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More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

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Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#831

Post by Terr_ »

hiptobecubic wrote: post #754
Terr_ wrote: post #745

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but we should go by averages, not outliers. Or to be a little pedantic, by mean, not average. When Bill Gates walks into a dive bar the "average person" is temporarily is a billionaire.

Median?

That was my intent, but looking back on that post I really mangled the text when editing it. (Just look at that "is temporarily is".)

Well, too late to fix it now, I suppose it's a lesson on the perils of inadequate sleep and the risks of video-conference calls with people in wildly dissimilar timezones.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#832

Post by acchow »

ren_engineer wrote: post #259
xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #108

This is nearly a strictly American problem. Much of the rest of the world has realized that society requires and is capable of supporting advanced education for all -- after all we want humanity to be advancing , right? America is still stuck in this alternate universe where it's a great privilege to have the opportunity to learn, which is of course true to some extent, but they really put it on a pedestal there. Com…

>Much of the rest of the world has realized that society requires and is capable of supporting advanced education for all -- after all we want humanity to be advancing, right? the number of STEM degrees in the US has basically been flat for decades, majority of degrees being handed out are effectively useless in terms of boosting productivity and "advancement". Go around and ask people with college degrees how often…

> kids are effectively being propagandized and brainwashed into chasing worthless credentials

They also force each other into "worthless credentials", as many college graduates will only date other college graduates.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#833

Post by ryan93 »

beepbooptheory wrote: post #689
ryan93 wrote: post #515

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of argument is that. For every 10,000 English majors there is maybe 1 Stephen king or anything close to ti

I think it's a quite good argument, and at very least one that doesn't rely on colleges literally producing a larger number Stephen Kings, as if something about the quantity produced could matter at all (really curious how you even arrived at that counter).

It’s not a good argument. Zero good writers learned it in college.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#834

Post by ryan93 »

hooande wrote: post #821
betwixthewires wrote: post #812

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an important point that isn't being made enough in this thread. Must we all trade our youth for what amounts to a cost sunk fallacy that commits us to a path we may not even like?

Think of college as a social experience for children of privileged backgrounds. Four years of minimal responsibility, ample social activities and idle study. I would love to have that now. It's expensive, but nice work if you can get it

As has been mentioned in this thread countless times. Any kid can get loans no question asked for college. Not just the privileged.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#835

Post by lumost »

I’m noticing a paradoxical trend across multiple goods where the food is somehow becoming too expensive to be used.

- Housing - Education - Healthcare

If costs are too high for students to afford, why doesn’t the price fall? If it’s scarce why isn’t more of it produced?

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#836

Post by Terr_ »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #816
Terr_ wrote: post #745

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but we should go by averages, not outliers. Or to be a little pedantic, by mean, not average. When Bill Gates walks into a dive bar the "average person" is temporarily is a billionaire.

The average and the mean are the same thing.

Correct, "average" usually implies "arithmetic mean". I just accidentally the words before coffee enough sleep with meeting.

But I'm perfectly fine now, ossifer.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#837

Post by rgrieselhuber »

indymike wrote: post #314

There are three problems that colleges need to fix. 1) Skilled trades pay better than most bachelor's degree track jobs. My kids can make more money with a six month apprenticeship than they will with all but a few 4 year degrees. If you can drive a forklift, you can make $45K/yr... which is identical to what an firsty year teacher makes. 2) There are better options than college for many. One of my daughters did a si…

One question I’ve had is if tuition paid via student loans can go to a college endowment. That should end immediately, if so.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#838

Post by nfw2 »

KarlKemp wrote: post #825
hooande wrote: post #824

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read this: > "Before they attend, students that go to college, on average, demonstrate better analytic skills than the students that do not go to college. They also, on average, have access to more existing wealth and other resources through their family." This is a classic example of the concept of "correlation does not equal causation". This is when two things are related, but one does not lead to the other.

Read this: > "But refuting the data which is clear on this across time and many countries requires more than a good story." We all know correlation does not equal causation because we went to college. Or have read a single thread here. But it's still empirical data and, as such, slightly better than motivated storytelling.

It's not slightly better if you are trying to determine causation. I'm not sure what you think "correlation does not equal causation" means if you think this is the case.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#839

Post by kevstev »

DebtDeflation wrote: post #253
VikingCoder wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's what I don't get - Where the hell is the money _going_? Are Colleges and Universities pocketing the money? Are they publicly traded and distributing dividends? Are they building rockets? I know some of it goes back to financial aid, and some goes to football coaches... But we're talking about so much freaking money, and I just can't visualize where it's going.

It's going to the facilities and the staff needed to support them. When I was an undergrad in the mid 1990s, the dorms were square rooms with cinderblock walls, concrete floors, metal frame beds, and a simple desk, the cafeteria was like an oversized high school cafeteria, and the gym was a basic weight room. A couple of years ago I received a brochure from my alma mater asking for donations and showing the modernize…

Room and board is entirely separate from tuition though. That said, when I was leaving college in 2002 it was essentially a giant construction zone as they were building facilities all over the place. This was not unique- there was something of an arms race to make the glossy brochures even better than the competition. This was a large state school with a good but not really elite reputation and was trying to change that.

Re: More than 1M fewer students are in college, the lowest numbers in 50 years

#840

Post by legohead »

Community college

  according to Hege Ferguson, director of admissions for Florida State University, as of January 7, 2022, they have received 67,291 first-year applications for summer and fall semesters. That is a 21.2% increase compared to January 7, 2021, when they had received 55,500 applications.
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