McChord Air Force Base

[Recirah]

I know Obama isn't getting my vote again. He's already screwed me over with college prices, 3% increase every year and less grants. And now he's screwing me up in a job too.

But then again none of the other candidates are any better..

[fyresentinel]

I know what you mean, and it's for that same reason that I tend to distance myself from politics. I really don't want anything to do with who's in office, because no matter what people will always find something bad to say about them. Getting myself stressed out over it won't change that. I'd rather just finish my service and continue with my life. I'm just relieved that they won't be getting rid of our tuition... then I might get a bit upset.

[Saiyr]

Psh, you gotta say hi to me in Seattle. You know, because we're best buds and all.

Honestly, I think 3% is pretty tame. Lotta UCs up in arms for 16% increase annually for just as long. Tuition usually tracks inflation so I don't think 3% is far off the mark. I'm not all that liberal, but some of things the Republican candidates have been saying are downright frightening. I'm not a registered voter though, so I won't be voting for anyone.

And seems like they'll be taking care of you in the Air Force...so what's this about the job?

[Recirah]

Actually I think it might have been close to 5%. I remember my first year being $67XX, second year $6990 and third year(This school year) $7330+. Tuition doesn't sound too bad if it's the only thing you're taking out loans for and scholarships/grants are free money but Ford Motors is bankrupt so I have no chance for a free ride like my older sister and they've also reduced the pell grant this year. But including housing it's an additional 10,000-13,000 added on each year. And yes college food is terrible too even when you're paying that much.

The job part was the main reason why I enlisted since Oregon has a pretty high unemployment rate because high minimum wages puts people out of work. They just raised this year's minimum to $8.80. So unless you have a ton of work experience, master's degree or a family of your own they don't plan to hire. I've enrolled with a temp agency and still no word from them about finding a job for me while I wait. I was hoping to work part time and go to school to help ease the school loans but it's not happening.
I only needed 1 3/4 more years to get my Bachelor's. My parents can't help me out anymore due to their own financial problems and that they're getting laid off too. And also I need to take a break from school to think about what I really want to do, I'm not sure if I want to continue with Pharmacy/Nursing anymore.

So stay away from the capital of Oregon if you're looking for a future home. Sure there's no sales tax but the property taxes will be crazy especially if you own your home.

[Saiyr]

Yeah, campus housing was always a rip off here. It was cheaper to rent because you have better control over how much you pay for, unlike the dorms where you pay (in more ways than one) for eating buffet-style for every meal. I dunno if it's really cheaper in high-density cities, though.

Wolfram Alpha says Washington's unemployment rate is around the same as Oregon's (8.5 vs 8.9%) but Seattle vs Salem is 6.6 vs 9.4%, so I guess you're getting extra screwed... D: Military pays for education too, right? Out of curiosity, do you have anything in mind if you didn't want to keep doing pharm/nursing? Having to completely start over would probably suck a lot. I have a few friends who did that [several times]. Some of them are still in college and could have gotten two Bachelor's by now. I guess if the military pays for all of that then it's not a big deal...but it's still a large time investment to start in a different field.

And to re-iterate my quickly-gained Washington superiority, I think it's better to have no state income tax than no sales tax. We can buy stuff from Oregon if we really really want to avoid sales tax, but you can't really avoid income tax.

[Recirah]

Yup the Montgomery GI Bill is given to all soldiers, I'm not sure about the exact amount but it accumulates every month I'm in service and I'm doing 6 years. I don't think I have to start over again since I taken some classes that do count for any major like chemistry and some math but I wouldn't mind since my grades were not A's so a reset on my GPA would be ok with me. I'll probably be 27 when I'm out of service. By then if I do want to continue school I'll have a guarantee full ride with some allowance every month. Unless Obama wants to screw me over again by reducing the post 9/11 GI bill.

My Canadian relatives purposely drive down here to shop every quarter of the year. I hear their sales tax is close to 16%.

[AKAAkira]

14% here in Waterloo...it used to be 8% provincial and 6% GST, but the provincial government fused it together into a "Harmonized Sales Tax" last year...still 14% though.

[Saiyr]

Yup the Montgomery GI Bill is given to all soldiers, I'm not sure about the exact amount but it accumulates every month I'm in service and I'm doing 6 years. I don't think I have to start over again since I taken some classes that do count for any major like chemistry and some math but I wouldn't mind since my grades were not A's so a reset on my GPA would be ok with me. I'll probably be 27 when I'm out of service. By then if I do want to continue school I'll have a guarantee full ride with some allowance every month. Unless Obama wants to screw me over again by reducing the post 9/11 GI bill.

My Canadian relatives purposely drive down here to shop every quarter of the year. I hear their sales tax is close to 16%.

The wiki article I TLDR'd said $1426/mo for 36 months as of 2010. There's some matching thing mentioned where you can contribute up to $600 and they give you $8 for every one of your $1 too, which is pretty nice (though that among is pretty small). That's around what I made as a grad student, so it's not bad...plus you're paid while on active duty so maybe you can cover any extra costs? That is a long time on duty, though!

That's some wacky sales tax. Seattle sales tax is 9.5%. I think I'm simply too lazy to drive down to Oregon to shop. I don't buy things all that often, certainly not expensive things, and so the convenience is well worth what I pay in sales tax. What kind of things do they drive down for?

14% here in Waterloo...it used to be 8% provincial and 6% GST, but the provincial government fused it together into a "Harmonized Sales Tax" last year...still 14% though.

Harmonizing your wallet away, one dollar at a time. Why is sales tax so high in Canada?

[AKAAkira]

Dunno about the one dollar at the "one dollar at a time" comment, most that I can gather is that it reduced tax on services sector and raised tax on sales sector (I think?) so regular people were largely unaffected...(again, I think. You can probably tell I'm don't pay attention to these things).

As for the high tax, I'd like to think it went straight back via the 30% post-secondary tuition rebate. It might have also gone into other provincial services though...(though I'm only a little better than a guy living under a rock for this kind of info).