they certainly didn’t justify the cost of my “education”
I was talking about Canada as an alternative to the US. Taipei universities don’t count as overseas for the purpose of this thread. I also couldn’t afford to buy a flat there, and I teach at a university.
make you a deal, i won’t tell you how to fill vending machines or bomb people (or whatever it is you are contracted to do), and you don’t make such presumptions about my job. sounds good? 
Yep— definitely a family affair for most, and not just those from poor countries. (Again, the truly poor aren’t even going at all.)
That’s basically synonymous to poor.
Meh, compare it to the previous 30 years. Moving on up.
I guess you could say Taiwan and Korea were rich in the 70s if you think Vietnam and Bangladesh now are rich, which would be hilarious considering most people here still say Taiwan is poor now.
It’s a curious thing. Maybe wage stagnation has given people that feeling. 
My point was that post WW2, Taiwan as a whole has seemingly grown richer and continues to do so.
Read again. No presumptions made about your job. 
It certainly costs a lot, and, adding up student loans, could end up not being worth it in the long run (that’s 4 years that you could have been working full time and investing some of that money in index funds, plus some people take out 200k in loans, which could still buy a small home in less populated areas of the US).
The problem is, university is the new high school diploma. MOST entry level jobs that require little more than 5th grade reading skills + an ability to clack away at a keyboard expect a college diploma, minimum. My sister took a job right out of college that could have been completed by any dimwitted high school freshman. Yet, when she left, the company decided they wanted someone with a GRADUATE DEGREE to replace her. Cuz they could, not cuz they needed someone with that much education. For US$15/hr in 2017.
Reality check: Most places in the US these days pay over 16 USD/hr to anyone, even high school drop outs. Fast food joints are struggling to find people willing to work at wages that low right now. It depends on how much your loans are, but the average American is only making 50k/yr, which is 25 USD/hr (assuming you take 2 weeks off/yr). You’d have to do the math on your own situation, but $16/hr x 40 starting at age 18 vs $25/hr x 40 (assuming you graduate and immediately start making the average salary) starting at age 22 means you’ve lost out on a potential 128k in earnings that could be invested, vs taking out loans, which accrue interest and are the opposite of an investment, that could easily be that much.
But also, plenty of countries in Europe offer free or VERY cheap university tuition to anyone, even non residents/citizens, so, if you’re already living abroad, I’d push the kids toward countries with English language programs in places with free or very low tuition. The average American employer could not care less where the piece of paper (by which I mean diploma) came from. There are exceptions to this, but if you’re an American who grew up in Taiwan and went to university in Germany and are now want a job in the US (especially if you speak English, Mandarin and German), it’s unlikely you’re going to be turned down cuz you didn’t go to a top US state (or private) school. And, considering how much you’d be saving (At least US$20k/yr., probably), it wouldn’t be the end of the world if you need to travel to see each other twice or more/yr.
You appear to lack global perspective here. The great thing is that you are on the internet, which means you have easy access to the information clearly showing you that only rich countries and the richest people from poor countries are sending their kids to the west for college education. You may have to also use some basic algebra and statistics skills if you haven’t experienced the obvious first hand as I have, but I have trust in you. You got this!
If that is indeed true (which I very much doubt), then it would mean that “most people here” are absolute morons.
And I don’t know about Bangladesh (seems like a stretch), but Vietnam certainly has enough rich people now that they are among the largest exporters of international students to the US.
GDP per capita 2021
Vietnam 3,609
India 2,191
Bangladesh 2,122
Bangladesh has 160 million people.
Low income = high financial aid overall, more so at some schools than others. Offsetting this is that most schools are not need blind for admissions. So needing more may reduce acceptance likelihood, all things being equal. There are lots of goods, websites, and even consultants that focus on financial planning–these should cover a lot of different scenarios. And lots of kids are cutting costs by doing by doing the first 2 years at community college. Different experience, but cheaper.
Something I thought of (that you’re far too late to the game for if they’re five years out from college, but better late than never?) is opening a 529 plan in the state that they will attend school in. That’s another way to get in state tuition, even if they don’t currently live in that state. Depends on the state, but you can look into that.
I think you are thinking of prepaid tuition plans, and my understanding is (1) only 9 states offer those, and (2) I don’t think they’ll get you in-state tuition if you’re not a resident.
For us, the best options are looking like (1) move back to the US at some point, or (2) aim for liberal arts schools that hopefully offer reasonable financial aid. Our kids are close in age. We rent here but have decent retirement savings, so we may figure we’ll take our more loans and repay them after the kids graduate.
Right…So India, which is poorer but huge, and Vietnam, which is smaller but richer, both have more rich people than Bangladesh, which is both relatively small (compared to China and India) AND relatively poor. This is why India and Vietnam send more international students to the US than Bangladesh does. You’re supporting my point.
I’m not supporting your point at all. I am showing you that all three are on the same level of very poor like Taiwan and Korea used to be in the 70s.
6 posts were split to a new topic: Late pregnancy risks
All the money comes from the rice paddies the huge apartment blocks are built on. And don’t forget the preferential 18% interest on savings from former government employees. Most of them collect houses like others collect Pokémon cards.
This was torched (with some grandfathered exceptions) in the early 2000s. Yes it contributed to wealth inequality in Taiwan but it’s not a thing anymore and it has not been for quite some time.
Guy