Posted on 07/02/2013 3:37:57 AM PDT by iowamark
It's been drummed into the heads of Americans for going on a century: Getting a college education is the best way to ensure future career and financial success.
Couple that mantra with government-backed programs keeping student loan rates low and what do you get? The monster known as American college tuition, something that's grown well past the rate of inflation for more than five decades.
And it also has spawned a trillion-dollar student loan debt, much of which will never be repaid. The taxpayers will be left holding the bill, just like they were when the housing market went bust.
Because of the deep-held belief that Americans have about the value of a college education and de facto government backing, universities feel no marketplace pressure to rein in spending, force tenured faculty to actually teach or provide students with an education that will get them jobs.
But the glory days for the academic industry may be coming to an end...
The more the public gets the caveat emptor spirit when it comes to choosing a post-high school path for themselves or their children, the better the choices will become.
The free market has a way of creating healthy competition that way.
By any definition, there should be a lot more tuition price competition in the college market. The U.S. has more than 4,100 four- and two-year colleges... As long as the government makes sure loans—no matter how expensive—will be available to just about any student, exactly what incentive do colleges have to lower tuition prices?
The result is that most Americans don't have as much choice when it comes to how much they spend on college as they do when it comes to homes, cars and food...
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
People have many choices in education. They can attend a community college for 2 years. Test out of classes that would result in not having to take certain classes, take classes on line. Go to a state school. Attend a university near home. WORK while attending classes to help pay for the classes. If you are going to attend college that will result in a huge debt, get a workable major. It is the choice of the student and his or her parents.
Rehab your first low-rent apartment building. Then become a developer like Donald Trump. (That property was in Cincinnati, by the way.)
You're right that people do have cheaper alternatives, but going to college online and testing out (via AP's) are no longer as viable options as they once were. Fewer and fewer colleges are accepting those credits.
The college monopoly is not going down without a fight.
it is not that simple. many colleges are behind the times. their majors no longer reflect current careers or technology yet they continue to peddle the same classes. they do not connect the dots from college education to career. then on the other side, companies are expecting specific degrees regardless of your experience. so what does the government do....it takes over the loan industry so it can make a profit no matter what in spite of record low interest rates. and book companies continue to make a killing while ripping off the authors and students alike. $300 for a text for a core general ed class? this is the worst racket going. someone has to break the stare but I cant imagine why anyone is motivated to do so. we need a revolution.
My only argument with this article is he’s comparing stats from his 25 year reunion. Things were a lot different 25 years ago than they are today...as those with and without a degree can attest.
Older workers are not financially able to retire due to the recession, shrinking the job prospects for less experienced workers, technology has replaced jobs, outsourcing has sent jobs overseas, etc. Take the average high school class today and look down the road 25 years and you’ll get an entirely different set of stats, and it won’t be “pretty”.
As to education costs, it is crazy the debt that is being incurred by kids at a relatively high interest rate. That being said, our 25 year old is so far ahead of where we were at his age due to degree, and grad school...my husband although making good money in a “trade” found out early on that his body would not last if he continued in that trade, so he went back to college after years in a trade. That degree served him well.
We encouraged “the kid” to just keep going forward in his education (not taking summers off) till he had an advanced degree., He lived at home, we have 5 colleges within a 35 mile radius so lots of opportunities. Tuition was paid for by scholarships, and working for the grad school as a TA.
So I do see the value of a college degree, just don’t see the value of a college degree with a “fluff” major, which puts one thousands of dollars in debt to obtain, with no viable job options.
However, one caveat about a solid degree, I know engineering students from famous engineering schools who are working but the wage is low, and not moving up much, even with experience, due to the job situation. So even those with solid degrees can have problems in the economy.
Then they could get work and support themselves through college.
I don’t know what the rush is to complete college in the first four years out of HS, anyway.
It is all a con... HS graduates are spoiled to think they absolutely deserve their college, party experience at no matter the cost or to whom!
Taxpayers are tired of footing the bill so they can prolong their incubation period of childhood and party at our expense.
HS grads need to be more responsible and mature...then they’d make much better college students, too.
You posted, in part: You’re right that people do have cheaper alternatives, but going to college online and testing out (via AP’s) are no longer as viable options as they once were. Fewer and fewer colleges are accepting those credits.
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My son will finish his mechanical engineering degree in 3.5 years, due in large part to his AP credits. His course load has also been reduced somewhat. He is at a state school (pains me to say it is NC State, as my wife and I are both UNC grads).
Your textbook comments are so true. And then in order to keep the money flowing, they change editions every couple of years preventing students from buying used textbooks.
Our son’s average textbook cost per term was between $500 and $1000, and he was buying all the “used” books he could.
Well if religious institutions have their tax exemptions revoked,Next on the list to lose tax exemption status should be University endowments.
“The taxpayers will be left holding the bill, just like they were when the housing market went bust.”
These “bubbles” happens every time it’s tried, and will continue, as long as politicians give preferential treatment to those least likely to fulfill their contractual obligations.
Join the National Guard and get free tuition at state colleges.
At least in our state.
Our deal with our kids is that we would pay the equivalent of a state school education. The rest was up to them.
We made the same deal with our daughter, who is attending an out-of-state university. She is making up the difference with a combination of scholarship money, a work-study job, and modest loans.
Yeah, not accepting AP credits is a trend that's spreading. Too many kids are doing colleges in 3.5 years and the colleges aren't willing to give up their piece of the pie. Here's Dartmouth's statement. Coming soon to a college near you.
Beginning with the entering Class of 2018, Dartmouth will no longer grant course credit for AP or IB examinations. Dartmouth will continue to offer exemptions and placement in some subject areas. This policy change will not take effect until the fall of 2014, and it will not impact current applicants to Dartmouth who intend to enroll in the fall of 2013.
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