I'd blame it more on giving colleges a blank check without tying payback to income outcomes - using an ISA (income share agreement) type of structure would better align costs with real returns.
Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993
71–80 of 588 posts
Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993
#72"The question then becomes a matter of how we fix this without diminishing access to a college education." This is the crux of it that everyone needs to get over. Universality, High Quality, Low Cost. Pick two. By letting the government meddle you have guaranteed no one can afford college and will be long in debt to a loan they cannot discharge in bankruptcy. I'd rather have cheap college then universal access for ev…
You can generalize things well, you've concluded your point just by using a trilemma
Yup, the trilemma was my point, there is no perfect answer but definitely what we have now can be totally reworked with this in mind. I do think there are alternative systems that can at least make "degree" a lot more cheap and efficient to acquire without the universality component.
Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993
#73> the feds should handle student loans the same way they handle medicaid/medicare reimbursement. I'm not sure how anyone looks at our health care reimbursement system and the decides that's the approach to apply to fix anything else? Personally, I'd like to see: * Employers are allowed to test students to see what they can do, but not evaluate them based on whether they went to school or where. * Make student loan de…
Making it riskier to lend to students again is a pretty regressive policy. It will definitely decrease the average student debt burden, but only because you'll be denying people the opportunity to incur the debt (and go to college) to begin with.
Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
The top 0.01% earns 5% of all income. The top 1% (which includes many Facebook engineers, doctors, etc.) earns 20%. The vast majority of the "fruits" of the system go to normal people.
Citation needed. I recall the top 1% earning 50% of all income.
I didn't check this specific claim but there's lots of available data in the World Inequality Database:
Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993
#75"The question then becomes a matter of how we fix this without diminishing access to a college education." This is the crux of it that everyone needs to get over. Universality, High Quality, Low Cost. Pick two. By letting the government meddle you have guaranteed no one can afford college and will be long in debt to a loan they cannot discharge in bankruptcy. I'd rather have cheap college then universal access for ev…
> Colleges are now awash in money It is not possible for me to overstate how very much this is not true at the college where I work, and at all colleges with which I have a personal connection.
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Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993
#76No, the real reason was that country wasn't producing enough jobs for the expanding labor force so we artificially created a new requirement to keep young people out of the job market for an additional 4+ years. Credentialism is a tool governments/businesses use keep control of the labor situation. The college tuition fiasco is a private/public creation. Now who wears the pants in the private/public relationship, tha…
I think your analysis is right, but there is another pernicious issue. We now inhabit a world where no one is encouraged or even expected to do a trade (well except for the modern slave caste: illegals). The result is lots of HS grads who should be getting an Electricians degree instead trying to do a 4 year program. The result not only inflates tuition cost, but also leads to 'degree inflation', that is everyone now…
Electricians/plumbers/HVAC/carpenters usually all have problems with mobility by the time they hit 50s, and they work in terrible environments and have to drive all day.
How much is one’s health and ability to move around in older age worth? How much is it worth to not have to drive around all day and come home on a regular schedule?
Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993
#77"The question then becomes a matter of how we fix this without diminishing access to a college education." This is the crux of it that everyone needs to get over. Universality, High Quality, Low Cost. Pick two. By letting the government meddle you have guaranteed no one can afford college and will be long in debt to a loan they cannot discharge in bankruptcy. I'd rather have cheap college then universal access for ev…
> Colleges are now awash in money It is not possible for me to overstate how very much this is not true at the college where I work, and at all colleges with which I have a personal connection.
It depends a lot on who you know and what department you're in. In 40 of 50 states the highest paid public employee is a sports coach...
Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993
#78> the feds should handle student loans the same way they handle medicaid/medicare reimbursement. I'm not sure how anyone looks at our health care reimbursement system and the decides that's the approach to apply to fix anything else? Personally, I'd like to see: * Employers are allowed to test students to see what they can do, but not evaluate them based on whether they went to school or where. * Make student loan de…
You could also stop this degree inflation by requiring a $15 minimum wage on all jobs but a $25 minimum wage when the job lists a bachelor's degree requirement (applied based on whether the job requires a degree, not whether the employee has a degree).
Wouldn't work. Employers would simply not list the requirement but hire upon the criteria anyway.
Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993
#79No, the real reason was that country wasn't producing enough jobs for the expanding labor force so we artificially created a new requirement to keep young people out of the job market for an additional 4+ years. Credentialism is a tool governments/businesses use keep control of the labor situation. The college tuition fiasco is a private/public creation. Now who wears the pants in the private/public relationship, tha…
> Credentialism is a tool governments/businesses use keep control of the labor situation.
If this were the only factor, then businesses that simply stopped requiring a college degree would have a huge advantage over those that didn't. They could hire more employees, more cheaply.
So why isn't that happening? There has to be more to the story than all businesses and governments colluding to require college degrees.
Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993
#80"The question then becomes a matter of how we fix this without diminishing access to a college education." This is the crux of it that everyone needs to get over. Universality, High Quality, Low Cost. Pick two. By letting the government meddle you have guaranteed no one can afford college and will be long in debt to a loan they cannot discharge in bankruptcy. I'd rather have cheap college then universal access for ev…
Here's a potentially simple way to perhaps shave as much as 25% or more from the cost of STEM degrees in the US:
Eliminate all non-STEM coursework from degree requirements.
This could easily shave not only tens of thousands of dollars from a STEM degree but it would also cut it down by a year (if not more).
I would also vector students who lack the proper foundation in say, language skills or the sciences, to take courses at community colleges. Not only would this lower costs to students, it would also support local colleges.