I'm curious about the MIT thing. In the 70's, when I applied around, MIT and other top schools made it clear that if you were qualified to go there and accepted, they'd find a way to get the bill paid with some combination of scholarships, loans, and work.
Nearly all schools say that. The result is that, before you are old enough to vote or drink, you are encouraged to take on a debt larger than the total amount of money your parents have ever made in five years, a debt which is not subject to bankruptcy laws.
If you make it out the other side of college with a bachelor's degree in a STEM field and an average job, it will still take you 21 years to pay it off.
If you don't feel that you can reasonably make a bet of that magnitude because your entire prior history tells you that it won't work -- that's entirely rational.
Private schools with huge endowments actually do cover tuition for people with lower incomes. For example, Princeton covers 100% of tuition and room & board for family income below $65,000:
They started doing that relatively recently. Back then, it was a small grant, a job, and a large loan. Software didn't start outpacing other engineering professions' pay till the web boom. That was hindsight since I had the faintest clue what a major was.
Choosing a major that results in a job versus one based on interests.
Another decision was not to go to graduate school right afterwards. Poignant memory was of a professor asking if I was going to graduate school after I did well in a graduate school level course and saying no.
> Choosing a major that results in a job versus one based on interests.
When I attended Caltech in the 70s, it was commonplace for people in AY (Astronomy) to double major. When asked, the reason was always "AY for fun, and ME/EE/Whatever for a job."
I very much tilted my choice of classes towards what I thought would be most advantageous for my anticipated career. It never occurred to me that I was being deprived. It was just common sense.
Ironically, my career wound up in a field that had little to do with my studies :-)
...and is completely forgiven if you die, make 25 years worth of payments (10 if you're in public interest), are permanently disabled; is only required to be repaid to the extent you have discretionary income and haven't asked to put in forbearance; and is at an extremely low, tax-deductible interest rate, not secured by any assets.
The 21 years cited in the article was for the average college graduate. If you're an MIT graduate in a STEM field, you are well above average.
The person I replied to stated he was more than qualified to get into MIT, so I presume he'd have graduated above MIT average in a STEM field, which is not a disadvantaged position to be in.
