Education is all over the news worldwide now that the economy has taken a turn and people are having to make the decision if it is worth it or not. Here in the UK, elementary children must apply to get into good secondary schools to ensure a good education near their homes...which in turn sets them up for good schools in the future. This isn't for 'private' school mind you, but instead for your general public school. They have to take a local exam and the school has almost a lottery to determine who gets in and who goes somewhere else. I thought college was stressful!! Then it also amazes me at the same time that the government has a program where it pays students to continue with their education beyond the age of 16. They can opt to go to a technical college or on to university to pursue their careers. Otherwise they just live at home and either work or do absolutely nothing. Overall they don't seem very education pushed as we seem to be in the US...but it also shows some places.
On the otherhand, it amazes my colleagues and friends here how much we, as Americans, have to pay for our education. Granted neither of us went to private school before the age of 18 (could you imagine how ridiculous of a situation our parents would have been then?!?), it is still impressive how much we've accumulated with our combined 13 years of education. In comparison to other friends and online bloggers, I think we're doing pretty well considering. Of course we don't have the degree that supports a $200K salary, but if either one of us attempted a private institution for the duration of our degrees I think we'd be living at home with mom & dad at this point in time.
I think moving to the UK has somewhat helped the situation and sometimes contributed to it. On the one hand we are making more money than we would have back home and hence paying more towards bills than if we had stayed home. When the exchange rate was more favorable we were looking at wiping out everything quite quickly...then it crashed and burned. We're still on the up side of things, but our fingers are crossed that the exchange rate recovers in the near future! Matt did accumulate some additional 'education debt', but considering it was 1 year of full time education to get his Master's we could not have done better anywhere else. Other schools would have required 3+ years of full time study which would have set us back (3 years of no work + 3 years of tuition ) as much financially. Now that the interest rate has fallen, so has his payments...lol! I can't say that either of us would still be employed in this economic downturn, so working in secure jobs is definitely priceless at this point.
Now on the political side of things, it seems that I'm not the only one who thinks that Obama should fork over some of that 'bailout' money our way to dwindle down these monthly payments. I can imagine the contribution I could potentially make towards the economy, both near and far, if we didn't fork over a good chunk of our paychecks to student loans and credit card debt. I'd probably fly home more than once a year, Matt would probably buy a good chunk of more books and music, we'd be shopping for more birthday and christmas gifts, and I'd be encouraging matt to go out to eat more often. We are sensible spenders and I can attest to some minor splurges (mostly to keep our sanity and for special events!), but knowing that bankers near and far have to forgo their multi-million dollar bonuses this year and may have to sell of their vacation homes really irkes me! Can we have just a $10K refund for getting good grades in college, earning a degree in the 'appropriate' timeframe, getting a job where we actually 'use' our degree, and contributing to society in a positive and well-rounded manner?
In the end, I definitely think the education we have received and the sacrifices we have made are definitely worth the price we paid...and continue to pay. I can't really say that if I was debt free all my life I'd actually be happier, more responsible, open-minded, or even have met the people I've met thus far. So in the time being I'll appreciate that we both have jobs, we can pay more towards our experiences we've had in the past, we have a roof over our heads, and hope to have a brighter and closer-to-no-debt future ahead!
Labels: Life