# Big Shocker: The Government Rips People Off! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 28, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-shocker-the-government-rips-people-off/292342 "2005-02-28T21:13:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-shocker-the-government-rips-people-off/292342/21 "2005-03-02T01:46:27Z")
**MRirian** wrote > [@](#): > > Well, you can’t tell me the government doesn’t at least take advantage of the fact that school costs so much, as a tactic to get people to sign up for the armed forces. I, just like every other high school junior and senior, got swamped with letters and phone calls trying to get me to join. I see ads all over TV, the internet, inside schools, etc. The number one persuasion tool? Well, most of them start out with “Need money for college?” or “College is expensive these days…” > > I definitely wouldn’t put it past them to be behind it to some extent. Huh? I don’t get your point. Is it that the military shouldn’t pay their soldiers money? Or is it that they shouldn’t advertise to prospective employees? Or is it that they owe you a handout (without any work) instead of paying that same money to their soldiers who work hard and risk their life for something bigger than themselves? Or is it something else? As near as I can tell, your point seems to be that the military is an evil institution, and it’s recruitment efforts are wrong. In fact, the military **does** pay money for services, allowing many to go to college who might not otherwise. Frankly, I have a lot of respect for people who follow that route. I feel your pain about your financial situation. As I said, I lived that pain pretty deeply. But I can’t imagine why you want to blame the military. ---
**Author:** ![MRirian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3be4f8/32.png) [@MRirian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MRirian)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-shocker-the-government-rips-people-off/292342/22 "2005-03-02T02:49:25Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Well, actually I can. The Feds don’t determine tuition cost nor do they determine graduation requirements. (How many of us had to take required classes that had absolutely nothing to do with the field of study? Big reason why it now takes an average of 5 years to graduate than the 4 our parents did.) > > You’re either pitting the Feds for not offering universal post-secondary education, or your pitting the schools for charging such outrageous tuitions. At least, that’s what it looks like from here. Fill me in if I’m missing something. Um, I didn’t say any of that. What I said was that they use the fact that college is so expensive as a way to convince kids to join the military, and I wouldn’t be surprised if behind the scenes they were pulling some strings. I didn’t say they decide tuition, and nowhere did I mention anything about graduation requirements. What I first started the thread about was that sometimes I am considered a dependent and others an independent, and I feel that there should be a single definition, not several different ones for different situations. I’m not covered by my stepfather’s medical insurance, yet I’m still his kid when it comes to paying for my school? **Bill H.** , I wrote a reply to you, but it became very long and totally OT from my OP. I’ll start a new thread for it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-shocker-the-government-rips-people-off/292342.md?page=1)