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Will Higher Education Be the Next Bubble to Burst?

chronicle.com

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Re: Will Higher Education Be the Next Bubble to Burst?

#41

Post by joe_the_user »

adamc wrote: post #8
timwiseman wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think part of the point of the article in the Chronicle is that the top schools will be fine and do not need cut back. While this only applies to the very top schools, they will still have people willing to pay the tuition and endowments large enough to cover any student they want to admit that cannot cover the tuition themselves. It is the small and mid grade schools that may need to carefully look at their models…

I think the real solution is to stop overvaluing university degrees. Most of the folks coming out of universities don't have any particularly valuable job skills. (I'm thinking of majors in business, or liberal-arts fields, or for that matter most people with a BA/BS in the sciences.) Will that happen? Not unless getting university grads gets hard.

Actually, I think that just the opposite should happen. The goal of higher should not be crude "job skills". The value of higher education includes a wide view of the world and broad participation in intellectual life.

This goal should be furthered by private foundations and government. More things should be "priceless".

Re: Will Higher Education Be the Next Bubble to Burst?

#48

Post by tokenadult »

parbo wrote: post #38

Yet another reason to make higher education universal and free. Just like where I live, Sweden.

Just how universal is higher education in Sweden? Can all people who desire to attend the best university in Sweden enroll if they wish, or are there entrance requirements for that university?

Re: Will Higher Education Be the Next Bubble to Burst?

#49

Post by tigerthink »

netsp wrote: post #12
baguasquirrel wrote: post #2

This has been discussed before in many other sources. The cause of the bubble is probably the way tuition and financial aid are used by many colleges. Perhaps the most in-depth analysis was by The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200511/financial-aid-leveragi... If this hypothesis is correct, then it has interesting implications for how a pop in the education bubble might play out. Since a fair portion of col…

I'm still hoping for some sort of disruption that will change the game. The line of thinking is along these lines: The core of what elite colleges (or any colleges) is not really valuable. A university course is mostly a syllabus, a textbook, lectures, tutorials, papers & exams. All are based on knowledge that is freely available. You do not need a Professor who spends most of his time on research that doesn't benefi…

>You do not need a Professor who spends most of his time on research that doesn't benefit you teaching you.

I don't know if my math professor does research or not. But the guy is a fucking brilliant lecturer.

On the other hand, I'm at a community college :o)

Re: Will Higher Education Be the Next Bubble to Burst?

#50

Post by jnovek »

pj wrote: post #25
timothychung wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is disappointing that these service based industries come to a point when making money is becoming so important especially when they are commodities. I hope that some institutions will reduce their price for a greater purpose especially for poor people.

I agree that they are over priced, but they aren't commodities. Commodity products are indistinguishable, but there are definitely different qualities of healthcare and higher education.

Pragmatically, I would describe health care and education as commodities with some providers who sell a "premium" service. How much education happens at top tier, how much health care happens at the Mayo Clinic?
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