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Why Is College in America So Expensive?

theatlantic.com

31–40 of 348 posts

Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?

#31

I didn't see this discussed in the article, but IMO the main driver is the availability of student loans. When the government guarantees loans, you can lend whatever you want! The price of a TRIPLE occupancy dorm + 7 day meal access is $14,813.29/YEAR at UC Davis. The "meals", if they haven't changed in the last decade, are Sodexo garbage. And don't forget a "year" doesn't count the summer, or winter break.

As Peter Schiff put it (skip to 11:57):

https://youtu.be/UGL-Ex1CD1c?t=11m57s

Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?

#33

I didn't see this discussed in the article, but IMO the main driver is the availability of student loans. When the government guarantees loans, you can lend whatever you want! The price of a TRIPLE occupancy dorm + 7 day meal access is $14,813.29/YEAR at UC Davis. The "meals", if they haven't changed in the last decade, are Sodexo garbage. And don't forget a "year" doesn't count the summer, or winter break.

Students need to decide if a college degree is worth taking on a massive amount of debt. Either we have lots of young people making bad decisions, or a college degree is incredibly valuable. It's not like the terms of student loans are exceptionally great for the students.

I managed to get through college (WGU) without any debt.

Looking at the amount of debt that my peers have taken on, however, has made me reconsider the wisdom of my decision. It's likely that political campaigns in the next few years will promise some form of student debt relief. Whether delivery of those promises is possible or not remains to be seen.

Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?

#34
The real answer is "because America". People in high places want to get rich, so they will make sure to lobby for laws and regulations so they can profit incredibly well from normal people.

I don't think there is any other country where capitalism has taken over so completely, and the people are not rebelling - but cheering - for America to continue.

Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?

#35
post #15

I didn't see this discussed in the article, but IMO the main driver is the availability of student loans. When the government guarantees loans, you can lend whatever you want! The price of a TRIPLE occupancy dorm + 7 day meal access is $14,813.29/YEAR at UC Davis. The "meals", if they haven't changed in the last decade, are Sodexo garbage. And don't forget a "year" doesn't count the summer, or winter break.

> I didn't see this discussed in the article, but IMO the main driver is the availability of student loans. When the government guarantees loans, you can lend whatever you want! The other kicker is that they bake BIG subsidies for low-income students into tuition, which I found rather counter-intuitive. We're gonna raise tuition... to help students who can't afford tuition... pay for tuition that they can't afford...…

Yes, universities are subject to the usual market incentives like everything else. If the market will bear $2000/semester and they can sustainably offer their service at that rate, they will. If students have guaranteed access to $20,000/semester in loans, then they know the market will bear $22,000/semester and that’s what they’ll charge.

Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?

#37

Most of the other points in comments here are valid (or potentially so), but one thing I've not seen mentioned is the decrease in govt funding of public colleges and university. When I attended college 20 years ago (Penn State)I remember seeing graphs showing how decreased state funding matched tuition hikes pretty well. A quick google search turned up https://budgetandpolicy.org/schmudget/cuts-to-higher-educati... w…

I think a lot of university staff cry wolf over funding and always have, even in the good times. Yeah, they're really feeling the effects of it, what with admin staff sizes increasingly exponentially, constantly building new buildings and renovating existing ones, etc. My humble state school is like a luxury resort these days. There's puh-lenty of fat for colleges to trim if they're really feeling the pinch, but they seem to do anything but that. Honestly, I think we haven't done enough to force schools to get a handle on their spending habits.

Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?

#38
post #27
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Living expenses' charged by schools are insanely inflated. ~3 months of food and shelter don't cost ~7k when you have roommates.

I certainly don't dispute that - it's borderline criminal what the University-sanctioned housing charges - particularly when they stack up to 5 people in a single unit! However, in my experience, most students live off-campus these days. There's just not enough student housing, and it's a terrible deal anyhow.

> However, in my experience, most students live off-campus these days.

Can you source this statement? I know at UCB there were some students that lived off-campus but the vast majority lived in campus dorms IIRC.

Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?

#39

I didn't see this discussed in the article, but IMO the main driver is the availability of student loans. When the government guarantees loans, you can lend whatever you want! The price of a TRIPLE occupancy dorm + 7 day meal access is $14,813.29/YEAR at UC Davis. The "meals", if they haven't changed in the last decade, are Sodexo garbage. And don't forget a "year" doesn't count the summer, or winter break.

[deleted]

Re: Why Is College in America So Expensive?

#40

I didn't see this discussed in the article, but IMO the main driver is the availability of student loans. When the government guarantees loans, you can lend whatever you want! The price of a TRIPLE occupancy dorm + 7 day meal access is $14,813.29/YEAR at UC Davis. The "meals", if they haven't changed in the last decade, are Sodexo garbage. And don't forget a "year" doesn't count the summer, or winter break.

Students need to decide if a college degree is worth taking on a massive amount of debt. Either we have lots of young people making bad decisions, or a college degree is incredibly valuable. It's not like the terms of student loans are exceptionally great for the students.

Or the kids don't fully understand the decisions since they're usually 17-19, have very little real world experience, and college has been described to them as the main path to go down from a young age.
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