

Even Ph.D.s Who Got “Full Funding” Have Huge Amounts of Debt - squirejons
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/01/15/phd_debt_project_google_doc_survey_collects_figures_of_graduate_school_debt.html

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doctorwho
Why are people still pursuing degrees which they will likely NEVER be able to
use? This is not a problem that universities need to fix, but it is ultimately
a self-correcting problem. If people can't get paid for studying X for 7+
years then post-grad X programs will dry up and disappear. As they should. If
you're planning to go into one of these dead-end academic fields you should be
required to take a full year course in Economics first.

~~~
nightcracker
Because getting a Ph.D. is more than getting a degree. You're actively doing
research, and contribute to the world. Some people value this higher than
simply getting a degree.

~~~
beagle3
For some people, buying a BMW is more than procuring a means of
transportation, and they value it much higher than just buying a car. But I
have never seen anyone come to defend those of them who got into unsustainable
debt because of that (of which there are many, but not really a big part of
the BMW owners in general).

Some Ph.Ds are actively doing research, very few of them are contributing to
the world. Most Ph.Ds do not.(Many tenured professors with long publication
lists do not either, for that matter).

I'm not against doing a Ph.D - far from it. But it's important to face reality
- most academic work (Ph.D included) does not actually advance humanity, not
even small sections of it. Only a very small part of academic research does.

The same goes for art. Some artists inspire millions. Most people who do art
do not - many do it because they enjoy it, even if they suck horribly at it
(and are often willfully ignorant of how bad they suck at it). Most people
would consider it foolish for someone to go into huge debt to practice art,
especially if there's no indication it would be able to support them. Yet,
somehow, even though academic studies are roughly equivalent in that sense,
they enjoy some halo of "nonfoolishness".

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ahomescu1
Looking at the Excel chart, it seems like most people in debt got that from
undergrad, not grad school. The data doesn't seem to support their conclusion
(that people rack up debt in grad school).

~~~
doctorwho
So they went into debt for a Yugo instead of a BMW. It's the same problem.
People aren't able to separate wants from needs and do the basic math that
would tell them they'll end up with a crushing debt after a 4 year degree
program that will (in most cases) provide them with no advantage at all in the
workforce because of the glut of other "educated" applicants.

Desire and aptitude don't always go hand-in-hand. The people who always do
well (you know the ones) will get the jobs and everyone else will whine about
not being able to find a job that pays $100K right out of school. If you're
going to end up flipping burgers anyway, why not save 100K and just go
directly to the golden arches?

