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Forum Post: Capital robbed by...education?

Posted 12 years ago on Feb. 2, 2012, 9:58 a.m. EST by Occupiersteve (0)
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I identify myself as middle class--my dad teaches, my mom's a psychologist.

I had the privilege of getting a trust fund from my industrialist grandpa upon graduating an elite university--a small fund that would have still made a nice savings. Despite having two 'middle class' parents I needed to take out loans--lots of 'em--to get through school. And when I graduated, I used the vast majority of my fund to pay them.

I'm aware there are a lot of people who didn't get trust funds to pay off their loans, and there are a lot of people who have to work to pay them off and are struggling doing it. However, experiencing the education I did and making the friends I did, I know a lot of elites who have it a lot better than me right now. I'm sure debt free, but I'm a newly minted graduate who is now broke and my parents, because of a recent series of events, can not support me enough to make the gap year I'm taking work. That is, they can't pay for a cheap rent in a town and for board. I know--most people can't, too.

Before the flamers call me a spoiled brat like my parents [;)], I want to make something clear. There is something wrong with a country where guys with fucking trust funds (albeit, relatively small ones) are struggling.

Second, I'm seeking to learn whether others have faced similar problems to mine. Maybe you didn't have a trust fund (or maybe you did!), but maybe your parents saved and worked their petty bourgeois asses off to save for your education (a thing highly valued in your family). And maybe you had to give it all to Sallie Mae and who knows who else. And maybe you're fed up with having the resources your parents--and even grandparents--have spent their lives accumulating being 'disappeared'--or stolen, depending on how you want to frame it--because certain people have marshaled their power to make the thing that you invest in to get ahead in this world cost an absurd price. I am looking to see if anyone shares the view that a variety of players have used their power to set the terms such that education is becoming an investment that can only be paid for--and is only a profitable investment--for the wealthy (apparently with trust funds significantly bigger than mine).

I request that you share your stories, however seemingly unrelated. I'm especially interested in stories about education and what policies--or world labour markets--have led to your college education seeming overpriced or not yielding the rewards thought to be your birthright.

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