College bound no more

Waterbury Republican-American ^ | January 18, 2009 | Tracey O'Shaughnessy

[Graybeard58]

Ever since my son was a tot, I have squirreled away as much as I could muster for his college education.

Education is a priority in our family, but every year that goes by, it becomes clearer that nothing I could ever amass will dent what it will cost to send him to college. Despite his desire, college may be out of the question for him — and for anybody else earning less than an auto executive's salary.

The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education reported recently that the rising cost of education has put it virtually out-of-reach for most Americans. By the time my son, 7, is college age, he may take his place among the first American generation to be less educated than its parents.

Indeed, that has already happened. We have fewer college-age kids enrolled in college than six other industrialized countries and even fewer American kids complete their degree. The kids in Japan, Ireland, Korea and France far outrank us in college completion rates. Why? Did you ever talk to an American high school graduate and compare it to the conversation you have with a European? It's like the difference between David Frost and Maury Povich.

Today's 25- to 34-year-olds are actually less educated than their Baby Boomer elders. Only 39 percent of adults 25 to 34 hold an associate's degree or higher in the U.S. Compare that to Canada, where the figure is 55 percent, or Korea, where the figure is 53 percent.

That's because while median family income has risen 147 percent from 1982 to 2007 in the U.S., the cost of college tuition and fees has soared 439 percent. How can anyone possibly afford that? They can't. Student borrowing has doubled in the last 10 years and the percent of a family's income it eats up is bigger than ever. A private, four-year institution will devour 76 percent of the income of a median American family.

"The middle class has been financing [college education] through debt," Patrick M.Callahan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, told The New York Times. "The scenario has been that families that have a history of sending kids to college will do whatever it takes, even if that means a huge amount of debt."

In Connecticut, for instance, we do a great job at preparing our kids for college — as long as they're rich. This state has the ignoble distinction of having the widest achievement gaps between rich and poor than any other state in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Education. So we get an "A" for preparing kids for school and an "F" for making it affordable, which is a bit like teaching a kid to ride a bike, and then not giving him one to ride on.

This might be merely onerous if the whole value of a college degree hadn't become so dubious.

Sure, all kinds of reports will tell you how much difference a college degree makes in terms of how much salary its recipients command, but, again, talk to some of these students and they'll make your eyebrows curl.

One study reported that less than half of college seniors knew that Yorktown was the battle that ended the American Revolution. A similar number could name the reason NATO was formed.

Not long ago, a college professor friend of mine wrote me about trying to prepare his students for a mid-term exam, which would rely heavily on the readings he assigned. "I've never really liked reading," one of his students sniffed. "I don't see the point in it." She added that she didn't think it was "fair" that, at the college level, her professor placed such an emphasis on reading.

Yes, the world is a cruel place.

Nobody who's visited a college dorm lately can deny that the place has been spruced up. In my day, the places looked like Soviet-era gymnasiums. Now they look like suites at the Doubletree. And the potentates presiding over these glittering dominions receive a king's ransom.

In November, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that presidents at 12 private universities pulled down more than $1 million last year. (So embarrassed were several college presidents over their income that they actually gave back some of their salaries after the report came out.)

If this country believes, as Thomas Jefferson did, that education is the great equalizer, it needs to pull the plug on fripperies and sinecures and start doing a better job at teaching its kids.

Because at this price, it just isn't worth it.

Reach Tracey O'Shaughnessy at tosh@rep-am.com.

[O6ret]

I could not agree more. Affirmative action in college admissions (i.e. admitting students based on demographics rather than accomplishments) is nothing more than giving home loans to unqualfied applicants. SOoner or later they fail.

We are already seeing the universities struggle and tuition rates skyrocket. Why? Because it costs money to subsidize the many programs they have to support this failed experiment they call diversity.

[Poser]

Community college for two and state for two. If you want to waste money, wait for the master’s degree.