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Vincente the government very very heavily subsidizes this industry. If they took away all the grants and subsidies and student loans backed by government (the way FN/FR was backing housing), education would most likely become much much cheaper.

At some point those things helped, today they are just increasing the cost. It's an equivalent to raising minimum wage.... all it does is create inflation making everything more expensive. When minimum wage was 4.75 I used to live all right on just 500/month. Today minimum wage is almost $10 and living expenses have gone up equally.

There is a very good solution to our education system. And it involves less government spending money, because all they do is by proxy send money to special interests you have in your photo on the bottom.

Today minimum wage is almost $10 and living expenses have gone up equally.

yes, minimum wage is basically a subsidy to landlords . . .

And it involves less government spending money, because all they do is by proxy send

I disagree with this. I think universal, free education is great. Nobody wastes time being in a classroom.

We could cut the defense budget back to 2007's levels and double our education expenditure with the money.

As for subsidies, perhaps the Swedes have found the correct approach. They have a voucher system for private education, but private schools can not charge any money, they can only take the voucher as payment in full.

This is philosophically similar to Canada's medicare, in which private practices are free to choose to be in the state system or apart from it, they can't be in both.

This does tend to leave the public system with the higher-cost 'undesirables', but perhaps these poor folk should be semi-wards of the State like that.

They should make student loan recipients (both students & the colleges) more accountable. Students should maintain a minimum gpa of 2.5 - and every college that accepts public subsidies should have to provide transferable classes and credits.

They should also be graded on their payback rate over 10 or more years, not just the first two years after graduation. And they should have to spend the same amount on curriculum that they do on promotion.

Troy says

As for subsidies, perhaps the Swedes have found the correct approach. They have a voucher system for private education, but private schools can not charge any money, they can only take the voucher as payment in full.

That I think would be a good idea, but I can't see it happen here. It will get labeled government price fixing by those who profit from it otherwise.

Right now we are just spending millions (subsidizing student loans) making them balloon like real estate loans did a short while ago.