Is Japan Falling Behind in Science and Technology Innovation?

[Grands]

I learned form internet that in the US students ask money from banks to study what they want.
My question is, how many student in percentage do this and have debts to pay after university ?
How easy is to pay back the money they asked ?
There are universities that doesn't worth money?

Thanks.

 

[ISamson]

How easy is to pay back the money they asked ?

Heck hard. But if they get a good job/scholarship they might not have trouble in the future with debts.

There are universities that doesn't worth money?

Probably not, unless you get a scholarship.

 

[Grands]

Heck

What means heck?

 

[ISamson]

What means heck?

I'm sorry. It's not a very good word to use. Short for hell.
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=.....69i57j0l5.3303j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

[newjerseyrunner]

Point of clarification: most students do not ask banks for loans. Banks are predatory and if you get a student loan from a bank, you are asking for trouble. Most people get their loan from the government (both state and federal) I had loans from PHEAA and FAFSA. They take about five to ten years to pay off if you have an average loan and pay it off aggressively. The government loans have much lower interest and allow you to pay over much longer, but it's always best to pay as early as possible.

 

[phyzguy]

This Forbes article has some statistics on student loan debt. It's a big problem in the US. Many students take out loans without understanding how difficult it will be to pay them back later.

 

[Grands]

They take about five to ten years to pay off if you have an average loan and pay it off aggressively.

Almost ten years? Are you 100% sure?
It's a lot of time...

It's a big problem in the US

Why there is this problem if US has the greatest economy of the world?

What if a person choose a degree that can't assure a high payed job?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Almost ten years? Are you 100% sure?
It's a lot of time...

My wife, a teacher, is 7 years out of college and still has about half her student loans to pay off.

 

[Grands]

Usually how much high is the student loan, considering also the interests ?

 

[DS2C]

Usually how much high is the student loan, considering also the interests ?

Depends on the school and student need. Some schools cost significantly more than others. Some students get scholarships and request loans to pay for what's left.

 

[Grands]

Ok, I noticed some of the schools are very expensive, like Harvard, but there is a range of the loan? Which is the lowest and which the highest ?

 

[phyzguy]

Why there is this problem if US has the greatest economy of the world?

The US has the largest economy in the world. In recent years this has not translated into a better standard of living for most people in the US. Without making any value judgements, I think I can state that the US does much less to subsidize the cost of higher education than most developed countries. And the cost of higher education is rising much faster than peoples' wages. See the graph below from this Wikipedia page. So students are caught in the middle and have turned to borrowing to make up the difference.

 

[newjerseyrunner]

Almost ten years? Are you 100% sure?

I graduated when I was 21, and I celebrated paying off my final loan when I was 28. I got a job about 6 months out of school in my field and double payed as much as I could. Ten years in probably on the lower end of average.

Why there is this problem if US has the greatest economy of the world?

Biggest. The problem is that most of the wealth is concentrated in the top less than a percent of the population. We also have parts of the country that live in third world conditions, clean water is hard to come by in certain parts of the country.

What if a person choose a degree that can't assure a high payed job?

They work at Starbucks. Even STEM doesn't assure you a job right away anymore. I was out for six months before I got my first job, and my first job's wage was barely livable.

 

[Grands]

I think I can state that the US does much less to subsidize the cost of higher education than most developed countries.

I don't think it's true, Italy invest only 4% of the PIL while USA 5% or more, and USA have a greater PIL than Italy.

Biggest. The problem is that most of the wealth is concentrated in the top less than a percent of the population. We also have parts of the country that live in third world conditions, clean water is hard to come by in certain parts of the country.

From films USA seems to be such a great country, because there are a lots of cool companies like Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Facebook, Twitter etc...
There is also hollywood, taxes are very low compared to the european one, I saw that in the US an engineer can earn 100.000 dollars per year, which is 3 times bigger than an italian salary, that is around ( 24.000 euros)

They work at Starbucks.

Starbucks can't be a solution, I don't think that people who work for Starbucks get more money.

Even STEM doesn't assure you a job right away anymore.

It is true?

I was out for six months before I got my first job, and my first job's wage was barely livable.

Which major do you have?

 

[Grands]

We also have parts of the country that live in third world conditions, clean water is hard to come by in certain parts of the country.

WHAT??!?
In the USA there are people that have no water?

 

[newjerseyrunner]

From films USA seems to be such a great country, because there are a lots of cool companies like Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Facebook, Twitter etc...

But only a handful of people share the profits of those companies and lots of the profits don't get invested back into the community, they get sent to offshore tax havens. The majority of the country has a thriving economy, the middle class is still one of the most well-off in the world. But the difference between the poor and the rich is one of the widest in the world.

There is also hollywood, taxes are very low compared to the european one, I saw that in the US an engineer can earn 100.000 dollars per year, which is 3 times bigger than an italian salary, that is around ( 24.000 euros)

Taxes are low, but that also means a lot less public services. We have to buy our own medical insurance (or have it provided by an insurer.) That costs an additional thousands of dollars every year. We also tend to squander our taxes on big companies. Walmart for example is responsible for several billion dollars of wasted tax money every year. They pay their employees low enough that they qualify for welfare. This takes the financial strain off of the big companies since they're not required to pay their employees livable wages and force the taxpayers to pick up the rest. Massive loopholes also allow companies like Apple and General Electric to pay negative taxes and actually make money off of the government, again at the expense of the middle class.

Starbucks can't be a solution, I don't think that people who work for Starbucks get more money.

They don't. It's a time killer while you search for a real job.

Which major do you have?

General Software engineering.

WHAT??!?
In the USA there are people that have no water?

Yes, it's quite outrageous. When it came to light in the media, there was a lot of outrage. This crisis is still on-going in poorer parts of the city.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisisRemember that we are a gigantic country. We have people in extremely isolated regions. I'm not sure it's possible to have a country with 300 million people without major problems like these. Capitalism requires a lot of these things in order to function. Some people also want to live in isolated areas without infrastructure.

 

[phyzguy]

I don't think it's true, Italy invest only 4% of the PIL while USA 5% or more, and USA have a greater PIL than Italy.

What are you talking about here? Where did you get those numbers? What is PIL, anyway? When you say the USA invests 5% of PIL in higher education, what do you mean? The US government? The total amount spent on higher education? Or what?

 

[Grands]

What are you talking about here? Where did you get those numbers? What is PIL, anyway? When you say the USA invests 5% of PIL in higher education, what do you mean? The US government? The total amount spent on higher education? Or what?

Sorry, I wanted to say GDP, in italy we call it PIL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

 

[phyzguy]

Sorry, I wanted to say GDP, in italy we call it PIL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

OK. What about my other questions.? Where did you get those numbers?

If you look at this study, in 2013 the US government spent $76 billion on higher education. Compared to the US GDP of $17 trillion, this is 0.4%, not 5%.

 

[Grands]

I get them on internet, you can find that numbers here http://data.uis.unesco.org/?queryid=181, and also in others websites.
Italy invest 4% of GDP while US more then 5%, plus the GDP of the US is 18 times bigger.

 

[Mark44]

We also have parts of the country that live in third world conditions,

Really? Which parts are you talking about?

clean water is hard to come by in certain parts of the country.

Which parts of the country, other than Flint, MI, are you talking about? And the problems with the water supply isn't a matter of poverty, but of corrupt/incompetent local government agencies.

 

[Mondayman]

Which parts of the country, other than Flint, MI, are you talking about? And the problems with the water supply isn't a matter of poverty, but of corrupt/incompetent local government agencies.

I'm not sure if it' the same in the US, but here in Canada many First Nations reserves lack access to clean drinkable water, for the exact reason you mention.

 

[Grands]

No nation of the world gives free drinkable water to people.

 

[Mark44]

No nation of the work dive free drinkable water to people.

Your translation skills need some work. Are you trying to say "No nation of the world gives free drinkable water to people"?

 

[Grands]

Your translation skills need some work. Are you trying to say "No nation of the world gives free drinkable water to people"?

Yes, sorry, it was the T9 that is not in english and sometimes change words.
I wanted to say that there is no country in this world that gives to the people free drinkable water, everyone have to buy it from shop.

 

[russ_watters]

We also have parts of the country that live in third world conditions, clean water is hard to come by in certain parts of the country.

This is vastly overstated.

Even STEM doesn't assure you a job right away anymore. I was out for six months before I got my first job, and my first job's wage was barely livable.

This is slightly overstated as a general condition, though it may result from conditions during our emergence from the Great Recession and is field specific even within STEM. But a large fraction - probably most - are already above the median US salary with their very first job and unemployment rates tend to be lower than the national average.

Non-STEM specific stats for 25-29 year olds: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/coe_sbc.pdf

 

[Drakkith]

We also have parts of the country that live in third world conditions, clean water is hard to come by in certain parts of the country.

WHAT??!?
In the USA there are people that have no water?

This is vastly overstated.

Just to clear things up with actual numbers, according to washwatch.org, 99.2% of people living in the U.S. have access to "at least basic" water (essentially water from a source that's very likely to be clean and sanitary).

 

[Grands]

Just to clear things up with actual numbers, according to washwatch.org, 99.2% of people living in the U.S. have access to "at least basic" water (essentially water from a source that's very likely to be clean and sanitary).

So which is the problem?

 

[OCR]

Yes, sorry, it was the T9 that is not in english and sometimes change words.

... that could explain some things.

 

[Hawksteinman]

I got a student loan from the government. I spent it all so I loaned money from this website that only gives loans to students :(

 

[Grands]

I got a student loan from the government. I spent it all so I loaned money from this website that only gives loans to students :(

Which website?

 

[jtbell]

Why there is this problem if US has the greatest economy of the world?

The money to run universities has to come from somewhere, and people increasingly don't want to pay taxes to support public universities. In the US, public universities are funded (such as they are) by the individual states, not by the federal government. State legislators don't want to raise taxes, so they cut spending wherever they can, including universities.

In my state, South Carolina, state funding for its public universities, per student, has decreased 37% in the last ten years.

https://www.cbpp.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/sfp_highered_sc.pdf

Therefore the universities have raised their tuition fees. This is not new, but part of a long term trend, since probably the 1980s.

Some years ago I remember seeing discussion of one of our two "flagship" universities, Clemson University, possibly leaving the state system and going private, because they were getting so little money from the state.

 

[Grands]

The money to run universities has to come from somewhere, and people increasingly don't want to pay taxes to support public universities. In the US, public universities are funded (such as they are) by the individual states, not by the federal government. State legislators don't want to raise taxes, so they cut spending wherever they can, including universities.
Some years ago I remember seeing discussion of one of our two "flagship" universities, Clemson University, possibly leaving the state system and going private, because they were getting so little money from the state.

In my country there are very few private universities and I don't know why, they doesn't have the necessary tools for students, but this is true maybe because even if they are private, the tuitions fees is not high.

Although this I notice there there are also public universities in the US that are in the top 100, maybe also top 50.

 

[jtbell]

maybe also top 50.

From the Times Higher Education rankings that you linked in another thread:

15 - University of California, Los Angeles
18 - University of California, Berkeley
21 - University of Michigan
25 - University of Washington
31 - University of California, San Diego
33 - Georgia Institute of Technology
37 - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
43 - University of Wisconsin, Madison
49 - University of Texas, Austin

These are general rankings, not specifically for physics or science in general, but I'm not surprised at any of these. Except maybe UCLA coming in higher than UCB! These are all "flagship" universities in their respective states, and get preferential funding. They've also probably raised tuition a lot over the years, especially for students who don't come from their respective states. "In-state" students always pay lower rates. Even for them, I'm sure it's much more expensive to attend e.g. the University of Michigan rather than Eastern Michigan University or the other lesser public universities in Michigan.

 

[Hawksteinman]

Which website?

Smartpig