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USC pushed a $115k online degree – graduates got low salaries, huge debts

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Re: USC pushed a $115k online degree – graduates got low salaries, huge debts

#4
Not sure if this is the same but a few universities will offer certificates and degrees in various subjects off campus. I think these are mostly sold as "business development" but I always wondered if they were simply fly by night education with the stamp of "prestige college".

Re: USC pushed a $115k online degree – graduates got low salaries, huge debts

#5
Colleges have been quietly expanding the last 10-15 years with programs like these. They do it discreetly, sometimes with different campuses across town or simply online. From what I've seen, they may be an entirely separate school so as to not be reported on the same way (a 7% acceptance rate and high job placement rates at blue chip firms makes a difference when the major currency of universities is prestige), since many of them are essentially open admissions.

E.g. On LinkedIn I frequently see Harvard listed on profiles, but upon digging in, it is Harvard Extension School which mostly seems to offer certificates. The recipients win (they get to put Harvard on their resume, albeit paying high fees for online only, ignoring costs/default rates) and the college wins (they get paid, the marginal cost per student is probably favorable, degree vs certificates probably doesn't matter if the same content and tests apply). The only people potentially negatively impacted will be the students of the traditional organization in that they paid full tuition for a college brand that is actively diluting itself by selling certificates that may have lower standards that traditionally associated with the organization.

Re: USC pushed a $115k online degree – graduates got low salaries, huge debts

#7
And almost all got loans backed by the US government that they won’t be able to repay and will fall on the US taxpayer to cover. Essentially USC bilked the US taxpayers out of millions, with these poor students serving as the unfortunate middlemen. Solution: make the universities have some skin the game - cover 20% of the principal on defaulted loans.

Re: USC pushed a $115k online degree – graduates got low salaries, huge debts

#8
post #3

Doesn't seem to be on WBM yet. Any link to the full text (without paywall)?

Trick is, to go to archive.vn website or any other equivalent. In second search box copy article url in and click. Sometimes you have to remove unnecessary url query parameters like amp for it to work.

https://archive.vn/Wx7mx

Re: USC pushed a $115k online degree – graduates got low salaries, huge debts

#9

And almost all got loans backed by the US government that they won’t be able to repay and will fall on the US taxpayer to cover. Essentially USC bilked the US taxpayers out of millions, with these poor students serving as the unfortunate middlemen. Solution: make the universities have some skin the game - cover 20% of the principal on defaulted loans.

Agreed. Any proposed solution to the student debt crisis that doesn't hold schools accountable is not a solution at all.

Re: USC pushed a $115k online degree – graduates got low salaries, huge debts

#10

And almost all got loans backed by the US government that they won’t be able to repay and will fall on the US taxpayer to cover. Essentially USC bilked the US taxpayers out of millions, with these poor students serving as the unfortunate middlemen. Solution: make the universities have some skin the game - cover 20% of the principal on defaulted loans.

Yep, Additionally we could also push for tuition-free community colleges to reduce the need for for-profit colleges in the first place.
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