CannedApples13 t1_j402cbz wrote on January 12, 2023 at 5:59 AM

Reply to comment by JustTheFactsGirls in USC School of Social Work removes term 'field work' because it may offend 'descendants of slavery' by wxcode

Trash it all you want, but kids of full time USC employees get to attend the school for free. No, not just administrators, counselors, etc. It’s anyone that is employed by USC. What other school does that?

ffxivthrowaway03 t1_j41dqhx wrote on January 12, 2023 at 2:38 PM

Uh... the vast majority of higher education facilities have similar policies. Very few people are ever in a position to take advantage of them because the person working there usually doesn't have college-age kids who want to go to that specific school. It's one of those pretty perks on paper that costs the schools almost nothing.

Omegalazarus t1_j442mw6 wrote on January 13, 2023 at 12:48 AM

Talk about permissive – indulgent parenting. I can't imagine if I could give my kid a free ride to a good public university and they declined because they didn't want to go to that specific school. So they sign off on several tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

ffxivthrowaway03 t1_j448pt8 wrote on January 13, 2023 at 1:32 AM

I mean... that's way too broad of a judgement there. It really depends on what they want to go to school for and what the school in question is. If they wanted to go to a good engineering school, for example, and I worked for a primarily liberal arts college without a real engineering program, it's not really a feasible option for them to attend.

Omegalazarus t1_j449q67 wrote on January 13, 2023 at 1:39 AM

Yeah man have them get their liberal arts degree and then they can go to an engineering school and pick up the last 12 hours. I mean that's the point of a university, right? Is it a uniting force of several colleges so that a broad base of study can be completed by students who want various disciplines?

ffxivthrowaway03 t1_j46eeqq wrote on January 13, 2023 at 2:15 PM

That's not really a viable strategy, a liberal arts degree is going to be missing the vast majority of high level math and science prerequisites for a lot of STEM programs, and not teach any of the entry level specialized prereqs and would add years to the program. You can't just get a degree in whatever and then shotgun an entire 4 year STEM program at the end of it, it doesn't work that way. Not to mention how valuable getting involved with the professors and in the educational community can be for kickstarting your professional networking and opening opportunities.

In that situation they'd be far better off just going to a community college with a decent program for whatever they want, getting their associates in the relevant field, and transferring into a 4 year program from there.

Which hypotheticals aside, is entirely the point - you can't just assume someone is an entitled, wasteful brat for pursuing a specific educational path instead of the one that just happens to be "free." Hell, maybe they don't want to go to college at all and want to pursue a trade? Supporting your kid in their chosen field is not "indulgent permissive parenting," it's supporting your kid.

Omegalazarus t1_j46rc5x wrote on January 13, 2023 at 3:42 PM

Your point about pursuing a trade or other technical is good, but I think you're giving not enough credit to normal colleges.

Elon musk has an arts degree. I'm not using his name as some sort of "he's a genius". I'm just letting you know that his degree is highly technical, but it's also an arts degree and not a science degree. Technically it has a lot of science base.

When I went to school I got all the way to my last 12 credit hours and I had a choice between chemistry and political science. I chose political science as a bachelor of science degree. I can go to any other school I want to and do a single year come out with a chemistry degree.

A lot of college is what you make it and you can take your core credits any way you want. If you choose to do what I did and take most of your core credits in physics and calculus, then you can come out of it with a very strong basis for a stem degree. If however, you choose to go in and do most of your core credits in literature and history then yeah you're going to have a hard time transitioning to stem after that.

[deleted] t1_j41f53x wrote on January 12, 2023 at 2:48 PM

> What other school does that?

I've worked in higher ed for 22 years for 3 reasons. 1). Pension 2) Stability 3) full tuition for my 3 kids and wife. I'm a lowly peon locked away in a closet that no one ever sees. Most higher ed has tuition waivers for staff, spouse and dependents.