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There's other options if you're willing to move to a developed nation: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-with-free-college
Signing a contract to be the governments whipping boy is orders of magnitudes easier than getting a visa to a country that doesn’t have military intervention as it’s chief export.
But is it worth it? Or easier in the long-run?
No, but what does that change? There’s more than enough people who will choose the easy option with immediate gain.
why wouldn't it be worth it? you end up living somewhere far more reasonable
...In the military?
no, in a civilized country
Going into debt is easier and safer than either of those options. The debt is worth it if you get a good degree in something that pays and limit the debt you take on. Not really worth for the "experience" unless your parents pay for a nice school that gets you to network with other rich kids. You can reduce the cost by taking courses at community college and transferring into a state school as a resident of that state. Going ham with loans to pay for a private school or something probably won't be worth it for most people.
If you join the military it should be about wanting to serve as the end goal. As in you think it's the right thing to do without the free education being a factor or just being broke. I do get how just getting paid is a reason for a lot of people but there is obvious risk associated with that.
It has a good chance of killing you or leaving you pretty broken with limited support after. I say limited support because many vets are homeless with various physical and mental health conditions. The VA doesn't seem like it's doing a enough, probably due to a lack of funding. Some people can have success either making it their career or using their experience and GI paid education as a jumping off point for their career. Those with success still might have health problems or deal with things like PTSD.
I'll grant you that going into debt is a lot less likely to outright kill you or give you PTSD than going into the military, but going into debt is absolutely not safer than moving to the EU countries that offer it, and advocating for it over going abroad, given what the student loan industry has turned into, seems honestly kinda irresponsible.
Going to the EU for education for free without ties probably wouldn't be feasible. Has its own costs and challenges outside of tuition as well. If someone can do it then maybe it's a valid option but I doubt it's common.
Getting an education doesn't have to be $100k of debt like some people rack up. Something like $10k or $20k is feasible to pay off in a few years if the education gets the person a good career. Well worth it if the debt is limited and results in better employment. Should it be cheaper or government funded? Sure, but people have to decide their best move based on their current options.
It's also reasonable to go into a trade like plumbing or welding.
The trouble is that even people with STEM degrees these days are often struggling to get good paying jobs, even as their debt keeps racking up. And anything that's going to require a graduate degree, like teaching in the public school system, is going to require way more in debt than that just due to how much more graduate school usually costs, to the point where if a graduate degree is necessary to get into your chosen field, then you end up in debt either way. At which point, all else being equal, you're still better off in a country with free college, because then your debt isn't of the high-interest, non-dischargeable variety that it is here.
Note 1: there are other countries outside the EU that offer free college, like Panama, or cheap, like Mexico. See the map azimir posted.
Note 2: earlier, you said that going into debt was both easier and safer. The latter part is what I took greater issue with.
When talking about safety I was mostly talking about in relation to the military. Getting bombs tossed at you in exchange for a degree is just questionable in my opinion.
The risk of debt is manageable but does depend on the amount and career prospects after. Teaching means a lot of school and wasn't ever going to pay well though so that's not a great example. There are probably others that are good examples. Maybe ones were the industry collapsed or got saturated when it looked good 4 years prior.
Getting to studdy in another country isnt just hard its not realistic for many.
https://www.kalamazoopromise.com
West Michigan is going to have no shortage of educated people in the future.
Really great point, but also there are a lot of working class people who would find the cost to move abroad prohibitive, so this recruitment method works surprisingly well unfortunately.