Education talk

robbiestoupe
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Education talk

Postby robbiestoupe » Thu Jan 21, 2021 11:40 am

The pause on federal student loan payments has been extended to Sept-30. Interest will not accrue in that period.

You could pay on the principle and reduce your overall amount paid, if you wanted.
Another way of looking at it is given inflation and the future value of money it might be better to just leave it be until mandatory payment resumes.

In my case, I should have started repaying the loan on 6/2020. So if I took full advantage I'd have, at minimum, 15 months of deferment.

I'm not good at the math. At 6% interest do you think it makes more sense to take todays money and put it to principle, or to make the final payments in 10 years+15 months?

Seems obvious that over one year, inflation will not catch the 6% interest rate. But I don't know how that scales across the full 10 years.

I'm looking at it from the perspective of the 'buying power' difference of the money used to pay off the loan, when one loan is originated on 6/2020 and the other is originated on 10/2021 and both loans start with the same principle amount and interest rate.
Don't you have to assume you're using that money on the principal to otherwise invest? If so, can you beat the 6% interest rate + inflation?

If you don't factor in investing the money, one would think paying off the loan now is better than paying it off 10 years from now. Yes, $1000 today will be worth less than $1000 in 10 years, so in essence it will be "cheaper" to pay it off in 10 years. But you also have to figure when the clock starts again in October 2021, it will be at its current value. In contrast, interest on current value - 9 months of payments will be less, and in a compounding fashion.

robbiestoupe
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Education talk

Postby robbiestoupe » Thu Jan 21, 2021 11:44 am

It's pretty obscene. CMU sticker price all in is $76k, their net price calculator shows us $39k after financial aid. PSU, $32k in state. IUP, $25k in state.

My company has a $15k a year scholarship I'm hoping he gets which would really help, but obviously no guarantee.

There's something to be said for learning a trade.
I don't have to worry about this for at least 10 more years, but do they factor in 529 plans when figuring out financial aid? I'm wondering if I'm going to lose out overall because we decided to save up.
You're better off with a 529 than without: https://www.savingforcollege.com/articl ... ancial-aid

BTW, that site is what I used when researching this stuff years ago. A++ content.
I fully expected laws to change by the time my kids went to college, so didn't really bother researching. Was just curious. Thanks

dodint
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Postby dodint » Thu Jan 21, 2021 11:48 am

The pause on federal student loan payments has been extended to Sept-30. Interest will not accrue in that period.

You could pay on the principle and reduce your overall amount paid, if you wanted.
Another way of looking at it is given inflation and the future value of money it might be better to just leave it be until mandatory payment resumes.

In my case, I should have started repaying the loan on 6/2020. So if I took full advantage I'd have, at minimum, 15 months of deferment.

I'm not good at the math. At 6% interest do you think it makes more sense to take todays money and put it to principle, or to make the final payments in 10 years+15 months?

Seems obvious that over one year, inflation will not catch the 6% interest rate. But I don't know how that scales across the full 10 years.

I'm looking at it from the perspective of the 'buying power' difference of the money used to pay off the loan, when one loan is originated on 6/2020 and the other is originated on 10/2021 and both loans start with the same principle amount and interest rate.
Don't you have to assume you're using that money on the principal to otherwise invest? If so, can you beat the 6% interest rate + inflation?

If you don't factor in investing the money, one would think paying off the loan now is better than paying it off 10 years from now. Yes, $1000 today will be worth less than $1000 in 10 years, so in essence it will be "cheaper" to pay it off in 10 years. But you also have to figure when the clock starts again in October 2021, it will be at its current value. In contrast, interest on current value - 9 months of payments will be less, and in a compounding fashion.
Thanks. The compounding is the fuzzy part for me. I guess because the interest is not accruing now I don't think of it that way. But yeah, if I can knock 5-10k off the principle before starting it would have a compounding savings effect.

No, I wouldn't be investing it. But I would be using the funds to pay down other consumer debt ranging between 12% to 24%. That's what I've been doing so far, sending $800/mo to a high interest credit card.

robbiestoupe
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Education talk

Postby robbiestoupe » Thu Jan 21, 2021 11:52 am

The pause on federal student loan payments has been extended to Sept-30. Interest will not accrue in that period.

You could pay on the principle and reduce your overall amount paid, if you wanted.
Another way of looking at it is given inflation and the future value of money it might be better to just leave it be until mandatory payment resumes.

In my case, I should have started repaying the loan on 6/2020. So if I took full advantage I'd have, at minimum, 15 months of deferment.

I'm not good at the math. At 6% interest do you think it makes more sense to take todays money and put it to principle, or to make the final payments in 10 years+15 months?

Seems obvious that over one year, inflation will not catch the 6% interest rate. But I don't know how that scales across the full 10 years.

I'm looking at it from the perspective of the 'buying power' difference of the money used to pay off the loan, when one loan is originated on 6/2020 and the other is originated on 10/2021 and both loans start with the same principle amount and interest rate.
Don't you have to assume you're using that money on the principal to otherwise invest? If so, can you beat the 6% interest rate + inflation?

If you don't factor in investing the money, one would think paying off the loan now is better than paying it off 10 years from now. Yes, $1000 today will be worth less than $1000 in 10 years, so in essence it will be "cheaper" to pay it off in 10 years. But you also have to figure when the clock starts again in October 2021, it will be at its current value. In contrast, interest on current value - 9 months of payments will be less, and in a compounding fashion.
Thanks. The compounding is the fuzzy part for me. I guess because the interest is not accruing now I don't think of it that way. But yeah, if I can knock 5-10k off the principle before starting it would have a compounding savings effect.

No, I wouldn't be investing it. But I would be using the funds to pay down other consumer debt ranging between 12% to 24%. That's what I've been doing so far, sending $800/mo to a high interest credit card.
In that case, pay off the higher interest rate loan first. Tomas may slap me silly, but that's what we did when paying off my wife's student loans. Paid off the highest interest ones first, then worked our way down.

This is where Excel really helps. Not sure how proficient you are in using it, but sometimes I'll map out every single payment to make sure the math makes sense. Typically just use the financial equations, though.

dodint
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Postby dodint » Thu Jan 21, 2021 11:58 am

I took a finance class with my masters that taught me how to do this exact analysis. That was 5+ years ago, though, so I just hit the easy button and asked you. :P

dodint
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Postby dodint » Thu Jan 21, 2021 12:00 pm

There is also the possibility that the new administration pushes through a forgiveness bill that wipes out, at minimum, 25% of my principle. That shouldn't really factor into anything but it does from a less analytical viewpoint.

robbiestoupe
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Postby robbiestoupe » Thu Jan 21, 2021 12:34 pm

I'm one of those Excel nerds that puts everything in spreadsheet form. If I could write a letter in Excel, I'd do it. As a matter of fact, I used Excel to write a program for all the people we were inviting to our wedding. Had their addresses in cells, then wrote a script that put it into Word, formatted for envelope printing.

dodint
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Postby dodint » Thu Jan 21, 2021 12:35 pm

I have a friend that is a business analyst. I'm pretty good at excel but that guy is a damn wizard, sounds a lot like you.

robbiestoupe
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Education talk

Postby robbiestoupe » Thu Jan 21, 2021 12:40 pm

Nah, I peaked in 2003 or so. Any new-fangled add-ins since then and I'm lost.

RonnieFranchise
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Postby RonnieFranchise » Fri Jan 22, 2021 6:49 pm

Kid got rejected by Carnegie Mellon. As much as all along we have told him all along that the world is full of very well qualified students who didn’t get accepted.... man I feel bad for him.

Freddy Rumsen
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Postby Freddy Rumsen » Mon Mar 29, 2021 8:40 am

Interested in your thoughts on this @DigitalGypsy66 . Friend of mine from our institution of higher learning shared this with me.

https://www.city-journal.org/american-c ... -a-factory

DigitalGypsy66
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Education talk

Postby DigitalGypsy66 » Mon Mar 29, 2021 11:44 am

That's an interesting piece. He seems to have an axe to grind with his former employer, but that's understandable. :lol:

I can tell you parents want their kids to get jobs, which means professional degrees. Our #1 major - by far - is Business Administration and related majors (Finance, accounting, etc.) Parents don't want their kids taking electives that aren't marketable. As you would imagine, selling "liberal" arts in the rural south is tough.

My institution is at the point where we aren't really a liberal arts institution - technically we are a comprehensive university. Whatever that means.

When I got here in 2007, we had full-time Religion and political science/philosophy professors. We had four full-time faculty that taught foreign languages - including one that taught French, Italian, and German.

We now have local pastors taking turns teaching religion, no philosophy professor, and a sociology professor (and a host of adjuncts) teaching PoliSci. We have one full-time Spanish professor, and a part-time Chinese professor (that we share with the local residential high school for gifted science and math students). We've got two History professors in their sixties that will be retiring, and I know they won't be replaced with tenured faculty positions. With the move to online, those survey classes can be taught from anywhere.

I completely understand his frustration with the endless corporate meddling, and our board was rife with corporate types that were friends with our previous president. Only a handful with higher education experience, most that were on our board donated their way on. Our board grew so large it outgrew the purpose-built room in our building! With the move to online board meetings, that hasn't been an issue - and our new president has already had several board members resign.

We have endless consultants on campus. At one point in 2019, we counted five different consulting groups working on campus in various areas. We have one working on our new strategic plan. In fact, I have a Zoom meeting with them this week. :lol: The article mentioned U of Tulsa's consultant was paid $1.5 to 2 million for their strategic plan; ours will get paid in the low six figures for a years' worth of work. When no one has had a raise in 3+ years, positions cancelled, budgets locked down, and so on.

I wonder what @Tomas thinks. U of T is closer to his employer's size and state school status.

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Postby Freddy Rumsen » Mon Mar 29, 2021 1:52 pm

Thanks and that is really helpful to me. One of the benefits of our school flirting with bankruptcy and accreditation issues (which we are free from now) is that we didn't have extra money to toss towards that kind of thing.

dodint
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Postby dodint » Thu Apr 01, 2021 2:41 pm

My school contacted me. They're going to have commencement this year, in person. They moved it from the hockey arena indoors to a MiLB outdoor facility (CHS Field).

I didn't get a chance to walk for my AAS, BA, or MS. Was really hoping to get a chance to walk for my terminal degree. Downside is they're somehow still only allowing two guests. So it will probably just be my wife going. It's in June. We were already planning on being on vacation later that week so I'm just going to take off early and spend some time visiting some places we used to like in WI, like their really awesome rail-to-trails stuff.

RonnieFranchise
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Postby RonnieFranchise » Mon Apr 26, 2021 11:25 pm

After months of applying, worrying, getting rejected or wait listed for top programs, getting a great offer from his brother's school (RIT) and being adamant that he will not go there... middle Franchise accepted his offer to PSU University Park for Computer Science today.

He wanted a Top 10 program and we thought he had the grades/scores for it but with CS being one of, if not the most competitive majors, he apparently didn't quite have it. PSU is next tier though, and I think he is getting used to the idea.

He is still wait listed at Illinois, which is one of the top programs- but I just can't imagine the probably $80k more since they give no aid to out of state students would be worth it. We'll hash that out if it comes to that.

count2infinity
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Postby count2infinity » Tue Apr 27, 2021 7:18 am

Welcome to the jungle, middle franchise.

DigitalGypsy66
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Postby DigitalGypsy66 » Wed May 12, 2021 10:33 am

So the new-ish University of South Carolina president made a couple of gaffes this weekend during commencement activities.

1. He congratulated the new graduates of the University of California :lol:



I have an ongoing argument with South Carolina fans and alums that the real USC is in California, and that no one outside the state refers to USC as University of South Carolina, despite it being older than the University of Southern California. The president probably saw USC on his script/prompter and went into autopilot.

2. He plagiarized segments of his commencement address. He offered to resign, but the Board of Trustees declined his letter. He's a West Point alum, and should remember how they treat cheaters at that institution...but imagine being a South Carolina undergrad, accused of plagiarizing...you can just play the "Well, our President got away with it..." card.

On top of their horrendous shambles of a football program, losing to Clemson in baseball last night, it's too delicious for me.

Pavel Bure
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Postby Pavel Bure » Wed May 12, 2021 11:15 am

After months of applying, worrying, getting rejected or wait listed for top programs, getting a great offer from his brother's school (RIT) and being adamant that he will not go there... middle Franchise accepted his offer to PSU University Park for Computer Science today.

He wanted a Top 10 program and we thought he had the grades/scores for it but with CS being one of, if not the most competitive majors, he apparently didn't quite have it. PSU is next tier though, and I think he is getting used to the idea.

He is still wait listed at Illinois, which is one of the top programs- but I just can't imagine the probably $80k more since they give no aid to out of state students would be worth it. We'll hash that out if it comes to that.
Make him an emancipated minor. Straight access to independent level financial aid status instead of waiting until 26. Also, register a PO Box in the state he’s going to. Yeah there’s a time frame but this is long run stuff if there aren’t scholarships.

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Postby RonnieFranchise » Sat Jun 12, 2021 7:24 pm

So Middle Franchise graduated from high school yesterday and in the fall it will just be 3 of us at home.

Also apparently in our school anyway Valedictorian is no longer a thing- but he did get the “top GPA award.” He is actually glad because he didn’t want to give a speech anyway.

He got Mrs F’s brains, apparently.

PFiDC
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Education talk

Postby PFiDC » Sat Jun 12, 2021 7:43 pm

Congratulations! My son definitely got his mom's brains as well. He's only entering the 4th grade in the fall but has only got As so far.

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Postby RonnieFranchise » Sat Jun 12, 2021 8:07 pm

Thanks! He is smart but also works his ass off. His big brother- smart but skates by. More frustrating in college than it was in HS but he seems to be catching on in his Junior year.

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Postby Freddy Rumsen » Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:26 pm

What is up with this?

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/educa ... 2106250142
With a final vote three weeks away on the controversial merger of six of Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities, the NCAA says it still is waiting for information it needs from the schools to review what has become a key consideration in the system’s biggest change in its 38-year history.

The State System of Higher Education is seeking NCAA approval to continue offering a full array of athletics on all six campuses. They include California, Clarion and Edinboro universities in the west and Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield in the northeast.

Sports have emerged as a key prerequisite for the mergers given schools’ reliance on those sports for a pipeline of students who fare well academically, as well as the role sports play in sustaining alumni and donor affinity.

PFiDC
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Postby PFiDC » Mon Aug 02, 2021 4:08 pm

Re: my post in the Covid thread.

All of my knowledge of PPS is anecdotal and comes from our experience and the experience of people I know that went to PPS or teach at PPS.

Can anyone here share some information that I can use to help show my ex that putting our son in a better school district for his later grades is a positive and not a negative?

DigitalGypsy66
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Postby DigitalGypsy66 » Mon Aug 02, 2021 7:03 pm

Is Fox Chapel still the place to live for good schools? I lived there in middle/2 years of high school back in the late 80s and it was one of the best districts in the country. If so, move to Sharpsburg.

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Postby MR25 » Mon Aug 02, 2021 7:09 pm

Yes, but according to a friend with kids entering FC schools, they had a vote to not mandate masks this upcoming year.

His wife had breast cancer and he's not thrilled about the potential for his kids to catch it at school due to the lack of masks.

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