Well, it seems like you enjoy telling people they're sub-optimal and appear to lack compassion & disregard what other people write about their own experiences.

I took this course in about 1991 before the internet was much of a thing and even word processing was a clunky f-key driven mess. GUIs didn't exist in the consumer market. My university had only recently rolled out email. The course description didn't include any programming prerequisite. The course was described as a PSYCHOLOGY class without mention of the requirement to code. Sure, today, it would be reasonable to encounter & produce code in a graduate cognitive psych course. But in 1991, what i experienced was akin to showing up for a literature course and getting a calculus class instead. The phrases "AI" and "machine learning" weren't in popular circulation at that time. "Social media" and it's assorted algorithms weren't in existence. I assure you, i gave it a shot because i was interested but the instructor failed to teach HOW to do what he was requiring us to do. I suspect he didn't know what he was doing and was hoping to luck into a student project he could plagiarize or, at a minimum, lift code from. I got the distinct impression he wanted to do research in what became AI but didn't have the chops to get a grant and fund a lab. It was so egregiously off the mark from what the class was supposed to be (as described by the university's own published description) that i received a full refund despite having dropped the class outside the window to receive one. I wasn't the only student who dropped the course and filed a complaint.

And as, well, a nurse, i'm trained to save lives. I'm not sure if there's a profession which is called upon with more frequency to serve their communities. Good job being condescending! A+

Have a lovely day.

Yep. It was a 400/600 level class. My university referred to them as "graduate integrated." I successfully took several of them as an undergrad.

Are you for real?....i described the fact that not everyone even had access to computers back then much less had familiarity with coding. There was no computer science prerequisite required for this psychology course, it was not described as a computer class in the course description, and you're coming at me saying i was "unprepared" as if it were a failing on my part? That's an odd take on inappropriate instruction. After i graduated, i went on to change fields and get a master of science in nursing from an "elite" university and can assure you the "problem" with that course was that instructor.

I only learned about the student loans for private high schools a few years ago. I think the doc said tuition was around $600/mo which would be "cheap" for private school where i live and, probably, a stretch for many of these families. The "difference" would be the debt would be the parents and not taken on by under-age kids.

Have you visited any of the the elite schools? Toured Stanford with my kid. They'll provide up $50K start-up money to students with a developed business plan. They also allocate $5K/yr travel and living expenses for accepted middle & lower income students. Regrettably, my kid didn't get in. We're middle class and it is absolutely a golden ticket.

The "point" is that there are about 70 universities in the US which guarantee to meet 100% of financial need without loans. "Need" includes tuition, books, housing, food, and some living expenses (travel, clothes, etc). You asserted the universities took their tuition and it didn't matter to them if the students were successful or not; that's not how elite universities work if you're middle or lower income. Source: my kid attended & graduated from an elite university and we paid $zero.

My sister is a high school math teacher and she said they're specifically told they aren't permitted to fail more than 10% of their class in any given semester. She said she hands out A's to students who honestly try regardless of whether they succeed in math. She's been "counseled" at work for "giving" out too many D's....she had the point out the kids were all actually failing.

I wish the documentarian had gone back to track the students which had already started at the elite universities to track their performance overtime. How many completed their degrees? How many went on to attend grad school, etc? They only really follow up with the one student at Yale and it's briefly mentioned that he has to seek tutoring (no shame in the tutor game).

You must not have got the memo that the elite universities no longer use loans as a part of their financial aid packages. Admission to elite universities are actual golden tickets if you're from a middle or lower income family. My kid graduated from an "elite" university; we paid ZERO dollars.

I had a double major in psych and sociology as an undergrad. I made pitiful money as a social worker in a nursing home and i borrowed money so it was a double whammy. The one thing i told my kid about higher educations was, "Don't get a degree in a field where all you can do is 'think deep thoughts.' You can think deep thoughts at the public library for free."

I assure you tuition at elite schools is paid in the form of grants and scholarships by the university. Low and middle income students aren't taking out loans to pay tuition.

You left out the part about if you get into a golden ticket school and you're from a middle or lower income family, the financial aid package is all grants and scholarships. The truly elite schools no longer use student loans as part of the financial aid package.

My kid also attended an "elite school" and graduated with ZERO student debt.

As an undergrad, i took a graduate integrated cognitive psych class in the dark ages when you had to type in an exact web address to go anywhere on the internet. Back then, to use a computer i had to go to the lab because i couldn't afford to buy one. In that class, the professor was attempting to teach us to program digital neural networks. I had limited knowledge of computers outside of word processing which was still f-key driven. I dropped that class about 3 weeks in and never looked back. It was totally inappropriate for a 400-level class.