Author Topic: College ridiculously expensive today in 2015 (Read 1483 times)

Matthew · « **on:** March 24, 2015, 02:14:55 PM »

http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/24/pf/college/student-debt-100000/index.html?iid=Lead

This comment is quite wise:

Quote

Part of the problem is unsustainable overhead. In 1975 when I started UMKC, tuition was 100 hrs of the minimum wage per semester. Now it is 600 hrs of the minimum wage. After the first year of engineering school I had enough skills to earn a decent salary and pay for tuition. Mom paid for books and fed me. I graduated with no debt in 5 1/2 years. Time to cut the administrative overhead and make college affordable. I can't imagine why someone would take out a loan at a private college with no clear career path.

Note that measuring college as "X hours of the minimum wage" is not just a handy ruler -- it's quite practical! After all, that's about the wage an 18 year old with no degree/skills is likely to earn.

That says it all though -- it corroborates what I've said that someone my father's age would have an easier time raising a family in 1975 than the same (Millennial) young man trying to do so today.

Just for starters, college is SIX TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE which means you can't hope to pay for it while you study. Hence the recent phenomenon of students coming out of college with tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt.

This has a very practical effect -- it's hard to get married and support a family when you're in debt up to your eyeballs, just to pay back student loans. Nevermind a house, car, etc...

Dolores · « **Reply #1 on:** March 25, 2015, 02:30:48 PM »

College tuition is undoubtedly on an unsustainable path, both for students and for the institutions themselves. Since 1978, tuition has increased not only faster the inflation, but faster than medical costs (and everyone knows how much that has gone up). It has already reached the point that many people are simply priced out of going to college. As Matthew points out, it is not a matter of students being lazy or refusing to get part-time work while in school, it is a matter of tuition being extraordinarily high, and part-time work not paying enough to cover tuition.

The solution is not more government-run student loans. The solution is not student loan debt forgiveness, which is nothing more than the government subsidizing overpriced tuition. The solution is for colleges to get their costs under control and stop raising tuition by 5% or more every year.

These institutions have been unable or unwilling to control their costs over the past forty years because they were able to raise tuition, and there was always enough students to pay for it. Once tuition became too high for people to pay on their own, the government stepped in with student loans. Now even that isn't helping because recent graduates are being crushed by their student loan debt. Soon, colleges will have to learn how to control costs and keep tuition rates in line, because even worldly people will not allow their children to suffer from student loan debt.

Here are two good articles about this issue:

http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-sweet-briar-college-college-debt-bubble-crisis-2015-3
http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-forgiving-student-debt-is-the-worst-thing-we-could-do-2015-3

Croix de Fer · « **Reply #2 on:** March 28, 2015, 01:32:01 AM »

Quote from: Dolores

The solution is for colleges to get their costs under control and stop raising tuition by 5% or more every year.

That's not in the best interest of colleges. There's no incentive for colleges to get their costs under control and stop raising tuition. They (admin, faculty, staff, etc.) are not concerned about students incurring lifelong debt. Rather, they're only concerned about their livelihoods that are dependent on the college itself. Ergo, there is no solution here.

Quote from: Dolores

Once tuition became too high for people to pay on their own, the government stepped in with student loans. Now even that isn't helping because recent graduates are being crushed by their student loan debt.

That's the intention - to put as many young people into as much debt as possible. Bush, under direction from the usurious Christ-haters, eliminated student loan bankruptcy, therefore the debt is a lifetime burden for people who take out student loans.

Financial Aid offices at every college and university are essentially satellite offices for banks and government lending. They are predatory lending proxies.

Quote from: Dolores

Soon, colleges will have to learn how to control costs and keep tuition rates in line,...

Again, it's not in their best interest when the demand for higher education remains high, especially when there are no decent jobs for anyone with only a high school education; and the other option is to become a pawn in the perpetual War Machine and risk becoming mutilated, thus returning home with a disfigured face, blind, and no legs, or getting killed in action; or go deep-fry chicken at KFC.

Dolores · « **Reply #3 on:** March 28, 2015, 07:55:45 PM »

Quote from: ascent

Bush, under direction from the usurious Christ-haters, eliminated student loan bankruptcy, therefore the debt is a lifetime burden for people who take out student loans.

Not to defend Bush, but this is not exactly true. Some student loan debt became mostly non-dischargeable in 1976, it was further restricted in 1984, and then completely restricted in 2005.

Making student loan debt non-dischargeable was actually necessary, in my opinion. Prior to 1976, there was a rash of people gaming the system; they graduated from college and declared bankruptcy for the sole purpose of not having to pay back their student loans. They were young enough that their credit could be rebuilt with time, and they weren't in such a bad financial state that bankruptcy was necessary. They were greedy, in other words. While I certainly don't think it needs to be restricted as much as it is now, there needs to be some restrictions in place to prevent this kind of behavior.

Quote from: ascent

Again, it's not in their best interest when the demand for higher education remains high, especially when there are no decent jobs for anyone with only a high school education; and the other option is to become a pawn in the perpetual War Machine and risk becoming mutilated, thus returning home with a disfigured face, blind, and no legs, or getting killed in action; or go deep-fry chicken at KFC.

You're right, it's not in their best interest as long as demand for higher education remains high. If tuition continues on its present trajectory, and horror stories about crushing student debt remain in the MSM, demand will fall.

claudel · « **Reply #4 on:** March 29, 2015, 11:02:39 AM »

Quote from: Dolores

Making student loan debt non-dischargeable was actually necessary, in my opinion. Prior to 1976, there was a rash of people gaming the system; they graduated from college and declared bankruptcy for the sole purpose of not having to pay back their student loans. They were young enough that their credit could be rebuilt with time, and they weren't in such a bad financial state that bankruptcy was necessary.

It's almost scandalous that at a Catholic website someone (viz., Dolores) has to defend the presumption of an obligation to pay one's just debts.

Indeed, all the bankruptcy laws in the USA, not just those pertaining to student loans, remain shamefully lax. Both individuals and shady businesses (not just Tribal ones, alas) have for decades used bankruptcy—often every five years or so—as a way to live high on the hog and then wipe the slate clean.

What's more, the credit consequences of bankruptcy have been grossly exaggerated. While someone who's declared bankruptcy twice or thrice will indeed have a very hard time getting an auto or home loan, getting a new credit card, frequently with an extended interest-free introductory period, is as easy as pie. Why? Because card issuers know that the person in question suddenly has far more spending potential than he did the day before his bankruptcy took effect.

songbird · « **Reply #5 on:** March 30, 2015, 06:22:52 PM »

I am waiting for "Free Education (college)". They do that in Europe. They choose you! or They don't. Some call it competition, I would call it communism. IF the curriculum is worth learning, truth wise.

In europe, kids learn 3 languages(they must for the different countries) but they go to school 6 days of the week and come out at age 17-18 with a degree!

Here is the USA, we are told, let us go 4 days a week! For those who need free babysitting services of the public school system(communism) they don't like those bananas. And no more teaching cursive, no identity, but they want your fingerprints and DNA at birth.

The USA sure knows how to dumb down their generations. If it gets to 4 days of school, I would recommend home schooling the other 3 days!

Croix de Fer · « **Reply #6 on:** March 30, 2015, 06:31:38 PM »

Debt Slave - all by design.

Croix de Fer · « **Reply #7 on:** March 30, 2015, 06:32:52 PM »

College Conspiracy (to create debt slaves for life)

Here's the link in case the video don't embed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaNlow-vmyA&feature=youtu.be

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/embed/SaNlow-vmyA&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]