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1   NDrLoR   2018 Sep 12, 2:30pm  

A friend going to Baylor in 1967 wanted to major in piano, in which he makes his living in Germany today, but his father refused to pay tuition for something he considered worthless. He transferred to the University of Texas in Austin where up until the year before tuition was covered by the state if you were a resident. Sadly, he had to pay the $50 tuition for his first year at UT.
2   HeadSet   2018 Sep 12, 2:41pm  

Why is college in America so expensive

Easy credit student loans. With such money sloshing about, no college administrator wants to bother looking for ways to cut costs. The administrators would rather build monuments to themselves along with high salary and perks.
3   Ceffer   2018 Sep 12, 2:46pm  

It took a lot of banking hours to find a way to turn college education into debt ridden indentured servitude.

Why to they hate free enterprise?
4   FortWayne   2018 Sep 12, 3:45pm  

Education industrial complex needs a swift kick in the ass. Liberals created this shitty system.

Ultimate equality is when no one can afford it, except for few well connected.
5   RC2006   2018 Sep 12, 3:59pm  

HeadSet says
Why is college in America so expensive

Easy credit student loans. With such money sloshing about, no college administrator wants to bother looking for ways to cut costs. The administrators would rather build monuments to themselves along with high salary and perks.


This is about 90% of the reason. Take government out of the government grant and loan racket and tuition would plummet overnight. They will always raise tuition rates to match students ability to get loans and grants with no end and they don’t care how much taxpayers pay or how much in debt anyone get.
6   RC2006   2018 Sep 12, 4:01pm  

It’s absurd that anyone should have to pay more than half a percent on a loan that is almost guaranteed and protected from bankruptcy. Make the schools responsible for half of any loan that goes into default.
7   SunnyvaleCA   2018 Sep 12, 4:29pm  

Another problem with tuition is that the schools set it very high and then waive tuition to those who can't afford it. The net result is that tuition is tied to parents' ability to pay. Could you imagine going to the supermarket and the cashier, after checking your tax records and bank account, charges you $100 for a gallon of milk? Well, that's how tuition works. As parents, why bother to work and save for your kids' tuition; the more you earn and save, the higher the tuition.
8   MisterLefty   2018 Sep 12, 4:34pm  

The reason why is because boomers require the returns from student loan asset-backed securities, and they will suck the marrow from the bones of the young to get it.

9   Patrick   2018 Sep 12, 8:53pm  

Yes, the problem is the government-backed loans which make slaves of the young.

The solution, as with housing, is to increase supply instead of increasing demand via loans.

But politically, it just looks so good to increase the amount of debt that students can take on that no Congressman can resist it. His primary donors (bankers) want it, ill-informed students want it, so what is he going to do?
10   bob2356   2018 Sep 13, 6:12am  

Patrick says
The solution, as with housing, is to increase supply instead of increasing demand via loans.


College enrollment is down for I think the 7th straight year. Colleges that aren't top tier are hustling for students. Supply jsn't the problem.

Government backed loans in and of themselves aren't the problem. I worked in higher education back when the whole program was really just getting off the ground. College was cheap and a loan was a minimal stopgap for what you couldn't cover with a summer job.

The first problem is the colleges started marketing themselves attract more and more students and ended up spending insane amounts to make themselves appealing. That was directly because of the GI bill which exploded demand getting the college industry on the roll. Then the baby boomers hit and really exploded demand. Then the colleges were sucking wind and needed to market. It's been an upward marketing/propaganda spiral ever since.To be clear I don't mean sending someone around to high schools type of marketing. I'm talking about billions spent on testaments to egos like sports teams, palatial facilities, superstar faculty, entire new (and under utilized) departments, research facilities that duplicate what is being done at the competing college down the street, etc. etc.. Go outside of the US and colleges are frequently in leased buildings with very little if any extraneous to the classroom spending.

The second problem was Bennet as education secretary under Reagan. He was fixated by the idea that only degree granting institutions should get federal money. He managed through some very dirty political maneuvering to get all the trade schools booted out of title IV. So now you have to spend 2 years in a community college getting an associates instead of 6 months in a trade school to get the same job.

The third problem is that the amount of government money to subsidize colleges has dropped through the floor since the 60's. Direct money to the colleges from states and federal government has almost disappeared. Many states put large amounts of money into the state college system.in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. That is gone and is made up with student loans. Most of the financial aid pre Reagan was grants. Gi bill, BEOG, SEOG, state grants, private grants, etc., etc., That has also dried up. Again the difference is also being made up with student loans.

Student loans have become a monster, but not because they are a bad idea. It's because they have taken the burden of paying for college from society in general and put it directly on the students, Fair or not is a societal debate, but has nothing to do with student loans themselves. The second problem is politicians have totally failed to hold colleges accountable for using student loan money in a fiscally prudent manner. . That is a failing of the voters. You got what you voted for, don't complain.

Funny how the same people who demanded less gubment (like cutting education budgets and refusing to consider regulation or oversight) are screaming that colleges are too expensive. Be careful what you wish for, you may get it.
11   bob2356   2018 Sep 13, 6:16am  

FortWayne says
Education industrial complex needs a swift kick in the ass. Liberals created this shitty system.


No they didn't but don't let facts confuse you.
12   FortWayne   2018 Sep 13, 8:57am  

bob2356 says
College enrollment is down for I think the 7th straight year. Colleges that aren't top tier are hustling for students. Supply jsn't the problem.


Because the cost is so damn high bob. Colleges today have to find a government loan program, apply students into it. Because students can't actually pay what colleges charge.

And how can students pay for it? When we have people who work for 30 years, retire for another 40 with full pay and benefits. Financially this shit doesn't add up simply. It's why we are going bankrupt, and young are in debt slavery.
13   Bd6r   2018 Sep 13, 11:28am  

bob2356 says
The second problem was Bennet as education secretary under Reagan. He was fixated by the idea that only degree granting institutions should get federal money.

Thanks, this I was unaware of. Do you know what was his reasoning? Net result of course is that students spend 2 years learning nothing at community colleges as opposed to 6 months learning a useful trade.

bob2356 says
The third problem is that the amount of government money to subsidize colleges has dropped through the floor since the 60's. Direct money to the colleges from states and federal government has almost disappeared. Many states put large amounts of money into the state college system.in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. That is gone and is made up with student loans.


There is some truth to it, but school funding from states has not changed too much since 2000. NSF has a nice data table:

https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/state-indicators/indicator/state-support-for-higher-education-per-fte-student/table

If one looks at constant dollars, state support per student over all states was $7,943 in 2000 and $6,723 in 2018. Specifically for CA, in 2000 state support was about 6700, and in 2018 it was 7600 per student. In CA at least, tuition had to go down due to greater state support. Instead, for example at UC-Berkeley, tuition/fees have risen from about 5K in 2000 to 14K today. Does not make sense, other than what you said here:
bob2356 says
colleges started marketing themselves attract more and more students and ended up spending insane amounts to make themselves appealing.

and I would add sports (also marketing in a sense), and proliferation of Associate Deans for Whatever Studies with 400K salaries.

If I would have a say, I'd limit % of money that can be spent on non-instructional staff, limit salaries (have a hard cap at US Prez salary, 400K), and limit student loans to 10K per year.

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