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Actually the BEST way to pay for college is join the NG or serve in the regular military and get the "GI Bill" (whatever it's called now).

My older son is thinking about a career in the Merchant Marine or as a pilot. And he was AMAZED that you could get sea time in the US Coast Guard (and thus earn those "Mate" certifications) OR fly fixed wing planes. Probably the best deal is the US Army Warrant pilot program. No degree needed. Finish near the top of your class and you get to choose your platform; the US Army has a lot more fixed wing multi engine planes than you'd guess. https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/career-match/aviation/managing-piloting-aircraft/155a-fixed-wing-aviator-warrant-officer.html

I worked with tons of them in Afghanistan flying various platofrms incluning RC12 (various variants) and Saturn Arch.

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Monday, October 24, 2022 - 09:50 pm: Edit

Civil Air Patrol (Auxiliary to the AF) is a way for (students 12 to 20) Cadets to ear their wings. Seniors Members (adults over 21) who also fly can join but will not get the flight time.

Cal Maritime Academy is a great option for school if Merchant Marine is an goal. Any B student with a reasonable SAT score will be considered. The application essay and personal interview probably carry more weight. Dress decent, show up on time, sit up straight, firm handshake and good eye contact are important.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, July 14, 2025 - 10:50 pm: Edit

STUDENT LOAN PAUSE is ending, and the five million who are in default will start getting garnish notices in early August. This is a broad subject with many layers and facets.

Yes, if the university sold you a worthless degree (psychology, art history, liberal arts, anything studies, pop culture) I agree that you should get a refund from the university, but there is no legal framework to force that, and given that ex post facto laws don't count, you cannot pass such a law now. That would be a bill of attainder and is prohibited by that constitution thing I and others swore to defend with our lives.

Some people got a notice 3 years ago that payments were suspended, but didn't read the details that interest continues and that you COULD go ahead and make payments if you wanted to. One YouTuber noted that she put the payments she would have made in passbook savings and when she tried to pay off the loans last week was told that she also owed three years of interest on them that she had not calculated for. Interest on interest too boot.

I see so many people thinking (because they were told) that their teaching job would get them forgiveness but they were not teaching in Appalachia or an Indian Reservation and they will discover in a bit that their loans are not going to be forgiven.

The latest legislation eliminated five payment options and left only two: 15% of your income or enough to pay it off in 10 years (longer if you owe tons). That's going to bite some people.

The latest legislation has capped the money you can borrow for a masters at $100K and for a doctorate at $200K. That won't be enough for most universities.

He should have capped all loans at the cost of two years of community college and three years of in-state public university.

By Douglas Lampert (Dlampert) on Monday, July 14, 2025 - 11:57 pm: Edit

I have a general claim that if you are paying the university for a graduate degree other than Law or Medicine, then you should not be getting that degree.

They pay you, or your employer pays them. If no one else is willing to pay you to get a graduate degree, then there's insufficient demand for people with that degree. They should want you as a cheap research assistant or teaching assistant enough to pay tuition plus something extra or your employer should figure that continuing education is a good use of resources.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, July 15, 2025 - 02:56 am: Edit

I have only met one engineer with a masters degree, and that engineer was a very professional young lady.

She was part of a team putting on a sales/demo thing for some service they were offering. During the Q&A session I asked if anyone other than the one female engineer had a masters degree. They said no. I then asked why the engineer with the highest degree was the one serving the coffee.

The next year they came back and we went to see their new presentation. She sought me out and said that after I embarrassed them they started bringing along a female secretary so she could serve the coffee and the female engineer could be a prominent part of the presentation. She said the company president fell all over himself apologizing to her, giving her special assignments and a bonus. He supposedly hadn't even realized that he had an engineer serving coffee just because that engineer happened to be wearing a skirt. (Yeah, nobody believed him, but at least he made an effort.)

In the Army, it's rare to make major without a masters degree in something. Plus, a diploma from Command & General Staff College also counts as a masters degree (and I have that one).

By Tom Lusco (Tlusco) on Tuesday, July 15, 2025 - 10:22 am: Edit

I work primarily with engineers; I'd say roughly half have M.S. or PhD. That's biased somewhat to my European colleagues, all of whom have advanced degrees. Still, a good chunk of my American colleagues including me have MS or PhD. I do think it depends on the field. I'm a systems engineer, and that's an MS or above specialty if you want to be taken seriously.

It is true that in the U.S. you could have excellent earning potential with a B.S. in engineering. Though that might be changing for te worse as companies don't seem to be hiring as many young people.

By Michael F Guntly (Ares) on Tuesday, July 15, 2025 - 11:51 am: Edit

My son-in-law has an engineering masters degree. After his undergraduate double major in mechanical and aerospace engineering he went to work as a civilian contract engineer at Pax River. His masters was paid for by them (USN?).

By Douglas Lampert (Dlampert) on Tuesday, July 15, 2025 - 12:16 pm: Edit

My experience is that for science and math degrees, the school pays for the graduate degree; engineering, the employer pays for the graduate degree.

Arts and humanities, the best students get those TA jobs and it's paid for by the school (paid very badly other in terms of take home, but it covers tuition plus a bit). And while there aren't many of those arts and humanities TA's available, there also aren't many jobs, if they're not offering to pay for you, then it's likely that the degree will be a real point of pride when you ask the plumber you're serving if they want fries with that.

Borrowing money for a graduate degree outside of fields that absolutely require it (medicine and law) is a horrible idea.

Nursing is a possible exception. I don't know how they pay for it. I'm told that Ph.D. nurses can make out very well working as healthcare administrators or for insurance companies. Maybe that one's worth paying for, but I doubt it as medical schools actually have money and provide some students with funding.

Edited to add: It occures to me that my mother paid for her own masters in education, but that was because she'd decided that with the kids old enough to not need full time care she could take a teaching job, and for that she needed a teaching certificate and wasn't about to go back as an undergraduate.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, July 15, 2025 - 03:10 pm: Edit

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Quote:

Borrowing money for a graduate degree outside of fields that absolutely require it (medicine and law) is a horrible idea.

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By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, July 15, 2025 - 03:57 pm: Edit

I am a civil engineer. I did oil, gas, roads, bridges, small buildings, dirt work, waterflow work. None of that needed a masters. Aerospace I can see needing one.

Army engineers don't usually get masters in engineering, but in logistics or management or something more general. When you make major, you're suddenly realizing that there are very few engineer jobs higher than the one you are in, and if you want to make colonel (general is out of reach) you need a more generic portfolio.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Tuesday, July 15, 2025 - 04:13 pm: Edit

USAF does have PhD engineers and (a few) engineers who make general. The generals usually hold positions like Commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The Air Force Research Laboratory falls under the Air Force Materiel Command and the current acting commander of AFMC is not an engineer. But neither is she a pilot. She does possess an extensive background (including a Masters Degree) in Logistics Management.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, July 15, 2025 - 06:20 pm: Edit

A few Army engineers make brigadier or major general but the slots are so few that you better have major connections if you want to be an engineer general.

Russia used to have one field marshal of engineers.