To a large extent, the article seemed to be trying too hard to fit a roundish peg into a squarish hole. Stock prices aside, was there really a biotech bubble that collapsed? What relation does it have to the debt incurred by students for education expenses? Same questions could be asked of the housing bubble, although it too was a debt bubble. The house buyers assumed that their house would continue to increase in value and that value could be skimmed through flipping, refinancing or home equity lines of credit. There is no such assumption with regards to college expenses.
There are two major events that could collapse tuition prices. Either students/parents en mass make the conscious decision that cost/benefit ration is too high or easy credit dries up. Whether it’s based in reality or not, I just don’t see people abandoning the idea that a college education gives you a substantial leg-up in life. Does anyone else see this view changing? With regards to easy credit, college loans have effectively been nationalized. I hate to say it, but I don’t see the GOP undoing this if and when they take over the House and Senate. There are other pressing priorities and I frankly don’t think they have the political guts to reverse it over the howls of the Dems.
To add to what you’re saying, kicking students out of school will also have the bad political consequence of raising the unemployment rate as some of those students will look for jobs if not in school.
Tuition and fees at state schools are raising to counter the reductions in state funding that have been going on for decades.
As state funding falls, students bear burden of rising tuition costs, debt
Posted on07 April 2010.
[[[State investments in higher education have declined by $52.3 billion since 1980, or 46 percent, according to a report from Postsecondary Education Opportunity, an independent policy research group.
Significant hikes in tuition have been a natural response at schools around the country and recently incited protests on many American campuses.
Despite increases in tuition, public colleges and universities are struggling to fill the void left by state disinvestment. Sweeping cuts in programs and expenditures have been unavoidable.]]]
And, being a free market, as the cost of going to a state subsidized school increases private schools need to pick up the slack and so raise their tuition and fees as well.
If only they could keep the cost increase to 46% or even near it.
Ken,
Keep in mind the inflation since 1980 as well.
I’m really curious to see how this works itself out by the time my kids are ready to graduate from high school.
Tom, same here. I’ve got seven years before my oldest is off to college. Would love to see this shake out before then.
Seven years of college down the drain. Might as well join the @#&%! Peace Corps.
Yeah, yeah, university education is a combination of screening, training, and certification (the sheepskin counting for more than actually learning anything), and it is becoming as expensive as all anything.
Question is, for you HR people out their defending the plum corporate jobs from the nekulturny, what do you have waiting in the wings to replace the college diploma as a tool for qualifying hires? If U.S. citizens stop attending 4-year college and graduate school and decide to forgo corporate employment altogether, deciding to become plumbers, HVAC maintainers, and dental hygienists.
Is corporate America going to go the H1-B route, not just for engineers but for middle managers and attorneys? Is the law profession going to be taken over by people from India because Americans are figuring out that the “benies” of law school are not worth the expense of law school?
If our domestic legal talent includes David Boies, Lawrence Tribe, and Mike Nifong, then I for one welcome our new Indian legal overlords.
I’ve read articles in the last year that stated college applications increased with the school increased tuition. It cited parents who believed that the higher price automatically meant the education must be worth more. There’s an old saying about “knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing” and those parents’ view of education is the embodiment of the expression.
Declining state support is a factor in increased tuition costs for public colleges and universities. However, other factors include rapid increased in administrative overhead and facilities to lure prospective students. The fact that college costs are increasing far faster than the rest of the economy is insustainable. At some point, people are going to have to look for value in their education spending.
Too many parents and students seem to believe that having a degree in anything is worth loading themselves with massive debt. Likewise, I’ve read too many accounts of students who used student loans to cover far more than just education costs, such as spring break vacations, clothing and consumer gadgets.
To a large extent, the article seemed to be trying too hard to fit a roundish peg into a squarish hole. Stock prices aside, was there really a biotech bubble that collapsed? What relation does it have to the debt incurred by students for education expenses? Same questions could be asked of the housing bubble, although it too was a debt bubble. The house buyers assumed that their house would continue to increase in value and that value could be skimmed through flipping, refinancing or home equity lines of credit. There is no such assumption with regards to college expenses.
There are two major events that could collapse tuition prices. Either students/parents en mass make the conscious decision that cost/benefit ration is too high or easy credit dries up. Whether it’s based in reality or not, I just don’t see people abandoning the idea that a college education gives you a substantial leg-up in life. Does anyone else see this view changing? With regards to easy credit, college loans have effectively been nationalized. I hate to say it, but I don’t see the GOP undoing this if and when they take over the House and Senate. There are other pressing priorities and I frankly don’t think they have the political guts to reverse it over the howls of the Dems.
To add to what you’re saying, kicking students out of school will also have the bad political consequence of raising the unemployment rate as some of those students will look for jobs if not in school.
Tuition and fees at state schools are raising to counter the reductions in state funding that have been going on for decades.
http://uwire.com/2010/04/07/as-state-funding-falls-students-bear-burden-of-rising-tuition-costs-debt/
As state funding falls, students bear burden of rising tuition costs, debt
Posted on07 April 2010.
[[[State investments in higher education have declined by $52.3 billion since 1980, or 46 percent, according to a report from Postsecondary Education Opportunity, an independent policy research group.
Significant hikes in tuition have been a natural response at schools around the country and recently incited protests on many American campuses.
Despite increases in tuition, public colleges and universities are struggling to fill the void left by state disinvestment. Sweeping cuts in programs and expenditures have been unavoidable.]]]
And, being a free market, as the cost of going to a state subsidized school increases private schools need to pick up the slack and so raise their tuition and fees as well.
If only they could keep the cost increase to 46% or even near it.
Ken,
Keep in mind the inflation since 1980 as well.
I’m really curious to see how this works itself out by the time my kids are ready to graduate from high school.
Tom, same here. I’ve got seven years before my oldest is off to college. Would love to see this shake out before then.
Seven years of college down the drain. Might as well join the @#&%! Peace Corps.
Yeah, yeah, university education is a combination of screening, training, and certification (the sheepskin counting for more than actually learning anything), and it is becoming as expensive as all anything.
Question is, for you HR people out their defending the plum corporate jobs from the nekulturny, what do you have waiting in the wings to replace the college diploma as a tool for qualifying hires? If U.S. citizens stop attending 4-year college and graduate school and decide to forgo corporate employment altogether, deciding to become plumbers, HVAC maintainers, and dental hygienists.
Is corporate America going to go the H1-B route, not just for engineers but for middle managers and attorneys? Is the law profession going to be taken over by people from India because Americans are figuring out that the “benies” of law school are not worth the expense of law school?
If our domestic legal talent includes David Boies, Lawrence Tribe, and Mike Nifong, then I for one welcome our new Indian legal overlords.
I’ve read articles in the last year that stated college applications increased with the school increased tuition. It cited parents who believed that the higher price automatically meant the education must be worth more. There’s an old saying about “knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing” and those parents’ view of education is the embodiment of the expression.
Declining state support is a factor in increased tuition costs for public colleges and universities. However, other factors include rapid increased in administrative overhead and facilities to lure prospective students. The fact that college costs are increasing far faster than the rest of the economy is insustainable. At some point, people are going to have to look for value in their education spending.
Too many parents and students seem to believe that having a degree in anything is worth loading themselves with massive debt. Likewise, I’ve read too many accounts of students who used student loans to cover far more than just education costs, such as spring break vacations, clothing and consumer gadgets.