The Good News Thread

Channel98

Don't yell or hit.
Feb 2, 2019
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Glendale CA
Robert Smith, founder of the investment firm Vista Equity Partners, is going to pay off the student loans of 396 new graduates of Morehouse College. Wouldn't it be nice if other billionaires would follow his lead and do similar acts of kindness and generosity?

Morehouse College grads are surprised by a billionaire's promise to pay off their student loans

Robert F. Smith surprises Morehouse grads with promise to pay off student loans - CNN
 

scotchandcigar

All I wanted was some steak
Feb 13, 2009
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Vacationland
Robert Smith, founder of the investment firm Vista Equity Partners, is going to pay off the student loans of 396 new graduates of Morehouse College. Wouldn't it be nice if other billionaires would follow his lead and do similar acts of kindness and generosity?

Morehouse College grads are surprised by a billionaire's promise to pay off their student loans

Robert F. Smith surprises Morehouse grads with promise to pay off student loans - CNN
Great, that helps a few kids, woohoo. I was hoping to get student loan reform with the last election, because my kid (and probably a few million others) pays outrageous interest on her loans. But I guess now we need money to build a wall.
 
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HecticArt

Administrator
Oct 19, 2008
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Isn't Morehouse a more prestigious school?
Are those the students that are less likely to have trouble paying back their loans?
 

HecticArt

Administrator
Oct 19, 2008
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What's the typical default rate?

I've always heard that lawyers and doctors are the most likely to default on their loans.

I paid every penny of mine back.
 

scotchandcigar

All I wanted was some steak
Feb 13, 2009
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What's the typical default rate?

I've always heard that lawyers and doctors are the most likely to default on their loans.

I paid every penny of mine back.
Maybe I'm ignorant, but they're known to follow you to the ends of the earth to get their payment, so it seems rather futile to resist. Unless you don't care about ruining your credit.
 

memebag

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Oct 11, 2008
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Lake Huntzing
What's the typical default rate?

I've always heard that lawyers and doctors are the most likely to default on their loans.

I paid every penny of mine back.
In 2015 (the year I quoted above for Morehouse) it was 10.8%.

I never took a student loan. My folks paid for two years of college, then ran out of money. I tried paying my own way for a while, but being poor sucked so I quit school and got a programming job. I recognize that path isn't available to most people.
 

scotchandcigar

All I wanted was some steak
Feb 13, 2009
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Vacationland
In 2015 (the year I quoted above for Morehouse) it was 10.8%.

I never took a student loan. My folks paid for two years of college, then ran out of money. I tried paying my own way for a while, but being poor sucked so I quit school and got a programming job. I recognize that path isn't available to most people.
Mark Zuckerberg took the same path, and it turned out OK for him.
 

memebag

Top Brass, ADVP
Oct 11, 2008
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Lake Huntzing
College still isn't required, unless you only want to work for people who are convinced college is required.

I taught myself programming in high school. I saved up my pennies and bought a C compiler because I read a magazine article about it and realized it was a cool language. Colleges weren't teaching a lot of C back then, so it was easy to get a job as a C programmer. Once I'd been working a couple of years no one cared about degrees. They just wanted my mad coding skillz.
 

scotchandcigar

All I wanted was some steak
Feb 13, 2009
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Once I'd been working a couple of years no one cared about degrees.
That's the thing. In the corporate world, you need a degree to get a job interview as an entry-level candidate. But a few years later, you're now a professional, and you can list your college without indicating whether you got a degree.

But I'm an engineer, so I didn't have the option of doing freelance engineering, because that's not a thing.
 

HecticArt

Administrator
Oct 19, 2008
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College still isn't required, unless you only want to work for people who are convinced college is required.
If you want to practice architecture, you need a college degree. You used to be able to sit for the exam if you worked for a licensed architect for something like 15 years.
That's loser talk. Plenty of places in the world need engineers and won't ask questions.
Depends on the kind of engineer and the part of the world.
 

JHDK

Release Robin's Bra
Oct 11, 2008
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I know it's old but this is painfully cute:



The tiny little girl singing "you got troubles, I got em too" is so incredibly cute.
 
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