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.
In my last round of hiring employees, I was VASTLY underwhelmed with the unimportance of a degree to the quality of the applicant.
degrees have become useless for determining individual qualification.
just as a note consider how much of a comodity a law school degree has become. ANYBODY, and I do mean ANYBODY, with a four year degree can go to a law school somewhere in the USA. Accredited not an unaccredited joke. There are more first year spaces than applicants on a national level. It has become a true joke.
Great idea. I think I will present that to my son.
When I was at UCSD, I was a TA in physics and chemistry. In lieu of pay, I received 2 units of credit. Another 2 units of 'A' is good for the GPA. It was fun as well. In 1980, I obtained a teaching credential and taught a microprocessor programming and design class at Southwestern College. The income from that job financed my private pilot's license and otherwise supplemented the household income. My primary employment at the time was as a central office equipment engineer for Pacific Telephone.
Wow, obviously no home training.
FWIW, I'm in the real estate business. We see these types when they graduate and want to be managers. In the end we usually throw them out when they can't adjust to respecting their neighbors right to privacy. If the parents are co-signers on the lease they are usually stunned when I talk down to them because of the piss poor job they've done.
Choice is a very good thing.
Any kid in the publik skool system today is less educated than their parents, who were less educated than their parents before them, pretty much going back to the early 1940s.
Saved since his birth, my son was able to attend a state university, paying in-state rates. No problem. It isn’t THAT far out of reach for those that look and plan ahead.
That said, when he decided to finish at a private university, for a specialized degree, that is when tuition really shot up, requiring loans.
I modeled the class after the "self packed physics" at UCSD. The weekly lectures were kept on a pace that could achieve an A for everyone interested in doing so. I explained each technique required to accomplish the assignments in the first hour. The 2nd and 3rd hours were "lab" time with students working on writing the software. I was available to review work, answer questions and offer suggestions. In time, the most proficient students would jump into the fray to mentor their fellow students.
At the end of 3 1/2 years, I relocated 25 miles north. My new job assignments no longer allowed me to teach in the evening. The co-sponsor for the class, Regional Occupational Program, informed me that 91% of my students had been hired by DEC or IBM over the course of those 3 1/2 years. Someday I will return to teaching when I don't need to generate lots of income. It's not in the cards with 60 hour weeks as the norm.
BTW, it was typical to have a first night with 60 people in the classroom. Most classes finished with 35 people. It was no piece of cake, but the "finishers" walked out well prepared.
This is just not true. My niece just graduated from a State University. She worked and payed her way. Costs about 6,000 a year. Get out and get a JOB.
The community colleges offer a great education. Many go for two years before switching to a four year college.
I'm sorry to hear that. The spice of life is lively conversation. Maybe she will get married and have children. Sometimes people wake up when they become responsible for others.
>> Parents taking on that burden only forestalls the student’s confrontation of his/her own adequacy or inadequacy. It creates a whole generation of stupid, lazy entitlement brats.<<
You obviously don’t know my son, nor many of his friends. You unilaterally insult all when you should be more precise in your attack.
Not all children are raised the swine you think they are.
If fewer go to college they will likely be smarter
More liberal whining... Worse case plan: The college experience is stretched out over eight years instead of four. In this scenario, the student attends 15 weeks of classes per year, and works 37 weeks per year to earn tuition, book money and living expenses.
Boy, this hits home!
The plumbers, electricians, tuckpointers, carpenters, and heating contractors we use are all eastern European immigrants. Some of these folks have built very large businesses and have become very successful. It's something else to listen to them talking about the streets "paved with gold in the USA".
Make that cheap and I agree.
College is only as expensive as this article says if you want to go to an expensive private college.
what year did you do this in?
what state?
Personally, I think it better that snivelers and adherents of the Cult of Victimhood stay out of higher education.
Higher education is affordable if you’re willing to save for it and make the adaptations to lifestyle necessary. It might cut into your jetski budget, but there you are. If it’s important, you’ll take care of it.
Hogwash yourself. Have you paid for a state university education lately??? Cheap relative to prestige private schools only. Without massive savings or help, they’ll still financially cripple the average middle class family.
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