Making College Affordable: Here are some ideas

American Thinker ^ | 10/17/2015 | Bruce Walker

[SeekAndFind]

The left plans to pitch to middle-class families and young adults who want a college degree to make college free. Conservatives have a great chance to counterpunch on this issue. Academia, like all other institutions under the totalitarian thumb of the left, is ridiculously expensive and filled with all sorts of pet bureaucracies. The approach of the left is not to cut the costs of college and to make it as easy and cheap as possible, but rather to subsidize whatever academicians' bray that they need without any serious questioning.

Higher education is, of course, heavily dependent upon government appropriation, government grants, federal student loans, tax-deductible contributions by alumni, and so on. Conservatives ought to use these levers to compel any institution of higher learning to limit its expenses in order to qualify for any sort of government help, direct or indirect. Here are some ideas about what to propose as reforms within academia.

Limit the annual compensation for any professor or administrator to $150,000 per year, or the top five percent of income in America. Index the maximum compensation to inflation so that it rises gradually over time, but not faster than inflation. This would force the left to defend paying sky-high salaries, a cost today paid by students' and parents' hard-earned dollars and by government support. These professors are the "rich," and ordinary people will have a tough time grasping the left's whine that no one can live on a measly $150,000 per year.

Also require that professors actually teach in the classroom for twenty hours each week of school. This will reduce the need for graduate assistance and other flunkies doing most of the real work while professors lounge.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Simply limit the tuition increases to the cost of living. Tuition goes up an average of about 10% per year while the COL goes up only 3 or so.

[Jim Noble]

Make loans illegal.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Idea #1: Don’t go. :)

[Mr. Jeeves]

Idea #1: Don’t go. :)

[jsanders2001]

Reduce the pay of the overpaid liberal professor indoctrinators and the dean for beginners.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Idea #1: Don’t go. :)

So, what to do instead?

[Dutch Boy]

How about eliminating useless classes and degree programs that will lead no where.

[blackdog]

This is really a plan to place political appointees into colleges en masse. Sort of a bullpen and retirement outplacement for democrats in outgoing administrations and congress.

[2banana]

1. Make all debt dischargeable in bankruptcy. To include student debt.

2. Get the government out of all guarantees of debt to include student debt.

3. Make colleges eat all bad loans

[Mr. Jeeves]

The Internet has rendered college irrelevant for all but a few specialized professions. As a place of "general education" the overpriced campus is now meaningless. When young people begin rejecting it en masse it will have to change its ways, or die.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: The Internet has rendered college irrelevant for all but a few specialized professions.

Yes, but will major employers recognize that?

[ealgeone]

I know. I’m working for an online designation now.

[Slyfox]

When the federal gubmint got into the college loan bidness that is when tuition began to skyrocket.

In 1978, I attended the University of Texas and took a full load. I lived at home. I left college with no debt because the per hour rate was about 60 bucks per class hour.

So, get the federal gubmint outta the college loan bidness.

[i_robot73]

Aside from getting govt OUT of education, how ‘bout doing the same they do w/ Mediscare/etc.: you take govt loans for education, you agree to be paid $X vs. $Y for non-govt-backed.

Good for the goose...

[Art in Idaho]

First of all, eliminate all the "studies" departments and courses. Second, hire conservative patriotic American Professors. Third, get rid of Title IX. Fourth, no Gun Free Zones at our Colleges and Universities. Fifth, no more Affirmative Action.

[Mike Darancette]

Of course degrees from private sector universities will be preferred to the point that a public university degree becomes equivalent to today’s junior college certificate. Only the rich and foreigners will attend top tier private colleges.

[EQAndyBuzz]

Courses that do not prepare students for the job market are cut.

No need for womyns or black studies programs. If you don’t know you are a woman or black, college probably isn’t for you. Only STEM programs are given scholarship money. Only teacher assistants are students who are in the teaching program. At least 50% of courses are offered online.

[nicepaco]

Everybody wants free education. Just pass a law or better yet scribble an executive order that schools can’t charge anyone and won’t be paid by government. They can do it as slaves because it’s the right thing to do and a college degree is just as much a right as free medical care.

I hate slavery but this should have wide appeal to the free education proponents.

[bigbob]

If a kid wants a decent job that requires a college degree (such as teacher, accountant, HR, marketing, sales, etc) - then pick an in-state public university with low tuition. Or take the first two years at community college and live at home if possibile. An in-state school may be close enough to home to live at home, or at least travel to/from expense will be minimized,

In the end, it won’t make one bit of difference where the sheepskin came from. Plus, the quality of education is higher than bigger institutions, classes are smaller and more apt to be taught by instructors rather than grad students, plus the party atmosphere will be less.