along the home to his kids or grandkids without a reassessment. Not to mention the extra insult of hiking other taxes to pay for his/their windfall.

Why not lower the property tax for EVERYONE to .8% of current residential and commercial values, as well as lower sales and income taxes to 7%? We might be able to attract new businesses, instead of driving them away, and still pay our bills. We have to try something, because the current formula is not working. By doing nothing, we are defending the status quo, and our long slide into mediocrity.

Waitingtobuy says

reaping increased property values,

Your Senior Citizen neighbor, if he lived there a long time, did not reap increased property values. That only happens when he sells, which he did not do. But you already said here that you reaped increased values to trade up. Did your Senior CItizen neighbor complain about that?

That's a canard that Howard Jarvis used. Most of the people involved in writing Prop 13 were apartment owners. There can be exemptions/means testing too. Your assuming he is a senior citizen. He's 57. An even so, he will make out like a bandit if he would ever need to sell the place.

Why should I subsidize him? Because he was born before me? Boo hoo. If he can't afford to pay the taxes to live here anymore, then sell the place, make $900K, and find a place to rent nearby.

I agree with you that locking in low rates for commercial property owners is not the same thing as protecting others from being evicted from their own homes.

But protecting Senior Citizens and others from getting evicted from their own homes because new neighbors overpaid is not a canard for sheltering The Rich from market assessments on their businesses. It is only a canard for the disingenuous who make that argument. There is no good reason why the tax laws cannot be changed.

When you overpaid for that Fortress House, you over committed for your property taxes. It was your choice. He did not, in your words, "reap" from increased property values if he did not sell. But unlike him, you did "reap" as you put it, from increased property values, to trade up. Then after that you made a sarcastic remark about "oh boo hoo". So you got yours, f'ck the rest of them.

Let's reap the benefit and boo hoo for the rest. Welcome to The Fortress. Welcome to The Bay Area. The Cool and Hip Bay Area.

I'm not in the Bay Area. Im in LA.

What does "overpaying" for my Fortress House have anything to do with this? I would be complaining about the 9% income and 9% sales taxes if my house cost $800K or $80K.

My issue isn't the property taxes, although I wouldnt mind them lower. It is that my neighbor and anyone else that has a sweetheart deal on property taxes has forced the rest of us to pay all kinds of higher taxes. It also means we get less services because they aren't carrying their share of the load.

My boo hoo comment is sarcastic. What you are saying is that I should be taking care of someone whose house value has gone up a lot, and could cash out if they wanted, or could take a part time job, etc. If we didn't have Prop 13 (it limits supply), we might have had lower prices to start, at which point the property taxes on the older owner would be assessed lower. (again, there could be means testing or exemptions for people beyond working age).

Of course I'm not in favor of older people getting evicted, but I'm also not in favor of younger people being evicted because they can't afford to pay their mortgage or rent because of high sales, income, and property taxes, who send their kids to schools which don't have enough money to pay the bills, and who can't get to work on time because the roads blow.

So are you saying that the great majority of us should suffer to protect someone whose house is worth 20 times what they paid for it? If so, you won't get any sympathy from me. Or are you happy with the way things are in CA? If so, at ease...If you can't afford the property taxes, get a part time job as a crossing guard for 2 hrs/day, apply for an exemption, take out a reverse mortgage or HELOC, or sell and move to an apartment you can afford (and enjoy the $900K windfall on a trip to Tahiti). A revised set of property tax laws could be architected to avoid hurting the less fortunate, which is what is happening right now to a fair greater share of people.

zzyzzx says

This stuff is mostly due to colleges paying lavish benefits to employees (often unionized) and paying for bloated union labor on construction projects as well.

If the homeowner isn't insulted by your offer...you didn't bid low enough!!!

Yes, how dare the people who spend their days cleaning the toilets at colleges accross this country expect to earn enough to someday be able to send their own kids. Unions aren't the problem. It's all the extras, like fancy, foreign campuses, lavish dining halls and sports programs that routinely run overbudget. Some of the cost increases are justified, as technology forces schools to upgrade certain equiptment perpetually in order to keep their students up to snuff, but the US government writes a blank check in the form of loans so there's no incentive to economize. Tenured professors don't teach anymore; they research and publish, leaving teaching to UNDERPAID adjuncts. Priorities are out of whack because colleges lack fiscal discipline. Limit government backed student aid to a per pupil total, and prices would begin to normalize.

I've always thought that differences between the Bay Area and the LA Area were mostly all in the minds of Bay Area media types with Major Market Size Envy. Kind of like so many of the professors at the different colleges in the Bay Area who say that "I could've taught at Berkeley, but..."...

The "I cashed ("reaped") my market gain and got mine, but now that I did it, it's not fair" mantra sounds like another thing we have in common, here in the Cool and Hip Bay, with Cool and Hip L.A.

When they write that accepted (congratulations!) offer, buyers choose to buy and they set the price, "congratulations on your new purchase!". They elect to pay the property tax they wrote into their offer. It was a choice that they made, no coercion.

Older folks did not choose to have their reassessment price them out of their homes because younger wealthier people muscled their way in, with cash or their high incomes or loans or whatever. These are people prop-13 voters were fooled into protecting when they voted for it, but it seems like that was only a rider written in to gin up working class people to vote for something that was more about commercial properties. I didn't vote for it, I was a kid at the time, too young to vote.

B.A.C.A.H. says

The "I cashed ("reaped") my market gain and got mine, but now that I did it, it's not fair" mantra sounds like another thing we have in common, here in the Cool and Hip Bay, with Cool and Hip L.A.

I think you have this backwards. Im not suggesting "I got mine, Jack, so backoff". Quite the opposite. I think everyone should pay, no matter the value of the purchase price, including yours truly, that bought at a price I never thought I would pay. As you said, it was my choice. It is the older folks' choice to live in a property that is worth lots more than they paid.

I have voted for our school district bonds. In fact, I ran the campaign, because I believe in good schools. What Im not happy about is others don't feel the same by paying it forward.

This may be the first generation that doesn't feel obligated to provide for the same schools, roads, and public services that their predecessors did. What if, after WWII, the older folks back then said "why should I pay my fair share of taxes for someone else's kids?". These people would never have been educated or had the opportunities they had. Then, Howard Jarvis comes along and says, "you shouldn't pay the same as everyone else. You are special..."and people bought it. What kind of a message does this send to young people that there is a special class of people who don't pay their fair share of taxes?

It isn't my fault that prices have risen, and the fact that my paying $800K for a house benefits the person who was there a long time by an increase in their home value. I'm happy for them and am not jealous in any way. If no one paid what I paid, then they might be sitting on a home worth $80K instead of $800K. Just like it isnt the older folks fault either. The system has limited demand.

When prices rose at our old place, I was ecstatic. I cashed out and rented for 4 years, until we caught the downdraft of the new place we are in (which was worth $1.1M at the peak). Why couldn't someone else take the cash and rent if they can't afford the property taxes?

Again, you haven't answered my question about why it's OK for me and every other working stiff to subsidize someone that bought 30 years ago because that is exactly what we are doing. Just like I will be glad to pay my fair share of taxes if my place increases 10 fold to $8M. If taxes go up, so be it. I'm cashing out again and moving in to a place I can afford..with a wad of cash. Or Im paying my taxes because that's what good citizens do.

Dont complain about college debt.
If you have debt, change countries and the debt stays.
If you want to go to school look overseas, Swiss universities are $1500/year, and Most of Europe has free tuition for Foreign students. My country gives zero interest loans to students and has near zero unemployment.

Countries fight over young hardworking and educated people. Try Australia where you can get a job paying very well without a formal education. Even wages in China are higher than the USA now. Any young person could quickly get wealthy in Asia, its full of high paying jobs and comfortable living with great healthcare.

TylerDurden1 says

Even wages in China are higher than the USA now

No they're not.

Clara says

some money. Paid off my loan in 5 months after graduation easily.
I now am a senior manager of a big SW company. One guy under me was from MIT, another from UCB. Both with huge loans. The way I see it, expensive college are overrated

This describes me too....I have a BS from a California State University. I lived at home and commuted to school. Not the best school by any means. But it cost around $1800/yr at the time plus books and parking. And its a passable school.

I work at the same job as people who went to much more expensive and prestigious schools. I make the same as them and may make more. The head of my division went to a Cal State University also and is over people who went to very expensive private schools.

People run into trouble, like others have said, when they do retarded stuff like spring for private school or to live at a UC AND major in a worthless program(in the future making money sort of way) AND take out loans to do.

If you are borrowing $10K+ a year to eventually make $30-60K/yr, you really are making a HUGE mistake. These people should either live with mom and dad and attend community college then a CSU, or they should work full time and attend a CSU at night.

TylerDurden1 says

even wages in China are higher than the USA now.

Not even close..not even remotely close. You can argue that the yuan hasn't had the same inflationary pressures as the dollar..that's fine. But to say that outright wages are higher would be foolish. Now if you mean Hong Kong then you would have a argument but there are HUGE differences between Hong Kong and the mainland.

The richest part of the mainland would be Shanghai and I've heard the median income would be about 8-10K. You'd be on welfare on those rates here..not even minimum wage part time would be that low.Waitingtobuy says

What about the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s when the government subsidized education?

Huh? The student loan market right now IS from the federal government. Obama took out the middleman (I'm not complaining). The federal student loan market didn't stop in the 90's.

When you subsidize demand it is like giving out half price coupons at walmart on black friday. The place will get swamped and will get sold out. There'd be no incentive for walmart to lower prices but they would increase staffing.

When you subsidize supply it is the opposite. It is like going to Costco and seeing massive amounts of say paper towels sold for 5 cents each in bulk.Waitingtobuy says

College has become an elite country club, something it wasn't intended ever to be. You have to apply, get recommendations, pay exorbitant membership dues, and hopefully you leave a better informed person, with huge debt, unless you have saved ahead of time.

Elite country club? ok..time out.

If EVERYONE goes to college and gets a degree then what exactly would be the value of it? It wasn't that long ago that simply graduating high school was enough to find work (50's and 60s). Public school systems vary dramatically in class structure and what someone can learn. When I attended we had three foreign languages someone could take (French, Spanish and Latin). A friend of mine at a school with a higher population and some more funding had those and German, Russian and Chinese.

Since there are less colleges and universities than public schools it means more to have a degree. Also is that since the student has to pay something to attend it flushes out anyone that just kinda "has to" go. Colleges/universities have a declaration of major where people specialize in subjects. One could argue maybe we should do the same with high school but that might be a tad odd.

What gets people into college is being able to afford it and having the grades. I know someone that had a hard time in his undergrad and inquired about going to graduate level. The standard is a 2.8 GPA, he has about a 2.0. They just cannot bend it. A leap that low would put the standards in question.

On the same level I took a recent government test and didn't pass (came within 10%). The whole process of the test, background check, questioning has a pass rate of less than 3% (had I known that maybe I wouldn't have taken it)

Like it or not everything has standards. We have a standard here just by communicating in English. McDonalds offers picture menus..who doesn't know what a hamburger is in 2011?

One can argue that in Europe tuition for higher education is free. OK but it still leaves out those that don't qualify academically.

Ok so what can be done in lieu of it. There are subjects that allow certificate programs. Some skills are just learned gradually. A vocational school near me has night classes on a wide range of subjects (welding, reupholstery etc) There's a school to become a chef. There are schools to learn mechanical work and of course carpentry, electrical etc.

Of course the market makes the value of anything go up or down. Where I am plumbing is valued higher and can make a better living then down south. Electrical I think has gone down with the market.

I have a degree from UC Davis and fortunately only had a small 10k loan that was repaid years ago. Back in 1989, tuition at UC was dirt cheap compared to now. College is way over rated and I could have done better by spending 4 years in the Air Force with paid experience and college paid for by the military. Anyways, I work with some folks with PhDs and I make more than they do. I know one guy working on his MBA at Wharton which costs 180k for 2 years! Not worth it!

Waitingtobuy says

Again, you haven't answered my question about why it's OK for me and every other working stiff

Million dollar home in The Fortress? Cash-out tax free, trade-up and have the income to make it all work with today's property taxes at market assessment in The Fortress? Income to qualify for the loan on it? Working stiff? Puh-leez.

Your neighbor did not "cash-in" for a tax-exempt gain of asset appreciation on the sale of personal residence. But if he sold a different appreciated asset, taxable. It's not fair to him, not getting that whopper exemption, he subsidized your windfall. It's not fair to him, he does not get your whopper MID and property tax deduction. It's not fair to him, subsidizing your ongoing payments for your choice. You use the government services same like him, why should he subsidize your choice to buy a Fortress Residence at those over priced prices? Does he resent you and say, "boo hoo to you" for it?

mdovell says

If EVERYONE goes to college and gets a degree then what exactly would be the value of it?

The value is that EVERYONE is educated. There is tremendous value in having an educated society.

tatupu70 says

mdovell says

If EVERYONE goes to college and gets a degree then what exactly would be the value of it?

The value is that EVERYONE is educated. There is tremendous value in having an educated society.

No doubt there is value in people being more educated in general, but is it worth the cost? A person is much better suited to be educated or trained in something they can use. A person getting a bachelor's in history and a $100,000 student loan debt does not serve the person or society. Either the person or the taxpayer is going to eat it, and for what?

People hold on to the outdated belief that a college degree is the path to success. Any degree. That is not even close to the truth anymore. Kind of like the people who believed in the realtor BS that it is always a good time to buy.

tatupu70 says

The value is that EVERYONE is educated. There is tremendous value in having an educated society.

Yep.

You can learn a lot from independent reading, at the public library, etc.

tatupu70 says

If EVERYONE goes to college and gets a degree then what exactly would be the value of it?

The value is that EVERYONE is educated. There is tremendous value in having an educated society.

What does "educated" even mean, according to what you are talking about? Example: My wife has a Bachelor's Degree. Last night, we were watching T.V., and a trivia question came up asking about the 4th Marx Brother. We never watch it, and I've never heard her mention it. Yet, she got the correct answer. I asked her "how did you know that?". She said, "I took a History of Modern Film class in college." She chuckled and said "I'm 'well-rounded', didn't you know that?". Is THAT the type of "educated" you are talking about?

Just Reality says

She said, "I took a History of Modern Film class in college." She chuckled and said "I'm 'well-rounded', didn't you know that?". Is THAT the type of "educated" you are talking about?

Yep--you got it. I think society would be much better off if everyone knew about the 4th Marx Brother. Do you disagree?

After all, I'm sure that's the ONLY thing she learned at college.

Waitingtobuy says

You may not realize it, but painting Jews as college-educated elitists while many people are struggling (including Jews) pits one group against another. (and BTW, Fox News using the term "Hollywood" is code for Jews).

If you want to go through life playing "AdLib" with peoples words, then why stop there. You should invent some internal enemies and the three of you can debate the finer points of deceit and distention.

Waitingtobuy says

You have to be very careful about saying "some of my best friends are Jewish".

I do? Why? I live in South Florida for God sakes, everyone has Jewish friends, and well sit down for this one...

A few Cuban Friends as well.

Bellingham Bill says

I don't begrudge people making a living in education, or health care for that matter.

We'd have a superior society if more people made decent livings in these fields.

They are already making lavish salaries and benefits.

mdovell says

When you subsidize demand it is like giving out half price coupons at walmart on black friday. The place will get swamped and will get sold out. There'd be no incentive for walmart to lower prices but they would increase staffing.

When you subsidize supply it is the opposite. It is like going to Costco and seeing massive amounts of say paper towels sold for 5 cents each in bulk

I love your analogies.

zzyzzx says

They are already making lavish salaries and benefits.

you're just sore because voting for Republicans is inversely correlated with education.

i"m cuban and jewish, and i have no friends.

vince13 says

i"m cuban and jewish, and i have no friends.

Well you have plenty now Vince.

Bellingham Bill says

you're just sore because voting for Republicans is inversely correlated with education.

That's just proof, the more oppressively expensive educated you are the more Gullible you are.

my broski told me to not get a graduate degree 'unless I was certain it'd increase my salary.'

well, I didn't follow his advice, so in the end I incurred more debt, suffered the wrath of more schooling, and didn't receive any direct monetary compensation for it. Oops.

I feel that some of the college debt students are saddled with is due to their own personal hubris.

20 years ago, the BA became the HS Diploma. Today, it's the Master's Degree. Seems everybody under 40 has one or is working on one. That or Law School, which is why I've decided to do neither. It probably won't have much of an ROI, so I'm working on getting out of the employee game entirely. That, and I hate the arbitrary aesthetics of the MLA, you know, our opinion is a fact, so don't single space after periods, it's wrong because this panel of tenured English professors doesn't like the look of it.

I believe those charts that compare the earnings of various educational levels are too simplistic. What I would like to see is "How much will I make with 0 years experience and a Master's Degree vs. 15 years experience and a Bachelor's" type charts. I betcha the 15 year experience Bachelor holder makes more money; and might make even more with a Master's. Whereas the newly minted Master's Degree might have to wait a loooooooong time to see the promised wage differences.

In other words, "Average" is just that. It doesn't mean your master's degree will get you a few thousand bucks instantly for the rest of your career the moment you get it.

I believe the worst offender is law school, as I've heard most of the charts showing the benefits of a law degree strip out those who are not in the practice of law, thus only people employed as lawyers are counted. I just don't see law becoming a growth industry, even if every boomer lawyer retires.

I would also like to see public jobs eliminated from consideration when comparing average wages to education level, since many cops, teachers, and other gov't employees get guaranteed wage increases upon obtaining higher levels of education, but I'm not aware of any private employer that gives similar treatment.