Posted on 10/01/2014 10:42:29 PM PDT by poinq
A surprisingly good article until the last three paragraphs. The author describes the problems quite well, but misses the cause of these problems entirely.
In the late 70s the department of education was stood up and federal student aid started flowing. Like anything else non-constitutional that the fedgov touches, higher education soon turned to crap.
degress in womyns studies, gay studies etc replaced useful knowledge. After all, someone else was paying for it, so we may as well have fun and party.
So what is the author’s proposed solution? Even MORE government interference.
The college fiasco can be easily fixed. Cut all government financial aid and make the student pay for their own schooling. We’d see far more technolgy degrees (STEM) and far fewer burger flipper degrees, and costs will go down.
I sent my kids to state schools, and they commuted. Others, especially those in the Northeast that don’t have such easy options, can spend their retirement on their kids’ partying.
*********************
After my Navy service and while married with kids, I entered North TX ST Univ. (now Univ. of North TX). I had 89 hours of Jr. Coll. credits, so began as a Junior.
That was in ‘72, when I was 30 y/o. A full semester was considered to be 15 hours and the cost was..., wait for it, only $121 a full semester plus textbooks!!! Additional courses above 15 hours were tuition free.
I took a year’s leave of absence from my job to finish my BBA before my VA benefits expired (only $75 a month). I took 15 in the Spring, 14 in the Summer, convinced the Dean to waive 9 more hours as being the same as what I had in Jr. Coll., and then did 21 hours my Fall semester; ...thus, knocking out 59 hours in one year.
I worked part time at my apartment complex, doing yard work, painting, carpet cleaning, furniture moving, weekend duty for emergencies (like toilet overflows), etc., and mgt. knocked off $5/hr from my rent for each hour on the job.
Sorry for posting a long comment, but I would NEVER pay such inflated tuition costs as the so-called elite schools now demand. I had many years in management at a major defense contractor and HR often sent me applicants from schools like Stanford, Harvard and Yale. NONE of them met our requirements and ALL of them wanted beginning salaries higher than some of our Gen. Supervisors and Mgrs. ...Everyone I interviewed was an arrogant ass.
Folks, ignore the mantra that ‘everyone must have a degree from a top notch college’. Many of those grads are on welfare and living in the parents’ basement. ....Consider trade schools for skills that will always be needed; machinist, plumber, welder, electrician, etc., and they will be employed.
Congress is complicit, with the federal granting process. The taxpayer pays, but congress gets to be very generous with our resources. And since there are all these "grants" out there, colleges and universities have no incentive to hold costs down.
Color me unsurprised.
Well stated, and GREAT JOB with your career!
My daughter is named after her.
Colleges perform one task. They vet applicants. After that, you have a good idea that the kid is worthy or not. What they do for the next 4 years, and maybe longer, is pure poppycock.
True. The university does two things. They vet applicants and admit only the best and the brightest (or the football players). And they let your kid spend 4 years with other best and brightest kids. Call it networking or just call it fitting to the standard. After that colleges are an expensive four year spa.
People don’t even know what rhetoric is. They have no idea what a logical fallacy is. Philosophy is rarely required anywhere. It’s the study of thought. But its no longer in vogue. College has been dumbed down to the point where graduates should not be allowed to read a newspaper without an annalist.
Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg all left college without graduating. The first two left their Freshman year. They later said that college was a waste of their fathers money and maybe more dear, their own time.
You are correct sir. He studied history.
Well put. But many of those who do not go, need the confirmation from those who did. (that way they stop blaming dad for not throwing away his money.)
I'm not sure how you come to the conclusion that I was advocating government go after anyone for free market pricing. I was simply highlighting the hypocrisy of who government chooses to target and why.
The dream that you can do what you want and the government will pay. Nice!
My 12 year old wants to swim in a pool of chocolate fudge sauce. Maybe she will get a grant.
“Soon we’ll be hearing they’re too big to fail.”
Interesting, if Southern Illinois shut its doors tomorrow, who would through the big Halloween party. Can’t let that one go down.
“This is the guy who wrote What’s the Matter with Kansas? College ripped him off because he was too stupid to learn anything.”
He went back to college 3 more times for 4 history degrees. Now that is stupid.
“You think Congress has any business beating up on “big pharma” and “big oil” and “big education” for “gouging”????
Seriously?
Big Government is the biggest gouger of them all ... the others are pikers by comparison.”
So, think about the 3 most expensive things in your life. Probably it’s housing, medical care and college education. They just happen to be the three things the federal government subsidizes the most. Supposedly to make them affordable.
“These professors are a product of the system which produces people who are not employable anywhere BUT a campus.
Trust me I work at a university.
There are ‘professors’ here who could NOT be employed off this campus....for MANY reasons”
Oh, I trust you. I have never met one yet who could run a 1st grade soccer team.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.