Why scambloggers include "cost of living"

Recently I saw someone ask the question "why do scambloggers include LIVING EXPENSES when they are tallying up the law schools' misdeeds?"  There are a variety of reasons, which I shall explain below.   

First, and the most obvious one in my mind is that some of us are just too poor to go to college or law school without getting loans for living expenses.  In other words, it's our only option if we want to go.  Many poorer students believe that it is through college that riches are obtained.  As the Pennywise song, "You Get the Life You Choose" makes clear, we believe that we are the architects of our own lives.  I, for one, always believed that it was up to me to live the kind of life I wanted to live.  It is not up to anyone else.  Not my family.  Not fate.  I figured that if I invested time in college, I would reap the rewards down the road for it.  Also, I knew that if I did not go to college, like many of my siblings and friends, I would most likely end up in the same kind of impoverished conditions they live in.  While college has not brought me any riches, I will say at this point, I do think vastly different than my family and those who I went to high school with.  I don't see the world as the same "scary" place, nor am I fearful of the unknown.  I don't believe everything I read.  I question literally everything; from the media, to statistics that seem false on their face.  In short, I chose to go to college knowing that it would cost me a lot of money.  And I knew that the only way I would be able to fund it was through college loans for living expenses.  For me, it truly was the only way. 

Second, many of us do not have families that are well off enough to pay our living expenses for us.  Some of us would not ask that of our families.  I for one never would.  Also, some of us have families that don't particularly value a college education and they would not give money for the endeavor even if they could.  While that is not necessarily true of me, I have heard of many people that do not like the idea of their children getting "educated" and being smarter than they are.  I doubt my brother-in-law, with all his vast riches would pay for his children's education.  He thinks college and education is stupid.  Not because it's a scam or because it doesn't end up with a guaranteed job.  It's just stupid.  It teaches people to be liberals, to not hate blacks and Muslims (oh, did I mention he was racist?), and to think for one's self. 

As an adult, some of us see our own education as our own responsibility, and not the responsibility of our parents.  If law school does not work out for me, the debt should not be on my parents.  They are older now. They should not have to worry about student loans and their children not being able to find work.  They should not have to spend their "golden years/enfeebled years" having to lose sleep over the fact that the loan shark is calling them all hours of the day demanding payment.  And if their child is to suddenly do well because of their education, chances are the parents would reap little of the benefit other than the "good will" of knowing that junior succeeded in life. 

Further, law schools and the ABA tell students to limit their work load during law school.  Some schools state that one should not work at all during their first year, and a student can not work over 20 hours a week otherwise.  One can not hope to fund law school working for minimum wage 20 hours a week.  Further, law school internships are not handing out money.  In fact, many expect a student to work for free.  If you can get a law internship that pays more than $10 an hour, you are doing something right.  And, if your law internship is paying well, chances are you are living in a market where housing is very high.  In other words, if you are living below your means in Omaha, NB, chances are, a law internship is not paying you $15/hour.  And even if it was, you would still probably need to borrow some living expenses to get by.

Even if the ABA said that students could work full time, the truth is that some people have a tough time with school and would probably not pass if they had to hold down a full time job.  Law school is tough for many.  Also, we are told that anyone can go to school, no matter what disabilities we have.  Many people see this as a way out of a lackluster life.  Some of us are people who don't want to suck on the nipple of Uncle Sam for the rest of our lives.  Social Security disability has done amazing things for some people, but some people have disabilities and can't get it, and others don't want to rely on it.  As humans, many of us want to be self sufficient, and if we are told countless times that college will allow us to be self-sufficient and even thrive, than chances are, many people are going to jump at that chance.

Even without having a disability, some people are just awful at college.  I was at first, but I got good at it after a while.  Many people can't seem to do well even if they study forty hours a week.  The truth is, they are probably doing something wrong and may want to try to change their study methods.  But, even if that is the case, they can't think of working.  Some people have children and a nice shiny divorce certificate on the wall.  Even if the dad/mom is ordered to pay child support, that doesn't mean that they will.  Amongst my family there is at least five divorces and nobody is paying child support at this time.  So, the reality is that the single mother/father has to trudge their way through school and raise kids at the same time.  All odds are stacked against them, but they continue on, because college is sometimes seen as a carrot on a stick. 

And of course, there are the ones who have it all handed to them, who can go to college without taking out loans.  Some have done well enough to get scholarships and not have to worry about that.  However, many have parents who pay for their school so they don't have to worry about things such as rent, utilities, transportation costs, food, etc.  I can't even imagine not having to worry about that in college.  Some students even have Daddy's credit card.  I don't live in that kind of a world.  In fact, that kind of world is alien to me.  These people don't need to worry about borrowing for living expenses.  They may have been forced into law school by overbearing parents who said, "it's either medicine or law" and their parents pay the bill.  Others just have a blank check on an education.  How sweet.  But I suspect that this is a HUGE minority of those who are scambloggers.  I honestly suspect that most scambloggers borrowed a lot of money for college and they had no choice in the matter, and that's why we include cost of living as part of our education expense.