Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum First time home buyers

“Just work a summer job and graduate with no student loans.”
Drop how much the cost of a college education has increased since 1980

For continuity's sake....College - 1990 vs 2025...

Average Annual College Tuition/Fees (public, in-state, 4yr University)
1990 - $4,000 (converted to $2025)
2025 - $12,000
a 200% increase (tripled)

I agree. Bullshit. But the bullshit is on you. It's not JUST the $7 coffees. It's the mindset of young people, with some barely clearing poverty level incomes but running out and buying a $7 cup of coffee every morning. And, as previously pointed out, it extends beyond the coffee to a myriad of trivial shiny things that eats up all their earnings. THAT mindset with that income will always be a renter or live with their parents. With adulthood comes responsibility. Some never figure that part out.

So to summarize, the next time some know-it-all boomer starts crapping on "young folks" (basically anyone under the age of 50), tell them "Average income is only 12% higher than it was 35 years ago, but vehicles cost 34% more than they did 35 years ago, houses cost 80% more than they did 35 years ago and a college education costs 3x what it did 35 years ago, so shut the hell up."

$7 Starbucks and the iPhone are to blame.

Paying for that overpriced degree that is getting farmed out to H1-B invaders isn't helping either.

Some people need a walmart coffee maker and and an apprenticeship instead of $7 drinks and a degree in transgender sub-saharan gooney goo holistic turd burglar philosophers.

Will probably get in trouble by saying this, but Driveby and others are mostly right. Gomer is right also... but to a lesser degree. My oldest recently graduated UA. At no point did he spend $12k per year, or even close to it. For his degree, he spent around 8-10k. That wasn't because he was super smart, got full-ride scholarships, lived at home, etc. He did it because he was willing to work, willing to live within his means, and shopped around for a deal when it came to education. He also worked one and sometimes two extra jobs apart from his campus job in order to live in town. Today, he's working a job making more than twice what I made when I graduated in 1997 and has no student debt. Funny thing is we mapped everything out after HS graduation and if he'd gone to Shelton State and worked before transferring to UA in year three, he'd have actually ended his college years making about $10k.

What I see in many kids today is an unwillingness to accept a lower standard of living than their parents. Many would rather live with parents and keep that standard of living rather than be independent. When I graduated HS, I wanted to leave home and end up with a higher standard of living than what I'd grown up with... and I've done that. But in the process I've created a situation where my kids are going to have to lower their living standard if they leave home. Without a desire for independence coupled with a strong work ethic, most kids are going to choose the easier route (can't blame them). It's up to me, however, to help cultivate that work ethic and desire for independence in my own kids.

"phones and starbucks" are a popular thing to criticize, but phones are dirt-cheap (and sometimes even free) with a phone plan (which is almost a "bare necessity" for life in 2026), and I seriously doubt any significant number of the population is buying a Starbucks (or the like) coffee on a daily basis.

Here's a figure from The Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama you guys will just love......... In 2025, Alabama residents received over $60 billion in federal transfer payments, accounting for 23% of all personal income in the state. 23% folks......that's ridiculous.

Are you sure you're not quoting the down payment percentage for LAND? I found stats showing conventional loans as little as 3% down.
I know my son only paid a fraction of what you posted in 2025

You and I must run in different circles. There's a reason the "nutrition" stores are located close to schools and coffee drive-thrus are popping up everywhere.

Yep. Insurance (of all kinds) and healthcare costs are way up too. There is something to the lack of work ethic complaint, but costs are not comparable to what they were.

Yup there’s whole counties in South/West Alabama that have effectively no employment outside of Uncle Sam.
Bullock, Macon, Greene, Hale and the jobs that do exist pay $9.81

They 100% do. My neighbor owns a place called Brew 22 here and just opened another one inside a bank that's walk in only and is killing it. His words to me were a Jed Clampet quote "liquid gold".
He says it's amazing how many are daily customers

Regarding the Nutrition places....The one by TCHS has changed like 3 different times in the couple of years it's been opened. And that seems to be the norm...they almost always are out of business in under a year, because people aren't willing to buy a $8-10 "tea" on a daily basis. They're betting (literally) on people doing what y'all are saying, only to find out that it's not nearly as common as it's misconceived to be and then they have to shut down or sell out to the next sucker that gets roped into it (by the way, those are nothing more than a MLM/Pyramid Scheme business)

If you two want to pick out those two things to harp on and just totally overlook the big picture of priorities, I guess that's your prerogative. Strain at a gnat so you can swallow the camel.

My guy...I didn't "pick out those two things"....they were already what was being discussed when I jumped into the thread. I'm pretty sure my first post summarized my point pretty well.

the cost of the biggest expenses people incur has risen CONSIDERABLY more than income has risen. I fully agree that people have a "spending" problem....ZERO argument there...but let's not pretend that people have the same amount of disposable income after homes/vehicles that they had 35years ago either.

The three largest line items for most people/families are in this order.
Housing
Transportation
Groceries.

21% of homes bought YTD have been bought by First Time Home Buyers, Starbucks isn’t to blame for that.

Sadly, we (miss'ippi) have y'all whooped in that regard. We are one of (if not THE) highest federally subsidized states at 34%.

Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and New Mexico,
These 6 are typically always competing for rank within the Top6.