Jackson Jambalaya

That’s a good start

Pell grant students in MS have a lower graduation rate by 20% than non- Pell grant recipients . Some do not complete the first semester even at a junior college but that figure is not published.
Only 45% of MS student receive a Pell grant. But one MS paper reported that would affect 80000 Mississippians.
The Junior Colleges , which do teach trade skills as well and do grant 2 year nursing degrees, will be affected.
The children of wealthy people do not need financial aid for college and one could argue that it is the GI Bill after WWII that helped the U.S. become an economic success story.
Neither Pell grants nor the G.I. bill has kept up/mirrored the increased costs of higher education.

Higher Education is big business. I don't know about other states, but this state has given nothing more than lip service to Career and Technical Education programs for the past fifty years or more. Such programs should be mandated within five miles of every school district in the state and well funded.

Nobody at the legislative level wants to gore the ox of our land grant colleges. Rather the emphasis is on building larger stadiums, enriching name/image/likeness programs and broadening the employment offices and grant recipients they've become.

Jill Ford ran and was elected partly based on her deep interest on educating our students for advancement in 'the trades' and her promises to shepherd that emphasis when elected. Well, that was the last we heard of that.

Every governor and most legislators are quick to salute the value of career tech, and then we hear little more about it. Since the mid sixties, Mississippi has had twenty or more multi-million dollar federal-state programs directed at occupational training. Private efforts have had little if any success.

We've been great at arguing over who will have the lead role...Employment Security, Community Colleges, The Governor's Office of Job Development & Training, the Planning & Development Districts, Community Organizations, even disbarred lawyers promising rainbows and unicorns. Nothing resulted from the latter and very little from the former.

What comes next? Nothing but more articles on the subject from Salter, the State Auditor and Crawford. That's what.

" force students to pay more while restricting their ability to borrow, and incentivize students to pursue less costly options for further education"

Crawford wrote that as if it was a bad thing. Where has he been that he hasn't heard of the student loan problems of so many? Starting on your own is a large enough difficulty without the burden of student debt.

Crawford likes to add Bible scriptures, for what reason I don't know, here's one he should look in to: Proverbs 22: 7; The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

9:09 laments the fact Pell Grant recipients have a low graduation rate and many complete only a semester, if that. Wonder why?

They're like SNAP. They're free. Why not. Head on down to JSU or Valley or Coahoma or Alcorn or DSU and enjoy the scenery. You ain't never been out of town before anyway. Give it a try. Drop and head back home and be riding a bicycle into town in four more years. Encouragement and expectations begin at home.

“ The “One Big Beautiful Bill” would cap loans for professional degrees, reduce the Federal Work-Study program, and eliminate Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants. Meanwhile, the administration has begun implementing restrictions on federal student loans that would force students to pay more for harder to get student loans.”

Every bit of this is true. If you are low to middle class and you have kids that dream of med school, PA, nurse practitioner, CRNA or law school, those dreams are now out of reach thanks to this bill. Loans are capped at $250k, and that includes undergrad, and for parents co-signing that number is across all kids. Now I know what y’all are thinking, $250k is an obscene amount of money, and it is, but it’s a drop in the bucket of what med, dental and law school costs. CRNA and PA school are $50-100k a year. Y’all do the math and think about where this ends. At some point the only people pursuing those degrees will be the kids of the wealthy and well-funded, who may not be as qualified as the hardworking low and middle class kids. This bill has good intentions in trying to rein in those that abuse the system, but the way it was written it will protect the bankers at the expense of smart, driven and hardworking students from middle class families.

I paid the overwhelming majority of my education costs by applying for every single scholarship I could find online. They all required me to write a paper. This was about 10 years before CoPilot/Grok/CharGPT. it took about a month of my time each semester. But it was worth my time when I varely had to borrow anything. And the university had a website where you just scroll through all these thousands of scholarships. It was ridiculously easy then. It is stupid to not take advantage of it now with LLMs

History and poli sci should both be abolished. Absolutely useless degrees. I have both

My longtime appliance repair guy recently retired. I’m looking for a new plumber, due to retirement. Eventually I’m sure I’ll need an electrician. I’ve long wondered who will fill those jobs. We need vocational training and apprenticeships for those and other skills. College isn’t for everyone.

Colleges and universities need students who want to put in the work needed to earn a degree in their chosen academic fields. First-generation college students who come from backgrounds of little means and persist to graduation are my favorite success stories. If those earned their degree thanks to financial aid with a Pell Grant then I consider that a positive use of my taxpayer dollars.

I own a business where we routinely deal with college students. I ask them what their major is and it can range from useful to fanciful. We had a guy come in last night, never went to college, currently works for a tree service, owns his own house and has zero debt. I know MCGCC has plenty of career certificates and they say they are VERY busy with 24+ year olds wanting to get a job (good wage with zero debt) vs. a career (good wage but debt to get it the door, plus always worried the career may end though no fault of their own). Maybe college isn't for everyone.

Jill Ford's son is a plumber. I'd say Jill Ford has a vested interest in elevating trades.

10:12 makes the mistake of using logic with Crawford. Crawford has little interest in logic or facts. Bill is all about advancing the narrative.

I think 10:43 is making a case to pass the "big beautiful bill." What he says is bad about the bill sound like good ideas.

Let's make MSU, OM, USM, ASU, JSU stand behind the loans for the money they receive. That's right, pledge their endowment as security for all the student loans. Why should we back the loans when they get the money?

Every time I see a medical professional, I try to make sure and say thank you for the contribution you all make to society. So, thank God for universities and higher education since without it, we would not have health care professionals, or engineers, etc. for that matter.

But universities have been highjacked by radical leftist professor intellectuals; and therein lies a major problem (link below “Why Intellectuals are _______ Idiots” can explain).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqs8D3xfxsc&t=20s

Another is the incredible fact that universities have scammed many of the young and naïve into obtaining students loans that haunt them for decades afterwards in order to obtain worthless degrees.

The fact that so-called “educators” are not mathematically capable enough to know whether or not certain degrees will be investments that are worthy of student loans – or they know better but are scamming students for profit, tells us what we need to know about that.


That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. 1 Thessalonians 4:6

10:18 In the long run it will only serve to further fortify the positions of the rich and the growing underclass. Those institutions who have enjoyed years of the fruits of unfair and often discriminatory state support are now rich and powerful enough to withstand this shakeup and emerge more dominant than ever. That's part of the plan anyway. After the shakeout the weaker sisters will be greatly diminished or gone completely and business as usual will resume. The rich will be that much richer.

The world needs more plumbers and electricians and fewer blue haired baristas.

I don't know why a lender is forced to make a student loan to someone who proposes to study French literature or pre-Egyptian pottery. It seems to me that they would not make a bad loan to a business, so why is it not the lender's fault when they make a bad student loan? Where is their responsibility? If I want a loan, especially with little or no collateral the bank will ask some serious questions. It seems a matter of simple business sense. Or am I missing something?

The University industrial complex. 1. Create student loans 2. Convince the sheeple that everyone needs a college degree. 3. Raise tuitions 4. Raise salaries 5. Wash, rinse, repeat.

2:00pm
In the early 70s I could work construction all summer and save enough for a nice used car and two semesters of College. Illegal immigrants have stolen that path to prosperity from young American construction workers. I was a well paid contract framer (rough carpentry). Now illegals do most of that work.

It’s not Trump’s role to support universities.

A big help for many of the Business Colleges at the major Universities ... would be to hire instructors (at all levels) that could speak in the basic English languge.

Yup. Biggest grift of taxpayers in history. Hundreds of billions "redistributed" for "education" that ain't happening....or otherwise indoctrination is.

Our leadership has, and will continue to come from institutions of higher education. Simple as that. Whether the name is Trump, Obama, Kennedy, Reeves, or whatever. Those that aspire to run your life will come from a college or university. But college is not for everybody. BUT IT DAMN WELL BETTER BE AVAILABLE TO EVERYBODY.

Lower it and the Universities will lower prices, raise it and the Universities will raise prices. Once they see no one can afford it and classrooms are empty they’ll adjust accordingly. They could also make arrangements to allow higher grants and scholarships for useful schooling.

Indirect cost added on to Federal grants for projects often exceeding 50% of the Project cost is a racket that enables many university employees that should be teaching students to pay grad students to teach while the university professors receive their salaries from the university & the Federal grant. Like I said it’s a racket.

@6:51 You aren't from around here are you?

When is Ole Miss going to give up the DEI department. The name has been changed to "Student Engagement" but the same ideology applies.

12:03 posted this: "Jill Ford's son is a plumber. I'd say Jill Ford has a vested interest in elevating trades.
June 29, 2025 at 12:03 PM"

I'm aware of that. She had a vested interest in elevating trades while campaigning, but after having been elected twice, where are the bills to advance career-tech and trades?

Every elected official from the Governor down to the local Constable ought to be heralding the value of trades...constantly.

And in his spare time, instead of harping on the imaginary 'brain drain' and unused state-issued cell phones, the State Auditor ought to be preaching about degree programs that aren't worth a dime...and 'Skills That Pay'.

USM renamed its DEI initiative to “Community and Belonging Success.”

When I was a kid all I had to look forward to was a Drft Notice...High School Guidance Counselors sat me down & told me if I "Didn't Go To College I'd Be A Drain On Society & No Good To Myself Or Anybody Else"...That told me right there what Educated People Thought of the Working Class...Anyway here I am retired- Been a Self Employed diesel Mechanic all my life, got two kids with College Educations, girl a Doc & the other with a MSU Mechanical Engineering degree. Boy Co-Oped thru MSU, no debt. I don't know if it could be done the same way now, things are so different. My only regret is I never got a chance to repair something for them Damn Counsellors that looked down their nose at me...I guarantee they's remember that Bill...

June 29th at 10:18 am from 9:09 am ( same day) What I know about you is that you know nothing about MS's Junior Colleges and even less about JUCOs in other states. Most are not run by their JUCO presidents with only an " advocacy" board for oversight.
Do you know when our state board for Junior Colleges was formed, there were zero women on the boards of trustees? That may be why we had no day care for students or JUCO teachers to use while in class (unlike other states).
Do you know how many state supported junior colleges have football teams and dorms?
Do you know the driving distance between our junior and community colleges? Indeed, it's interesting to start comparing how many state supported junior and community colleges and state supported universities we have given our population and high school graduation rate vs others and while we were among the first stated to have a junior college, we aren't ranked very high.
Indeed, it wasn't until the 1980's that our IHL's was forced to transfer credits from our JUCO courses. The heads of IHL departments decided if the course transferred. That meant parents paid tuition for the same completed course twice even if their kid made an A. Not only that but there had been a state paid for "convention" on the coast each year to " work out curriculum differences. Our first JUCO board had a member who threatened to make that public so it changed.
Do you know some of our junior and community colleges are very close together given our highways now? Do you know other states located their schools to make them accessible by keeping the driving under one hour ? Drive from Holmes campus in Ridgeland to Hinds taking 220. You should also go see the " libraries" at some of our junior colleges.
Do you know how much our JUCOs spend on teachers vs administrators? Do you know it was so bad, our legislature once threatened to stop giving JUCO teacher increases because the JUCO presidents never used all money intended for teacher pay to start to meet the regional average but instead it went for administrative? We had qualified teachers in Mississippi teaching in neighboring states that paid enough more to make the " commute" worthwhile or to relocate.
Do you know what the Junior College Presidents are paid ? It's not just salary you should consider but also " perks". Indeed, our tax dollars keep the " good ole boys" in cowboy boot and keep their palms greased.

@ 9:22 I am a retired faculty mebmer from a MS community college. It was a good experience overall and I had some greate colleagues, students, and was treated well by leadership.

However, I think the CCs of our state spend far too much money on athletics and facilities. We have too many of them and some are quite close together given modern transportation as well as online learning. Years ago I spoke with a colleague at a community college in another state where their campus looked less like a small university and was more a couple of buildings next to a highway. There were no athletics, cheerleaders, band, Presidential home on campus with their own private automobile.

The system is a good one overall but the local boards who "govern" each institution are little more than figureheads who rubber stamp what the president wants. There is a tremendous amount of envy among the group of who has the nicest (fill in the blank).

My good students outnumbered my bad ones and I support the mission of the college, but there is a tremendous amount of waste and gamesmanship in a system that serves only the few at the top. Abolish their athletic programs, merge some institutions, and streamline what campuses teach what and pay the faculty and staff who do the day to day work higher salaries.

It would not surprise me to learn that Ole Miss' DEI staffing, programs and expenditures have significantly increased since they announced they were eliminating DEI.

It is a weak mind who thinks it takes apprenticeships and trade schools to get into the trades. It is a rare trade centered company who even wants someone who has been to trade school. We would rather train them ourselfs while paying them to work as helpers and teach them the right way to do things rather than what we see come out of trade schools. Sure, people will enroll and pay to learn a little. They pay way too much and they could learn while earning and not spend the time in school. I doubt most of the students who go to those programs even work in the trades after as it is very frustrating to go to school for something and learn when you get out that you know nothing of value.

In 73 I received a Pell Grant. My family was 't able to pay for my education. I finished JR College and 1 semester of Delta State. I would have finished except for circumstances beyond my control. I am thankful for that opportunity.

It would be an even weaker mind that thought you knew anything about skilled labor. The people that are using skilled labor know that in this day, and age, you take decent help when you find it. Don't you idiots ever get tired of your fake representation?

The Community College system of Mississippi is nothing more than a conduit for maximizing the draw-down of Federal Financial Aid....we're talking BILLIONS that goes to pay for inflated tuition, that then goes to keeping all the little fiefdoms flush with cash. Oh, the Presidents now make $240,000+ a year. Biggest scam in Mississippi, because just like it's K-12 system, there is zero rigor expected...they are getting "completion" certificates because half would likely fail if made to meet real college expectations. Hell, they don't even have to meet the expectations of 8th graders from 50 years ago.

The education situation is a lot like the healthcare situation. Stipends aside, the money doesn't go to the students or the patients, it goes to the schools and the providers. It is long past time to start looking at the destinations of those funds rather than the method by which that money arrived at those destinations.

And can someone explain to me why someone who clearly intends to suck at the tits of Government as a career needs a JD, and from Harvard? Whoever paid for it certainly pissed away that money. And even if that were not Mr. White's choice of career, the US has produced more JDs than it needed or could utilize (yeah, yeah, one lawyer is too many and all that) for decades. Sure, many are doing well enough (again, jokes aside) actually practicing law or otherwise using their JDs, but a surprising number of JDs "go to waste" insofar as the holder actually practicing law or otherwise using their JD as the means of "gainful employment."