The Higher Education Bubble: Ready to Burst?

Townhall.com ^ | September6, 2010 | Michael Barone

[The Black Knight]

Yeah, I went the Associate’s degree route before my Bachelor’s. Great deal, same credits, but a fraction of the cost. The Air Force actually let me transfer those credits into their associate’s degree program. After two more classes taken, I had two associate’s degrees.

I really believe that the community college is the best part of the college system in this country. You can knock out core classes for a fraction of a university’s costs, if you plan on going the four year route. Or, you can technical degrees and actually work in your career field when you graduate.

With the new GI Bill, you can actually transfer money to dependents after 6 years of service. Right now, I’m toiling with that decision. I want to get a doctorate, but my deployment tempo is getting a lot harsher. Waiting until after the enlistment is up is a no-no, since I can’t be idle forever and still keep my security clearance. Oh well, guess if I ever have kiddies they can go on my benefits. :-)

[The Black Knight]

My sis went on a softball scholarship, but it was only a partial, and she worked as well. I appreciate the way that I got mine, but I doubt that I would want my kids to go the same way. Maybe I’ll have them study when they’re in high school, maybe get a free ride that way. Figure it’s better than my high school college plan. :-)

Overall, I agree with everything that you’re saying on this board. Education loans are ridiculously easy to get, and I believe that you are right that it is done on purpose. Furthermore, the push to place every kid in college in insane. I remember a couple of years ago, a particularly “bright” professor at UNC Chapel Hill was pushing a bill in the state legislature to not allow high school graduates to walk in their own high school graduation unless they were going to college. It was defeated, of course, but who would even have the audacity to even propose that?

Of course, supply and demand and other market factors also apply to college degrees. People nowadays say that a Master’s degree is the equivalent of the old Bachelor’s, and that a Bachelor’s is like an Associate’s from a few decades ago. I guess that when you make degrees easier and make them available to more people, somehow their prestige and value goes down. Crazy how, even in a liberal environment like University systems, market economics can still rear it’s ugly head.

I see no difference between the sub-prime housing loan market and the sub-prime school loan market. Both are artificially inflated through government interference, the question is how long will it be before that second bubble bursts, and how many people will be underwater with education?

[SoCal Pubbie]

I made no comment about testing. Nor did I mean to imply that one could not learn subjects in the arts or engineering from a desk. I DID mean to assert that one can learn from other students in such fields, as much or more than from texts or teachers. As I wrote, changes can be made, perhaps students could assemble less frequently than twice or three times a week. But IMHO there is value in students gathering together.

I write this having graduated in industrial design, albeit a rather long time ago, and having taught the subject at the university level, not so long ago. The ONLY tests I ever gave were an effort to keep the kids coming to class, since I was not connected to them any other way! Grading was based 90% on the portfolio at the end of the term.