Will you win or lose under new tax plan?

[bglf83]

Supply and demand will always work out. A lot of student loans are used to act stupid for a few years as well as living expenses. Not cool to live on campus you know.

We agree on the problem, but our solutions are different.

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[jpro]

Supply and demand will always work out. A lot of student loans are used to act stupid for a few years as well as living expenses. Not cool to live on campus you know.

We agree on the problem, but our solutions are different.

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Living on campus is crazy expensive now. Required food plans, etc. The whole cost is out of control.

 

[Stanley]

A classmate of mine (class of 1995) went to a junior college for two years then Texas A&M. He also came home and took classes at the junior college on the breaks that would allow it. Said it saved him a ton of money.

Parents need to do a better job of making sure their kids are going to the right college for their degree. You don't need to pay out the ass to go to the popular fun school if you're going to be a teacher or get some generic degree.

There should also be a state review of the classes tax funded schools make you take. If it isn't related to the major you shouldn't be able to make it mandatory.

 

[CV355]

I was in college for 5.5 years. Paid my own way, no scholarships. Lived off-campus and worked 2 jobs at the same time. Car was falling apart, and I barely had $10 to my name on a good week. 1 Subway sandwich was lunch and dinner. It was hell. No college debt though.

Sorry, anyone whining about college debt who indulged in "college life" needs to re-evaluate their life decisions. I unfortunately live near a college town and sometimes have to venture through that damned area- makes me want to puke. The amount of money these kids blow on junk food to munch on while open-mouth breathing probably exceeds my entire weekly grocery expenditure.

If their taxes go up, maybe it'll be the boot in the pants they need to enter the real world. I've met some people during interviews that have, no joke, spent 10+ years as a full time student. Subsidized or not, you can't hide there forever.

Parents need to do a better job of making sure their kids are going to the right college for their degree. You don't need to pay out the ass to go to the popular fun school if you're going to be a teacher or get some generic degree.

I agree, but too many people see college as a "rite of passage," like some sort of Sodom-laden, drunken liberal journey.

Out of 5.5 years of college, I can count the useful classes on one hand- ones that I felt were worth my money. Why I was forced to read that fat food blister Michael Moore's spaghetti-stained drivel in an English class, and forced to pay for it, and graded solely based upon a liberal professor's bias, is what makes me disgusted with the education system in general.

College has a need and a purpose, but it needs to be deflated and curriculum should be specialized. "Well Rounded" is NVA.

 

[black4vcobra]

Pretty big win for me, about $3400 savings. The old House plan would have saved me $4600, that would have been real nice but I won't complain over $3400

 

[IronSnake]

I was in college for 5.5 years. Paid my own way, no scholarships. Lived off-campus and worked 2 jobs at the same time. Car was falling apart, and I barely had $10 to my name on a good week. 1 Subway sandwich was lunch and dinner. It was hell. No college debt though.

Sorry, anyone whining about college debt who indulged in "college life" needs to re-evaluate their life decisions. I unfortunately live near a college town and sometimes have to venture through that damned area- makes me want to puke. The amount of money these kids blow on junk food to munch on while open-mouth breathing probably exceeds my entire weekly grocery expenditure.

If their taxes go up, maybe it'll be the boot in the pants they need to enter the real world. I've met some people during interviews that have, no joke, spent 10+ years as a full time student. Subsidized or not, you can't hide there forever.

Normally we don't disagree. But I don't care for blanket statements either. Not every degree is made equal, and not every person has the ability to do that. You have to live in a place that is very cheap to live in the first place, and even then you have to be going to a school with the degree/prestige for your particular degree.

If you went to school in Columbia, you could find somewhere to live for 500 bucks a month if not less. If you go to school in Charleston, good luck getting rent under 6-700 a month. It's usually more than that. Tuition is 20k a year if you decide to stay in the dorms. So pick your poison.

It's pretty easy to snowball into student loan debt, and creditors/the government does a pretty good job of letting kids fall into it. At 18 years old most don't have a remote clue of the implications.

 

[CV355]

Normally we don't disagree. But I don't care for blanket statements either. Not every degree is made equal, and not every person has the ability to do that. You have to live in a place that is very cheap to live in the first place, and even then you have to be going to a school with the degree/prestige for your particular degree.

If you went to school in Columbia, you could find somewhere to live for 500 bucks a month if not less. If you go to school in Charleston, good luck getting rent under 6-700 a month. It's usually more than that. Tuition is 20k a year if you decide to stay in the dorms. So pick your poison.

It's pretty easy to snowball into student loan debt, and creditors/the government does a pretty good job of letting kids fall into it. At 18 years old most don't have a remote clue of the implications.

Those are good points. For the record, I went to college in CT which was a very high cost of living. My college experience was very, very bad (try being a 16 year old college sophomore). Working 40hrs a week on top of full time college is probably what pushed me towards being an anti-social workaholic and landing myself in the hospital before I was 30. Maybe I generalize too much from my own experiences and set the bar too high for society around me

Sorry if I came across as a jerk. I don't want to see people swimming in debt. I also don't want to see them making poor decisions that get themselves there in the first place.

 

[nxhappy]

news flash: none of us are winning LOL we are paying taxes out the ass

that being said this calculator says I'm "winning"

 

[nxhappy]

this is not tax reform, its more of the same. Citizens get robbed blind of their income and there is nothing you can do about it but pay an accountant to move things to different categories in a futile attempt to reduce the amount you are robbed.

By the looks of it i fall in the sweet spot and will save a few hundred bucks, thats peanuts compared to what i have paid in over the year. Thats akin to someone robbing my house of $40k worth of property then at the end of the year sending me a brand new TV as a "gift."

This is all a scam no matter how much you slice it.

involuntary taxes on income are theft

/thread

exactly. Deductions are the only way. Gotta spend it all, before uncle sam

 

[CV355]

news flash: none of us are winning LOL we are paying taxes out the ass

that being said this calculator says I'm "winning"

Damn, isn't that the truth!

 

[Voltwings]

Out of 5.5 years of college, I can count the useful classes on one hand- ones that I felt were worth my money. Why I was forced to read that fat food blister Michael Moore's spaghetti-stained drivel in an English class, and forced to pay for it, and graded solely based upon a liberal professor's bias, is what makes me disgusted with the education system in general.

College has a need and a purpose, but it needs to be deflated and curriculum should be specialized. "Well Rounded" is NVA.

This is what irritates the shit out of me. I am going to be in school for YEARS getting my second degree one class at a time, and i just had to take a philosophy course this semester ... I'm going to be a ****ing mechanical engineer and wasted 4 months learning philosophy... really.

 

[nxhappy]

Damn, isn't that the truth!

it blows my mind when people are "excited" they are "getting a refund this year".....ummmmm NO YOU IDIOT....the government held on to your money the entire year, TAX FREE, it's our hard earned money in the first place !!!

 

[AustinSN]

Operating costs at universities are very high. Its not easy to cut costs. The biggest issue (IMO since I work at a university) is the cost of personnel, specifically faculty. I understand that faculty are incredibly integral, just like a school can't exist without teachers, but the amount of money these folks make is beyond ridiculous. I work at a Big Ten University and there are faculty in the school I work in that make $300-$400k.

A buddy I went to school with was on the student council at CU. He said at the end of the year they have so much money they don't have any use for, but they have to spend it on something.

One year they ended up hiring a company to tear up a stretch of sidewalk, which was only a few years old. They added like a foot to it in width and planted trees in it to the tune of $175,000.

 

[jpro]

A buddy I went to school with was on the student council at CU. He said at the end of the year they have so much money they don't have any use for, but they have to spend it on something.

One year they ended up hiring a company to tear up a stretch of sidewalk, which was only a few years old. They added like a foot to it in width and planted trees in it to the tune of $175,000.

Yep...at some universities, including some that I have worked at, if your budget is $XXX,XXX and you spend $10K less than that because you are a responsible administrator, when you submit your budget for the next year the big wigs will come back and say to cut it by $10K because last year you didn't spend it all. In other words, use it or lose it. SMH

 

[jpro]

it blows my mind when people are "excited" they are "getting a refund this year".....ummmmm NO YOU IDIOT....the government held on to your money the entire year, TAX FREE, it's our hard earned money in the first place !!!

Bravo! I get cranky because I can't "perfect" the art of getting nothing back. I have it narrowed down to where my refund is pretty small but not quite perfect. I usually pay a little for Fed and always get back money from the state.

 

[CV355]

it blows my mind when people are "excited" they are "getting a refund this year".....ummmmm NO YOU IDIOT....the government held on to your money the entire year, TAX FREE, it's our hard earned money in the first place !!!

You're completely right. It's a freakin' interest free loan to the government.

Of course I will admit that I would have to do mental gymnastics to convince myself it's not good getting that check every spring... :/

This is what irritates the shit out of me. I am going to be in school for YEARS getting my second degree one class at a time, and i just had to take a philosophy course this semester ... I'm going to be a ****ing mechanical engineer and wasted 4 months learning philosophy... really.

All because someone "felt" it was necessary. If I could reinvest my time from the gen-ed classes towards hands-on experience, I would have in a heartbeat. One major positive was that my college had an awesome engineering department. It really sucks that college can't be "a la carte" and still get the wall ornament at the end.

One year they ended up hiring a company to tear up a stretch of sidewalk, which was only a few years old. They added like a foot to it in width and planted trees in it to the tune of $175,000.

Five reasons for something like that:
1) Some dumbass can't do math (self explanatory)
2) Buried costs (someone wants a new PC, doesn't have the budget for it)
3) Backroom deals (kickbacks, etc)
4) Budget renewal protection (symptom of bloat)
5) The project actually cost that much (very, very rare!)

 

[IronSnake]

the most interesting point i've ever heard about budgets having money left over, is who in their right mind would raise their hand and say "We have left overs" to any state or federal government. They would be willingly giving money away from their department when they have to fight tooth and nail to get it in the first place. It's a cycle of stupidity that I don't find any one single person to blame.

 

[black4vcobra]

It made it through the House, hopefully there are no defectors in the Senate this evening

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-gop-tax-bill-20171219-story.html

 

[CV355]

the most interesting point i've ever heard about budgets having money left over, is who in their right mind would raise their hand and say "We have left overs" to any state or federal government. They would be willingly giving money away from their department when they have to fight tooth and nail to get it in the first place. It's a cycle of stupidity that I don't find any one single person to blame.

Bingo! The system should reward budgetary successes instead of punishing them.

Where I work, it's pretty much an open book policy with employees. You want to know how your project is doing? Track it down to the penny. It's neat seeing employees that normally wouldn't have just a vested interest take budgets more seriously when they're two mouse clicks away. Believe me, I've had my ass handed to me over budget overages before. And...nobody really remembers the successes but oh well

Wouldn't it be nice if the government could do that? "Gee, Joe McBlow bought $50,000 worth of staplers this year? His department only has 10 people!"

 

[flash0080]

It made it through the House, hopefully there are no defectors in the Senate this evening

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-gop-tax-bill-20171219-story.html

And has to be revoted on.

http://www.businessinsider.com/hous...ican-tax-reform-bill-senate-byrd-rule-2017-12