[malnourish]

It is absurd. Some people say you shouldn't pursue what interests you for that amount of money, but I think that's the wrong way of looking at things. Our world is more valuable for the sociologists and other non STEM people. We also really only have this one shot to pursue what we love.

[Someone1234]

That's fair.

But for the individual with a massive student loan and no way to repay it is a problem even if they better the world overall.

Part of the problem is that for some majors supply massively exceeds demand. Stem definitely isn't immune from this issue.

Unfortunately due to politics nobody (schools or government) is up-front about where jobs exist and shortages occur. A lot of the time when you hear about a "shortage" it is actually just whining that wages are too high.

[dragonwriter]

> Unfortunately due to politics nobody (schools or government) is up-front about where jobs exist and shortages occur. A lot of the time when you hear about a "shortage" it is actually just whining that wages are too high.

There's no absolute fixed quantity of any good or service (including labor in particular job roles) that is "correct"; "shortage" and "market clearing cost higher than I prefer" are actually equivalent concepts, not things that people misleading conflate.

[dagw]

The other problem is one of lag. It takes 4-6 years between choosing a school/degree and applying for your first job. There may very well be a genuine shortage in your chosen field when you start college, but that is no guarantee that there will still be one when you start applying for jobs.

[kamaal]

There is no ideal world where a hair cut would cost the same as heart surgery. Then we could talk about the person's passion to become a barber.

You wanting to do what you want has nothing to do with how much you might get paid for doing it.

[epalmer]

Yes bout not with an unblanced amount of debt. My oldest got a sociology degree and is working part timne and living at home. All with our good graces. She wants to be a librarian and has to pretty much get a MLS. She will incur some student debt along the way. But it won't be a huge amount. She will mostly pay for graduate school out of her salary.

She has zero undergraduate debt. But that is because I took a pay cut and went to work for the university she went to. Tuition was free. I'm very glad I made that decision. As mentioned about my youngest is getting an Engr degree so the free tuition does not count because where I work does not have a Engr program.