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Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993

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Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993

#371

Post by barry-cotter »

Dannymetconan wrote: post #40
noetic_techy wrote: post #34

"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…

Universities in Europe are generally high quality and low cost. It does have it's problems but it is not one or the other. You do not need a degree 30 years ago to do lots of jobs that now require one. Higher education for a lot of organizations is just an easy way to cut the application stack down

> Universities in Europe are generally high quality and low cost.

But they’re not universal and there’s nowhere near the level of handholding and support that’s common in US universities with high tuition, i.e. private ones. If you have a problem in a German university it’s on you to run around and solve it and if you can’t the administrators are quite likely to say “tough” if you tell them. Missed a deadline? Your problem, should have read the syllabus. Come back next year.

Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993

#373

Post by swebs »

bachmeier wrote: post #19

How did this hit the front page of HN? There's literally no analysis in a piece on a topic that has been analyzed to death. The hypothesis is that increased availability of loans in 1993 is responsible for the rise in tuition between 2010 and 2020. Just stated as a fact, with nothing to back it up. Okay. The most obvious answer that is cited by literally everyone that looks at this topic is that it's partially caused…

Alright, let's have a discussion then. Which cuts in state funding are you referring to? How are you measuring their effects?

Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993

#374

Post by [deleted] »

justinmeiners wrote: post #252
sushid wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CAs tax rate when you factor in federal tax is comparable to the EU and we get none of the benefits.

I agree, that state is a mess. I happen to live in state with low taxes and affordable school. Perhaps the european model is better overall, or perhaps there are other complications. Regardless, the debate is not "free" vs "pay private companies". Both models have costs and benefits.

[deleted]

Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993

#375

Post by OpieCunningham »

barry-cotter wrote: post #371
Dannymetconan wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Universities in Europe are generally high quality and low cost. It does have it's problems but it is not one or the other. You do not need a degree 30 years ago to do lots of jobs that now require one. Higher education for a lot of organizations is just an easy way to cut the application stack down

> Universities in Europe are generally high quality and low cost. But they’re not universal and there’s nowhere near the level of handholding and support that’s common in US universities with high tuition, i.e. private ones. If you have a problem in a German university it’s on you to run around and solve it and if you can’t the administrators are quite likely to say “tough” if you tell them. Missed a deadline? Your p…

Is that really the argument? That high quality and low cost are only possible if students are responsible for solving problems? Sounds fine to me. Students solving problems is at least half the point of undergrad anyway.

Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993

#376

Post by Ericson2314 »

AdrianB1 wrote: post #227
Ericson2314 wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The answer is we have UBI, and embrace the positional value going to 0. Just about everyone is already overqualified for the jobs that they do. It's a bullshit job economy. Let's drive up the cost of labor, educate for non-job-related reasons, and see if the the two paths meet again in some vastly different economy.

Please tell anyone that is overqualified at their current job to contact me, about everyone in my company in IT is underqualified, many times incompetent because we don't compete on salaries with the FAANG companies paying 3-5x more.

I'm talking overqualified on paper---in terms of education and other credentials. Absolutely this doesn't translate into the brilliant coworkers everyone here moans about not having, but that that's due to a bunch of systemic things:

If:

- Jobs were less pointless

- School reward system wasn't all screwed up

- Jobs required more skills

People would be "smarter". Without that, of course y'all gonna feel like you're surrounded by smug idiots.

Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993

#377

Post by jldugger »

Digory wrote: post #336
jldugger wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Americans expect college campuses to be like resorts You say that but the typical dorm room offers no privacy or air conditioning, and the showers and bathrooms are shared. They're similar in nature to SROs which the US pretty much abolished anywhere else, but way more expensive. And then universities have the audacity to demand that students live in them freshman year, even though living off campus would be cheape…

Many colleges have old buildings on campus that are cash cows. There's little incentive to cut margins by building new. But recent buildings look better, and the off-campus "communities" in Texas look better than ... most apartments in New York. [0] [0] https://www.theblockwestcampus.com/features.aspx

>But recent buildings look better, and the off-campus "communities" in Texas look better than ... most apartments in New York. [0]

How bad are the apartments in New York? The one you cite has great marketing literature but abysmal reviews: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-block-austin-3?osq=the+block

Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993

#378

Post by 3np »

noetic_techy wrote: post #34

"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…

> 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.

How is it, then, that most of Europe and many other countries seem to manage this just fine? The conflict between those parameters certainly doesn't seem inherent.

Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993

#379

Post by petre »

The Clinton administration made a change in 1998 that cut back on student debt relief, incentivizes high university bills and has driven student debt to over $1T. That might explain the "why" part.

https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-budget/28362...

Re: Why has college gotten so expensive in the last 30 years? A blank check in 1993

#380

Post by 3np »

barry-cotter wrote: post #371
Dannymetconan wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Universities in Europe are generally high quality and low cost. It does have it's problems but it is not one or the other. You do not need a degree 30 years ago to do lots of jobs that now require one. Higher education for a lot of organizations is just an easy way to cut the application stack down

> Universities in Europe are generally high quality and low cost. But they’re not universal and there’s nowhere near the level of handholding and support that’s common in US universities with high tuition, i.e. private ones. If you have a problem in a German university it’s on you to run around and solve it and if you can’t the administrators are quite likely to say “tough” if you tell them. Missed a deadline? Your p…

From my experience at a German university, the administration is in reality very helpful and can be proactive once you reach out.

They won't come chase you if you evade them for anything short of criminal, fraudulent or unsafe behavior, though, and it'd surprise me to hear if that's the case in the US.

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