Because America is so expensive. A really good education at a state school still costs almost nothing in the long run, yet unless you are a wealthy young kid with parental support, the ability to go to school full time for 4 years is an unimaginable luxury.
Why Is College in America So Expensive?
261–270 of 348 posts
Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#262Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some examples other than what people have already mentioned: Prescription drugs. The FDA has a "no existing alternative first" policy - they work on approving drugs for conditions where no current treatment works before they even start considering competitors to existing drugs. This sounds quite logical, but the effect of it is that every new drug is granted a monopoly for a long period of time before any competitor…
> Prescription drugs. The FDA has a "no existing alternative first" policy - they work on approving drugs for conditions where no current treatment works before they even start considering competitors to existing drugs. This sounds quite logical, but the effect of it is that every new drug is granted a monopoly for a long period of time before any competitor can even legally sell their alternative, so the drug compan…
Pharmaceuticals is a tricky example, because the marginal cost of producing them is extremely low. Having the government control negotiate the price of, say, automobiles, might have weirder results.
> Pharmacists also have to offer a generic if it's available, regardless of what the doctor prescribes.
I believe in the US it's actually illegal for a pharmacist to recommend a generic, if the doc didn't check the right box. Maybe just decriminalizing it would have a nice impact :p
Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#263> Still, the return varies wildly depending on the college one attends. One in four college grads earns no more than the average high-school graduate. I found this shocking: 25% of _graduates_ are in a significantly worse financial position after college? They're not only getting zero monetary benefit for their degree, they've forgone 4 years of experience. And I'd bet that most of them are adding significant student…
TBF these numbers can be... messy. For example, at least one statistic is based on earnings 5 years out of school. 5 years out of school I was making less than 30k as a research assistant. A few months later I was making easily 100k+ more than most senior SDEs, and doing exactly what I would be doing if I had a trust fund to pay the bills. Many of my classmates who became doctors were in similar situations -- working…
But... I can't help but wonder about how many of the graduates from the 75% of schools that take most of their applicants just end up doing something that basically required none of the education they acquired. I'd bet it's far more common then the scenarios you present.
https://www.niche.com/blog/the-most-popular-college-majors/
I'm not sure the 600,000 humanities degrees lead to that kind of hockey puck style career path.
Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#264All the gov would need to do is mandate that colleges charge tuition as a percentage of post-graduation salary, and you'd see half of these low quality colleges peddling worthless degrees go bankrupt overnight. At the end of the day, this country needs to decide whether the role of universities is to train students for career paths, or purely to provide higher education. It's very difficult to orient the structure ar…
Then colleges would have to be in the business of risk management. That would be like charging a hospital based on the recovery rate.
Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#265Because America is so expensive. A really good education at a state school still costs almost nothing in the long run, yet unless you are a wealthy young kid with parental support, the ability to go to school full time for 4 years is an unimaginable luxury.
Many enterprising youth use the military as a way to pay for school, too.
I had 7 brothers and sisters growing up, not enough money for Mom and Dad to put me in school. Uncle Sam was there for me, though.
Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are also the three things that are socialized to a much higher degree in other developed countries, where they are not becoming exponentially more expensive.
I remember hearing from someone in the field that health care in Europe is indeed becoming exponentially more expensive. the exponent is smaller than the US, and the cost isn't borne by individuals, but they're still going to have a problem. (I don't have a source for this though.)
My guess is the aging population.
Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#267I'm always amazed at how how classes require new $200 textbooks each semester. (Have there really been breakthroughs in every subject, requiring new books?)
To me, that's a big sign of what's wrong. Too many hands in the student's pocket.
Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#268Earlier quoted context omitted.
> College is essentially free for many european countries, that is what I think sufficient level of subsidy Most of the countries which people usually talk about here - France, Germany, Spain, etc. - have significantly lower matriculation and graduation rates than the US does.
Could you point me to some numbers?
Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#269I 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.
> 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.” Why do people always reach for central control, when we have the ultimate mechanism of price control as a core part of our…
>You either have to take full central control (lets not go there)
In Montreal we have heavily government funded universities, tuition is less than 4k a year. It works great, we're building leadership in AI right now.
Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?
#270> 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.” That assertion makes no sense. In a market economy, almost all prices are unregulated. Yet the prices of TVs, hamburgers,…
Right. The problem with college is that customers are price-insensitive. If a college raises its tuition, plenty of people will just sigh and take out the necessary loans. And then of course they have no trouble getting credit, since student loans are much less risky for lenders than other types of loans.
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