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U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

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Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#61

Post by paulcole »

bluedevil2k wrote: post #43
chrischattin wrote: post #17

How to fix student loans... The .gov backs student loans. And, they are non-dischargeable. So, it is zero risk for the lender to give loan to the 2.7 GPA moron getting a worthless basket weaving degree from the local private lib arts school for $100k. So, they give as many loans as possible, since they can't lose (taxpayer on the hook). Colleges are incentivized to drive up costs of tuition b/c tons of free money. It…

Make the college take a 10% stake in each loan. Suddenly they’ll start being more discerning about who they accept and what their majors are.

If someone told me they'd give me $1 if I throw away a dime, why wouldn't I just keep taking their dollars all day long?

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#62

Post by oconnor663 »

nothrabannosir wrote: post #8

Honest question from an outsider: how realistic would it be for the government to stop guaranteeing student loans over a "public university" (community college?) level threshold? What are the unintended secondary effects? Would it help curb wild-growth of tuition fees?

One secondary effect might be to reduce the percentage of minority students at 4-year universities, if those students are more likely than average to rely on loans to attend. Opponents of the policy change would ask some very loaded questions about that in any public debate, and they wouldn't be wrong to ask.

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#63

Post by fooker »

ChaosDegenerate wrote: post #52

Graduating in Europe with Master's that cost me nothing, I always feel so bad thinking about the debt my coworkers who studied in the US have to repay. It's just so wrong and stupid. On top of that I can always go back "home" to get free healthcare too. US is (at times) so much better when you are an immigrant. And then so many (who actually have student loans to repay and expensive healthcare to pay for) feel sorry…

Same here, got free education in my home country, upto a Masters. Came to the US for a PhD, also free (+ a small stipend and internships). I just don't see undergrad education here being a good deal.

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#64

Post by adrr »

agent008t wrote: post #40

How can these universities be so expensive, if you can instead go to a just-as-good university in the UK for a fraction of the cost, even as a foreign student? Why does anyone agree to pay such fees?

You can attend a public university in the US for a fraction of the cost. UCLA is $12,000 a year for tuition. You can also do two years at a community college which costs almost nothing like $50 a credit and transfer to a 4 year university for the the remaining two years.

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#65

Post by haberman »

Finnucane wrote: post #11
sorenn111 wrote: post #7

One thing I find crazy is the very same institutions that are generally very left leaning, decry income inequality, and espouse generally liberal views then turn around and having tuition costs that having been rising at rates so far above inflation. Student debt is a major issue in the US and the ever increasing costs of tuition are a MAJOR culprit in pushing this crisis. Where are these costs coming from? How can y…

I work at one local university, and my wife works at another. One thing we've definitely noticed (and this is a widespread problem) is that the administration is becoming more top-heavy. There are cutbacks in faculty, support, and teaching staff, more reliance on adjuncts (academic temps, basically), and so on, while central administration grows. Expensive new buildings contribute, but less than people suppose. But t…

Do colleges make their budgets public? When a program is taking too long to run the first step is to profile. What does the data say on college costs?

> But that is a tangential problem, in that wealthy donors want to give big gifts for vanity projects rather than to, say, scholarship funds.

In the past I've felt quite motivated to give to scholarship funds. It resonates a lot if you yourself relied on scholarships to go to college. But I feel somewhat more cynical about this since I've seen costs spiraling out of control. The actual price of college can have anything bundled in there. I want to support students, but I feel less good about supporting ballooning costs that are twice inflation when I haven't heard a good reason for this.

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#66

Post by freeAgent »

bluetidepro wrote: post #48
iskander wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up on the North side of Chicago and also didn't feel like UChicago had a very large presence. Now that I work in the research world (both in CS and biomedicine), it's very obviously the dominant institution in Chicago. Northwestern comes in at a distant second and UIC isn't really in the race. I'm not sure about their undergrad education but if a student wants to have access to teachers who are also leading vo…

Yeah, that makes sense. I think it's a mix of not being in that field, and probably just cause UIC/Northwestern/Columbia all have a campus/extensions here downtown (I see them every day on my way to work), I think of them more.

UChicago's business school has a downtown presence in the Gleacher Center, but it's pretty well hidden if you aren't looking for it: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/about/locations/gleacher

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#67

Post by pastor_elm »

chrischattin wrote: post #17

How to fix student loans... The .gov backs student loans. And, they are non-dischargeable. So, it is zero risk for the lender to give loan to the 2.7 GPA moron getting a worthless basket weaving degree from the local private lib arts school for $100k. So, they give as many loans as possible, since they can't lose (taxpayer on the hook). Colleges are incentivized to drive up costs of tuition b/c tons of free money. It…

>So, it is zero risk for the lender to give loan to the 2.7 GPA moron getting a worthless basket weaving degree from the local private lib arts school for $100k.

I don't see how any degree LAC, Computer Science, Math etc is worth risking a dischargeable loan for from a bank's perspective. There's no reason to single out LAC degrees, which by the way can be pretty useful.

The smartest thing for any student to do is declare bankruptcy right away after college when they have nothing and risk losing nothing. That makes no loan worth giving, which is the problem.

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#68

Post by chimi »

Throughout history, every time loans are invented to pay for something, the price skyrockets. House, Cars, Education... except credit cards. What credit cards did is flatten the salary curve, filling the gap between where salaries should be if they increased as much or more than inflation and the cost of living, with debt.

Debt is a powerful tool when used correctly, but most people are unskilled in tool use, financial equations and themselves thus, debt is a Market for Lemons.

Consumers do not know what they are buying. They are buying cash and paying for it with future income.

People are generally more optimistic about their futures and irrationally excited about what they consume.

The banks have been allowed to sell cash with impunity. We have to stop that. We're just cooking the books as an entire society.

Re: U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year

#70

Post by bluedevil2k »

LanceH wrote: post #18
nothrabannosir wrote: post #8

Honest question from an outsider: how realistic would it be for the government to stop guaranteeing student loans over a "public university" (community college?) level threshold? What are the unintended secondary effects? Would it help curb wild-growth of tuition fees?

The very first step should be to make student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy again.

This would be a mistake I think. The nature of a loan is that the lender can reclaim the asset when a default occurs. This works well for assets like cars and houses but obviously fails for knowledge. Combine that with the age and overall assets of graduates (22 and near-zero) and a bankruptcy becomes a less risky proposition to the student. As more and more default on the loans, interest rates will start to skyrocket, to the point that no one will be able to afford one at all.
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