Some U.S. Colleges Cut Tuition

We need to just move past the college model. They’re just expensive certification programs at best, in terms of utility. The actual teaching/learning (which I feel they do a bad job of) and the testing/certifying can be separated from each other and democratized (opened up to competition, made more available). The current costs of college are ridiculous, and a minor 10% tuition cut from the $70K/year cost mentioned in this article isn’t going nearly far enough. I also feel there isn’t a good reason to limit the number of students who can be certified to a Harvard or MIT level, for example, and we can change that.

Moreover a lot of college seems like activities the public shouldn’t be subsidizing. A jobs program for overpaid administrators. A portfolio of majors that are not rigorous and seem more like hobbies. Pet research projects for tenured professors that often has low return on investment. Local college town economies. And so on.

> cut its tuition by $10,000 for all new students

I find it insane tuition is that high. I finished grad school before 2010, and at least with the smaller state schools I went to, total cost of tuition and books was in the $3k~$5k range. Boutique schools like Vanderbilt were like $25k+ (per semester). I had a friend who got a free ride there for graduate school, and he said it wasn't really that different than our state school. You get out of any education what you put into it.

All that being said, the Pandemic is not going to be enough to fix the tuition problems across the board. Federally subsidized student loans need to GO AWAY. They've allowed students to enter into debt, the only long term contracts kids under 18 can legally sign, for something they can never declare bankruptcy on.

Schools have soaked up that student loan money, increasing costs as the amount kids qualify for goes up. It all gets sucked into administrative costs. Very little of that money even get to professors, many who still depend on grant writing to fund their departments.

Schools will scream and moan if the federal government stops backing student loans, but it needs to happen. They've exploited a system to take more public funds without actually contributing significantly a better education for students.

This is an interesting idea, but I would hate the place where I live to be a guinea pig. Have any country ever tried anything like that?

Top tier colleges (and even state colleges) teach a lot more than what is inside of a book. They teach interpersonal skills, social skills, work ethic, self care, professional networking, etc.

I think it is misconception that these schools are respected because they teach the subject matter better, or that they provide no value outside of the lecture hall. If anything, >50% of the value is outside of the lecture hall.

Also, I don’t think academic research shouldn’t be expected to have any return on investment. The job of a professor is to further academics, not profit.

I never went to school, but have found that many books I want to read (incl. texbooks) can be found easily as a pdf with a google search (although this is becoming less common for me, sadly). I once, suggested to a struggling friend that instead of paying for a textbook, they should see if they could find it in such a way. Turns out, many newer book require codes to unlock assignments that can only be had by purchasing the book.