Posted on 01/18/2009 10:34:57 AM PST by 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.
Ans so is my son after years at Indiana University, and University of Colorado.
All it is anymore is indoctrination.
Smart kid was conservative until college.
I knew these things by 10th grade high school.
The problems stems from the last 20-30 years of liberal agenda in the Government controlled school system that has de-emphasized reading writing and arithmetic and heavily emphasized the spreading of the homosexual agenda, the environmental agenda and the socialism agenda. At the same time the government controlled schools have removed God, discipline, morals, patriotism and duty from the schools.
Agree (btw, corrected your spelling of cheep to cheap so not to embarrass we state college alum's).
This guy's son can go to a state school like I did. While going to school he can work a night shift at a truck stop like I did. When he graduates from high school he can join the army and utilize the GI bill like I did. Bottom line, tell the little punk to go figure out on his own how to get it done and stop the whining - same thing for his old man.
Ditto on the hogwash.
D # 2 did real well in school, # 2 in the class, got a couple of acidemic scholarships, some federal student aid loans and some cash from us.
Hard work and a little savings is all it takes.
Just do it.
What does out of the road mean?
Maybe if the author had a real job instead of writing for a newspaper, she’d be able to afford to send her boy to college.
Given the fact that the kid is only 7 years old, she’s got enough time to make a career change instead of going hysterical and whining like a typical liberal.
He will get the opportunity to observe first hand rare and disturbing diseases many times ~ and if everything works out well, and your kid is bright and not a dolt, he'll become a very good diagnostician and will be called in regularly by top medical specialists in the United States.
I don't know if these guys get all that rich, but they're popular.
BTW, lest I forget to note it this time, not all the doctors coming from Pakistan are good. Many are, in fact, DOLTS ~ but their fathers were rich or powerful.
Now, back to the $10,000 per year, that'll get him room, board, tuition, fees, examinations, and a full education for two other poor but smart Pakistani kids. He or she may well be able to afford a scooter out of that 10 K.
If he's lucky he will develop a deep and abiding sympathy for the poorest of the poor. Just about everyone in America can afford to send their kid to medical school in Pakistan. We are truly blessed among nations.
Actually, no: If a student is able to gain admission to Harvard, the money is their in scholarships and grants for them to attend, IIRC.
oops, what can I say I was a pych major.
Agreed...Junior College, if the students are motivated, is a bargain education...especially in CA...it’s like $25 a unit.
Took me 10 years. I went to grad school though. I took a semester off whenever I went broke.
Is a “unit” the same as a credit? If so, that’s ridiculously expensive for a community college. I paid 35 bucks a credit for a 4 year degree in engineering at a state university.
Get your undergrad in state, work after classes and during summers, and however else you fund the remainder, stay away from credit cards while in school. You should be able to stay under $10k in debt for 4 years of education (depending on the summer work you can get - and whether you can live with your parents during school/summers).
As for a “pedigree”, the bang-for-buck is much greater if you go to a tier-one school for a 2-year MA/MSc instead of the 4-year undergrad. During your Masters, you may have your tuition fully or partially waved (contingent upon 10-20 hrs a week of teaching/marking).
*waived
Is there any hope for her to return to her roots?
And stay at home. no way here:)
Why not, at least in public colleges and universities, put an end to “cultural studies, black studies, womyn’s studies ad nauseum.” And how many psychologists and sociologists does society need at public expense?
Instead, emphasize our American history and heritage, constitutional government, free market economics (and the error of socialism and communism), scientific truth, and USEFUL professions that require and undergraduate/professional education like engineering, scientific research, business and accounting, medicine, and to a lesser extent, law and theology?
It sounds as if some of the students discussed in the article would be happier learning a trade at less cost in time and money to them, their parents, and the public. College should be reserved for those wishing, to some degree, to pursue scholarship.
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