Posted on 04/05/2011 12:57:24 PM PDT by ReleaseTheHounds
How much should a college education cost? According to the College Board, the average cost of earning a degree at a private, 4-year university is now more than $100,000. If tuition prices continue to rise as quickly as they did during the past decade, a college degree will cost more than $200,000 by the time today’s third-graders are applying. That price tag is enough to cause most parents to break into a sweat.
Is a college degree really worth this cost? Some bright minds think Americans are paying way too much. In fact, Bill Gates--one of the country's most famous college dropouts--thinks it should be closer to zero. He told an audience last summer: “Five years from now, on the web, for free you’ll be able to find the best lectures in the world. It will be better than any single university.” ...
Forward thinking elected officials now have the opportunity to expedite the arrival of the free college era, and—in the process—solve a major problem for American families while providing big relief for taxpayers and federal and state budgets.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
I don't believe I will be holding my breath on that one.
By the time third graders get to college, $200,000 will be worth nothing.
Yaahahhhh, just wut we all need.
The dems are completely in the pocket of the academic university crowd. They will fight any attempt to lower the cost of college with every breath they have.
I have to agree that it is staggering! I’m in the process of sending my 2nd child to college this fall. My first is in his 3rd year. His college is approx. 33,000 per year and we had to come up with 20k each year on our own after scholarships and loans (ie stafford).
My 2nd child chose a college that is 53k per year. I’ve died a little and haven’t figured out how to swing this one. He did receive nice scholarships and including the stafford loans will bring us down to about 23k at least the first year. Not sure what we look forward to in the following 3 years.
My 3rd child may never make it to college! We probably will be living on the streets!
Stop governmental finanancial aid
Stop the lie that college is necessary or desireable for most people.
“His college is approx. 33,000 per year”
Shocking.
I paid less for a 4 yr degree at MIT not that long ago.
I’m a high school teacher...some of our grads over the last ten years have a degree from private and public universities, and debt approaching a hundred thousand. That’s fine if they major in a job producing area, if they don’t...look out. One of my former students has a law degree from Michigan (a good school) and no job. He owes sixty thousand.
Hope your kids are wise enough to understand this.
Government officials should mind the peoples business and get the h e double toothpicks out of the mf'in education business. POSTHASTE!!!!
Agreed. All of the easy money chasing degrees pumps up the prices.
Right now universities are a free ride for the Bill Ayres, Duke 88-types and fringe lefties who can draw out six figure salaries for basically being screw-ups.
End financial aid and government subsidies and let the market set the price.
Yeah well, we have to keep upper middle class Communist College professors in their lifestyles - so fork it over. They deserve it.
The reason companies demand a degree is they desire applicants who know how to read and write, and a high school diploma no longer is an indicator that the holder knows the Three R's. Fifty years ago, they would have been able to just demand that applicants be able to pass an employment test, but now the EEOC will file suit if the tests flunk too many minorities.
If we eliminated the EEOC and its requirements, then the demand for college will be much reduced. People could go directly to work from high school, and engage in distance learning over the Internet. In such a scenario, people would take courses over their lifetimes rather than just four years after high school.
Two years at a community college, two years at a university.
I worked for a corporation who paid for my college classes. That was sweet.
“My 2nd child chose”
Nope. If it’s your money, then you chose it.
Simple answer: The government stops paying for it and the free market would settle it out in short order.
Seriously? I can’t imagine what MIT would cost today! My son did apply there, but it wasn’t his first choice. Out of the 5 he applied, 4 accepted him. MIT did not!
His first choice was/is WPI (Worcester Polytechnic Institute) which is a really good school. This is where he will be going!
Congrats on completing 4 years there!
I just checked the current cost and it shows for Tuition/room & board at 50.4k each year not including books. That’s cheaper than WPI - that isn’t right! :(
The article is not a serious discussion on the subject of higher education costs. While I agree that the current model of higher education is broken, it will not be fixed by merely putting some lectures on the web. A new higher education model must be developed through private initiative. Government does not want to change the current higher education system because changes would bring large upheaval to established schools and colleges.
Changing the higher education model will require a large private initiave (probably initiatives) aimed at commoditizing the product, standardizing the evaluation, and unbundling the product. Cooperation among developers of education material, online education communities, and technology will enable a revolution in a large part of higher education. Changing the public mindset will require large promotional efforts and a quality product. I believe a skeptical public can be convinced to change its perspective (different college experience) if convinced of quality and much lower costs ($50 per credit hour).
With a changed model, subsidies can be focused on the clinical and lab areas that do not fit this model. Even the first two years of medical school are traditional classroom material so I think the new model can apply to large parts of higher education. Higher education institutions now offer many online courses often not professionally done and costing even more than traditional offerings.
My talk is heresy among my colleagues. They think that a different model of higher education is not possible.
Let the government completely take over higher education the way the leftists professors and administrations want, then when the government realizes there isn’t enough money to pay the high salaries, they make the professors work for food.
I understand your logic that it is my/husbands choice. He has worked extremely hard through high school achieving high honors throughout his years. He did this since he knew that this was the school he wanted to attend.
From what I know of this school the employment rate is extremely high. Companies seek out these students almost from the start (freshman) giving them internships over the summer. I am hoping that this is the case, although I know just how bad the economy is. I am one of those unemployed that is finding it downright impossible to find a job.
I however was never able to attend college. Jobs postings nowadays require a college education. Maybe I’ll have to go back when I’m done sending my kids.
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