Why Is College in America So Expensive?
theatlantic.com
Why Is College in America So Expensive?
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Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#2Supply and demand. Everyone in high school is expected to go to college; you're essentially considered a failure if you don't. Couple this with easy access to student loans and other forms of credit and it's easy to see why the price of college has just gone up and up.
Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#3I didn't see this discussed in the article, but IMO the main driver is the availability of student loans. When the government guarantees loans, you can lend whatever you want!
The price of a TRIPLE occupancy dorm + 7 day meal access is $14,813.29/YEAR at UC Davis. The "meals", if they haven't changed in the last decade, are Sodexo garbage. And don't forget a "year" doesn't count the summer, or winter break.
Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#4Many western states got together to provide a cheaper alternative to state schools. Western Governors University is about 6k a year and is online and accredited. Its also used for teachers to get their advanced degrees while working full-time jobs. You can also go as fast or slow as you can/want. You could, in theory, do it in 3 years, so 18k TOTAL, that's pretty affordable. No idea if there is an option for eastern states.
They have IT/Nursing/Teaching/Business degrees upto Masters degrees.
Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#5Somewhat guaranteed access to Federal funding via FAFSA reduces incentives to price shop. Combined with campus building envy.
Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#6Not enough government subsidy.
Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#7Not enough government subsidy.
I take it you mean direct subsidy to the Universities? There is in fact quite a lot of government subsidy in the form of student loans. Many would argue that's one of the main driving forces behind rising tuition.
Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#8TLDR:
> Ultimately, college is expensive in the U.S. for the same reason MRIs are expensive: There is no central mechanism to control price increases. “Universities extract money from students because they can,” says Schleicher at the OECD. “It’s the inevitable outcome of an unregulated fee structure.” In places like the United Kingdom, the government limits how much universities can extract by capping tuition. The same is true when it comes to health care in most developed countries, where a centralized government authority contains the prices.
Both true and not true.
College is indeed expensive because of unregulated price increase, but it's that way because of, not in spite of, government intervention. Much like home prices.
Federal student aid has ensured that the cost of education grows to meet the amount of loan money available. Similar to mortgage guarantees.
Please note that I am not decrying student aid. I only went to university because of it. But you can draw a straight line to that and price hikes.
Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#9> Americans spend about $30,000 per student a year—nearly twice as much as the average developed country.
This narrative needs to die.
Hear me out before judging...
Yes, University is expensive! But - a large portion of the numbers you see thrown around include living expenses! The same living expenses a student would incur if they were not attending University.
The predominant reason for this is students are still today largely encouraged to be Professional Students, ie. full time students who do not work, or work very little.
This mandates their living expenses having to come from elsewhere - either parents, or loans! No person should be taking out loans to eat at Taco Bell... or buy toilet paper.
Instead, we need to shift the focus away from encouraging Professional Students, but rather we should encourage Professionals who attend University.
Not only will our youth gain more valuable and tangible life-long skills and experience working full-time, but their education can become a more significant compliment to their ascension to adulthood. Working well with others, balancing a bank account, paying bills, working on real-world problems, and more!
It will take longer to gain their degree, but it will become more valuable and appreciated in the process. Graduating students will have actual skills and experience industry needs, not just academic and homework skills.
At the top of it all, they'll be graduating with much less, or no debt - since working full-time during school would have been paying the bills, buying that Taco Bell and toilet paper, and more.
Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#10I didn't see this discussed in the article, but IMO the main driver is the availability of student loans. When the government guarantees loans, you can lend whatever you want! The price of a TRIPLE occupancy dorm + 7 day meal access is $14,813.29/YEAR at UC Davis. The "meals", if they haven't changed in the last decade, are Sodexo garbage. And don't forget a "year" doesn't count the summer, or winter break.
That's just a bit over 1k / month -- similar to rent in SF :-P