When the new 4R finally arrives there might not be any room on dealer lots for them

When high schools graduate kids with only an 8th grade proficiency in reading and math, the high school diploma means nothing. That’s why employers treat a B.A. as a baseline qualification. But I also blame the kids for their choices. Choosing majors with no vocational benefit.

Recently I met a young lady, while in for a PET scan. She was about my daughter’s age, and while she was injecting radioactive liquids into me I asked her a few questions:

Spalding: “Excuse me young lady. What’s your job description?”

Young lady: “I’m a nuclear medical technician.”

Spalding: “And how does one become a nuclear medical technician?”

Young lady: “It’s a 4-year degree.”

Spalding: “Post graduate?”

Young lady: “ Nope. Undergraduate.”

Spalding: “Feel free not to answer this, but would you mind telling me what a nuclear medical technician makes?”

Young lady: “$85k”.

So here’s a girl who couldn’t have been more than 25 years old, straight out of college, making a good living by any measure. Because she treated school as vocational. She didn’t “follow her dreams”. Nobody dreams of being a nuclear medical technician. She followed a career path right out of high school by purposefully choosing a useful and lucrative degree.

 

it's amazing what one can do if one's expectation is not being able to sit at home and be a FAANG recruiter making 200k a year with a mass communications degree.

 

$85K isn’t that great if you have $200K in school loans though.

 

It beats the hell out of $30k.

 

All this, plus as a reviewer mentioned when these first came out, there's nothing special about it when compared to its competition. They didn't do anything revolutionary or introduce anything new. In fact, when compared to the Ford EcoBoost hybrid, they dropped the ball on having the aux electrical power capability. I think even on non-hybrids Fords, a 2KW inverter is available.

 

Then boy and girl meet, get married, buy house for loan of say minimum $250k, have a baby, and just pile on the debt. That’s why kids today are not getting married and having kids. Who wants to strap on all that debt in early 20s

 

People young and even older aren’t getting married because of the internet and dating apps, they might date someone but they’re always waiting and wanting someone better for guys it’s a younger and hotter female and for girls it’s for a more rich and successful and hotter guy

also young kids in their 20s don’t want to work at all they want everything instantly and given to them due to social media

 

OK boomer, way to generalize an entire population based on absolutely nothing. All the "kids" I know in their 20's are working jobs while going to school to hopefully find a career. Cost of living is no where near as affordable currently as it was when I was in my 20's, so kids trying to make it on their own are currently at a huge disadvantage compared to 20 years ago. Don't believe everything you watch on Fox News.

 

I was going to say something similar but was trying to be nice today.

 

I’m not a boomer I’m 30 and I don’t watch Fox News I know a lot of kids in their 20s and most kids in their 20s are lazy and entitled

 

A lot of kids are working hard too, fighting the same inflation and interest rates we are, some staying with Mom and Dad longer to save for home down payments, holding off on marriage and kids and then the smart ones are fighting to put money in the 401ks now while they are young. Thank goodness I had that advice when I was in my early 20s. Yes regardless of what news you watch it’s tough for all of them like us. I can’t imagine trying to buy a 4Runner in my 20s and paying the interest. Everyone is different though and I guess that is what keeps the world moving. I wish all those young folks the best.

 

There are lots of options for young people to mitigate student debt.

• Get a degree in a field for which graduates are in demand and are well compensated - treat college as vocational education rather than “following your dreams.”
• There is lots of scholarship money out there - scholarship funds are required to distribute scholarship money - apply for lots of scholarships; one’s education can be funded by several smaller awards as easily as one large award.
• If you are female go for a STEM degree and you will absolutely get a scholarship.
• Go to a state school in your own state to pay in-state tuition.
• Get all the general ed required for your major out of the way at a community college at a very low cost and then transfer to a state school for the big stuff.
• Work your way through school.
• Make your own coffee.
• Work hard in high school in case you want to choose a college that still considers academic merit as a qualification.
• Most of the new college graduates I knew kept their apartments and roommates for a few years after graduating while they moved up the ladder - the move towards adulting was a process rather than an event.

 

I tend to think a lot of kids are lazy and haven't been taught to be responsible by their parents. If you can't afford an expensive college, go to one where you can

Unfortunately some kids go to schools they can't afford . My daughter worked her tail off in high school , goes to a Division 1 school, has had everything covered with scholarships and will graduate 100% debt free. She is a senior and applying to grad schools to get her PhD. Thanks to her hard work, I used part of the money we had set aside for her college tuition and purchased my Pro.

 

Since this thread has already gone off the rails, I will just say that when our kids were in kindergarten we started college funds for both of them. Both got undergrad degrees with zero debt. My daughter finished early and had over half of her masters covered before having to start teaching to cover the rest. My son stopped at the undergrad level, is doing very well, and owns a home. As parents we believed one or our parental responsibilities was to educate our children.

 

Thanks for that link. Here was the defining statement in that review, in my opinion:

"Somehow, Toyota ended up with a brand-new truck that drives like it’s a generation behind the Ram, Chevy, and Ford."

 

If only it were that easy.

 

My wife was similar. Free ride for undergrad but then had $100K of loans for grad school. Still paying them off 20 years later.

 

What degree did she get may I ask?

 

Doctorate of Physical Therapy

 

Borrowing money for a degree is stupid unless that degree is in hardcore science. Go right a head and borrow a million dollars to become a brain surgeon, you can pay that debt off within 5 years max. But borrowing 100 grand to study literature is STUPID!!!!
My two kids are in tech and I am proud of them, and neither of them has a Masters degree.

 

Might be the most off rails thread on this entire forum. Lmao

 

This…

 

How do you like your steak? Mashed potatoes or baked?

 

Med rare, and baked, with butter and sea salt.

Now I'm going to have to hit the store today. That sounds good for watching the game tonight.

 

What if you want to be an English/literature professor?

 

I have a friend who is an independent Mercedes mechanic. In the mid 90’s he showed me an internal MBUSA video of a corporate guy at at a podium talking to a lot of dealership owners. He was talking about the ability of Mercedes to compete in the current climate. He talked about Mercedes Benz building cars to last 20 years, and that it was killing them, and that the new goal was to build cars that are trouble free for 7 years. He explained that most Mercedes owners lease their cars. And those cars should be trouble-free to keep those owners loyal and coming back. Then there are the folks who can’t afford a new Mercedes but might one day, who get a three-year-old Mercedes after its first lease, and that Mercedes should want those owners to be satisfied too. But after that, there’s no return on whatever expense is put into making the care last longer than 7 years. It was jaw-dropping.

 

It seems then that if you don't join with the other manufacturers, then you can't beat them. So long term reliability is dead.

 

That's not surprising Seems like Toyota is finally caving in to that model too.

Get those 2010s Toyotas with NA engines and 4-6 speed transmissions while you still can, folks.

 

I support anyone's ambition to do so and finance their own way to achieve their dreams. Just leave me and my tax money out of it. Have at it with private student loans.

 

If they are in school for a career that has job prospects then they have nothing to worry about.

if they are borrowing money to fund majors that traps them in academic or public sector hamster wheels and pyramid schemes for life then that's on them.