Where is wealth inequality going?

[Singuy]

Just to add to what I said above.

I have a pharmacy tech who is an immigrant from Egypt. He works as an overnight pharmacy tech because he can get 7 nights off(7 on 7off shift) so he can work another full time overnight shift at another hospital. He had about 5 total days off in a given year. I asked him why he is working so hard..his response was "I am ensuring that both of my daughters that are now in medical school can come out debt free". He said "I don't have the ability to make anything out of myself, but I need to make sure my children can have a successful life".

Eventually he had to quit one of his job due to heart problems(given that he's in his 60s).

This is the culture of immigrants..you hear these stories in all of Asia and it's considered to be something that SHOULD be done by all parents. Parents are actually considered to be "bad parents" if they didn't make such sacrifices..that is our culture. My parents still can't get over the fact that my wife's parents didn't make such sacrifices which led to her carrying student loan debt..something that's practically unheard of.

All I hear from some of my colleagues are "my parents didn't pay for my tuition, why should I prepay or save for my kids' tuition?..I turned out just fine without the handout". This is the culture that's acceptable here...so continue on buying your beer and relax....

[disneysteve]

All I hear from some of my colleagues are "my parents didn't pay for my tuition, why should I prepay or save for my kids' tuition?..I turned out just fine without the handout". This is the culture that's acceptable here...so continue on buying your beer and relax....

I think this is a different conversation. It's not the poor saying this stuff. It's the middle and upper class. Obviously, I think it's a very short-sighted viewpoint. We've paid for almost all of our daughter's college costs and are grateful to have been able to do so.

I hear people say, "I worked my way through college. My kid should, too." That's great, except when you went to college 30 years ago, it was $7,000/year. The very same school today is over $50,000/year. How exactly do you expect your kid to work his way through that? Good luck finding a part time job near campus that will support that.

[Singuy]

I think this is a different conversation. It's not the poor saying this stuff. It's the middle and upper class. Obviously, I think it's a very short-sighted viewpoint. We've paid for almost all of our daughter's college costs and are grateful to have been able to do so.

I hear people say, "I worked my way through college. My kid should, too." That's great, except when you went to college 30 years ago, it was $7,000/year. The very same school today is over $50,000/year. How exactly do you expect your kid to work his way through that? Good luck finding a part time job near campus that will support that.

Steve, obvious there are many people who do participate in paying for their kid's tuition or else these 529/prepaid programs will just go out of business. But there are no social pressures in the U.S that force parents to be responsible...there's no active shaming unlike other cultures. In fact parents who save for their own retirement(so it's not a burden on their kids) and do end up paying for their child's education are praised here..when it's the norm in other cultures.

My wife told an Asian friend of hers that her parents didn't pay for her student loans..his responses was "what are you, adopted?". It's a joke..but it's only funny because in our culture..this doesn't happen much.

My point is (incase you think I went off topic)..the social pressure and culture in other areas around the world eliminated the excuse of "well we're very poor therefore we have the inability to raise successful kids".

My mom said the other day "it doesn't matter how many kids you have or what kind of wage you make...there's no excuse for not having the ability to pay for a kid's education..even if it means starving myself". This is our culture..this is why we produce successful kids no matter how poor we are.

[TexasHusker]

I think this is a different conversation. It's not the poor saying this stuff. It's the middle and upper class. Obviously, I think it's a very short-sighted viewpoint. We've paid for almost all of our daughter's college costs and are grateful to have been able to do so.

I hear people say, "I worked my way through college. My kid should, too." That's great, except when you went to college 30 years ago, it was $7,000/year. The very same school today is over $50,000/year. How exactly do you expect your kid to work his way through that? Good luck finding a part time job near campus that will support that.

So I graduated from a directional state school in 1989. I believe my senior year, the total cost was as follows:

Tuition $1300
Room and Board $2200
Books $300

So grand total, it was about $3800 per year.


That same school is about $17K a year now. That's about 5.5% inflation, which isn't so bad.

We will likely send our son to a private school which will be roughly twice as much.

School is expensive no way around it.

[disneysteve]

So I graduated from a directional state school in 1989. I believe my senior year, the total cost was as follows:

about $3800 per year.

That same school is about $17K a year now. That's about 5.5% inflation, which isn't so bad.

I'm not sure how to calculate the rate, but I graduated in 1986.
Senior year was $10,300.
Same school today is $55,060.

Here's the real issue.
Median household income in 1986 was $23,457. Inflation adjusted that is about $51,300.
Median household income in 2015 was about $56,500.

So household income has gone up about 10% but the cost of the school has gone up more than 5-fold.
ETA: Sorry, I realized my math error above. I didn't inflation-adjust the school cost but if you do, it's only about $22,800 - not $55,060.