self-educate. The rest is a mental cluster-__ck.
Excellent point, and about damned time somebody made it.
Boy are they squealing here in Pennsylvania over Tom Corbett’s 50% budget cut.
“Higher” education?
WAY too long and WAY too expensive.
When will see some no talent academics hauled before Congress for the unending upward spiral in the cost of education?
The idea of an elite league is it takes a certain level of performance to get in. Is Major League Baseball a failure because only a tiny percentage make it? Should everyone make it to the bigs?
First, the author of this article isn’t Peter Thiel. It’s Sarah Lacy.
Second, we’re looking right now for colleges for our older son.
The sticker price for the Ivies is around $50K per year.
Same at lots of other private universities.
But only folks in Obama’s class of rich folks ($200K+ income) typically pay full price at all of these institutions.
The ironic thing is that because of their large endowments, the Ivies often give much more financial aid than other schools charging similar tuition and fees.
I plugged my 2009 tax info into the Princeton financial aid estimator and found that they would give a very big chunk of their tuition, room and board, and books to my son in financial aid, and I’d have to pay a relatively small percentage of the overall $50+K of the annual expense. After taking into account the financial aid, what I’d have to pay amounted to something modestly more expensive than sending him off to the University of Maryland, College Park (around $8K per year without room and board, but our son could commute) (we’re Maryland residents and qualify for in-state tuition).
When we went to the Princeton presentation a few months ago, we were surprised to learn that families with up to around $200K per year in household income usually get financial aid.
And when I say “financial aid,” I don’t mean “loans.” The Ivies no longer provide student loans as part of their financial aid packages. It’s all grants. So, if they determine your Estimated Family Contribution should be $10K per year, then they’re going to give $40+K in grants.
On the other hand, the estimator for Johns Hopkins shows that I’d have to pay more. Hopkins is a great school, but not with quite the reputation of the Ivies. And then, Catholic University in Washington, DC, would offer less. Good school, but not at the level of, say, Hopkins.
Our data gathering tracks this principle generally: the more prestigious the school, the less you will pay to go there because the more financial aid you will receive.
And unless you’re sending your kid to the state university in your own state, public universities aren’t a lot better. With room and board, these often exceed $40K per year. Financial aid available varies widely, but my own data gathering indicates it’s not as generous as the best private schools.
Thus, the moral of the story is, the better the reputation of the school, the better a deal it will be.
All you need is for your kid to get accepted to an Ivy, LOL.
sitetest
Oh great, another thread where people can brag about themselves and their kids!
College costs are too high.
Dorms are nicer than many peoples homes, new rec centers are built with water slides, etc...
And there are many overpaid, tenured, dead weight professors on staff also.
Higher education needs a new model.
I do the hiring at our company. And I couldn't care less what ‘expert’ or other so called wise man has to say about this - I've be in this business for 40 years and have made money for every company I've worked for. And I know for a fact these are not my ideas alone.
Overall Consideration Number 1 : How much of their education did this person work and pay for themselves?
Overall Consideration Number 2 : how many years has this person spent in a working environment (yes, bagging in a Supermarket counts).
Overall Consideration Number 3 : what courses did this person take (more important than number 4).
Overall Consideration Number 4 : grade point average.
Overall Consideration Number 5 : what college did they go to.
I only hire engineers and designers, and if I had $50 for every time I've heard, “how did you find so and so, they are great” I'd be quite wealthy.
Oh, and to finish my blasphemy, if someone can show me 10-15 years of good practical, accurate, creative work, I could care less whether they have a degree at all!
Fantastic post!! I have been worried about this for years, watching my husband and me struggle with student loan debt and being concerned for my children’s burdens in this area.
Flat out falsehood.
Bush made no such decree. The non-dischargeability of student loans was federal law before Bush. In 2005 Congress enacted new legislation which extended that status, but even that was federal legislation enacted by Congress and signed by Bush - far from a decree.
Only Obama acts by decree.
Mark me down in the “Destroy” the whole thing camp. We might save a tiny bit, or some concepts, but really the whole has to be destroyed, imo.
“The things that pass for knowledge I can’t understand.” - Steely Dan
With the economy the way it is now many who graduate even with grad school are not going to find work in their field for years to come if ever. Hubby says out of the past 50 people hired where he works most of them have degrees.Some even found jobs in their field but did not make enough to pay their loans and live.There are many professions out there tht pay well will always be needed and do not take a 4-8 year degree.Plumbers,electricians,car mechanics are but a few examples.
I’ll not read the article, however, can one imagine Galileo, Pasteur, Franklin, Rockefeller, Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, etc., in one of these institutions of today?