One day soon most Americans won't be able to afford college educations.
According to a new report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education:
"Published college tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007, adjusted for inflation, while median family income rose 147 percent. Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade, and students from lower-income families, on average, get smaller grants from the colleges they attend than students from more affluent families."
"Historically during downturns, states make disproportionate cuts in higher education and, in return for the colleges taking them gracefully, allow them to raise tuition," Callan said. "If we handle this recession like we've handled others, we will see that this gets worse."
Loans have financed this runup in tuition, but for how much longer? They are unsecured debt. As one commentator asked recently, "How do you repossess a student loan - attach a tow hook to some delinquent student's brain as he exits the college library?"
And no shock, the burden falls disproportionately on the poor. If one year at a public university costs more than half of the income of the poorest fifth of the population, that's no meritocracy.
Kevin Carey of the think tank Education Sector pointed out in an important Washington Monthly) piece last month that "colleges could use technology to lower costs and thus student prices, but they won't until the terms of competition change. "
It's up to families, schools, and young people to change the terms of competition by earnestly seeking alternatives. And it's up to educators and lawmakers to provide those alternatives. As Carey predicts in the coming years ever-more families will turn to public colleges, improved online education, shorter degree programs, overseas education, or even pass up college altogether.
Unpleasant, but maybe necessary. Already the dropout rate is 44 percent at best.
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My introductory biology class this last year was about half 18-20 year olds, mostly damned bright and dedicated to learning, most of which were attempting to pile up some course credits to transfer into a full time University AND working 30-40 hours / week.
If I had had to work this hard (and I did work ~20 hours/week back in the mid 1980s), and take on the debt load these guys had to, and complete the coursework,... I might not have made it.
If we are going to make it as a major world power over the next couple of decades - the current crop of college grads are going to be the ones providing the brain & muscle power to do it. We need to make sure that we give them the opportunites.
Or I could go to school in Canada [I am a Canadian expat and therefore qualify for citizenship tuition rates] which would be about 1/10th the cost and just as good if not better in quality.
Hmmm. If only I wasn't married.
I'm kidding honey. Put down the frying pan.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/26/MNBB14D1B4.DTL
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/14/DYNES.TMP&type=printable
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/13/MNGMPJUDCI1.DTL
http://www.sanfranmag.com/story/scandal-scapegoats-and-suicide
corruption in the administration
now UC wants to increase the number of out of state students(they pay more)
and Gov Terminator wants to raise taxes
being a resident in california is pointless
0
That's right. A big, fat ZERO is the only correct answer. Everything else is just putting plasters on open leg arteries.
Here you go, kid, right out high school and on the hook for tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. All for a (globally) subpar education. Go on, go to work in the convenience store along with every other American "disenfranchised" because businesses like to hire/ outsource to foreign countries (India, Japan, etc.) who's version of higher education outshine us like no one's business.
I would be sending them to trade school for welding, or electronics or any number of manufacturing jobs because our country's future is not in the casino called Wall Street, but in the manufacturing sectors of main street.
Representatives of a recent job fair in our area noted such a need by their attending employers.
Wow... I wouldn't want to be your child, for sure.
If your child does not get at least a masters degree, doctorate would be better, he or she will not be able to compete in the 21st century. It's really that simple.
My daughter went two years to a Community College and then to San Diego State. She worked 20 hours a week the whole time and paid her own tuition, books and living costs. She lived at home for the first two years - not exactly the way most high schoold kids envision higher education - but she saved and was motivated. She has less than $3K in student loans.
So it can be done, but it takes a fair amount of self-direction.
Exchange a college education cost at least at State Universities for work in communities, like a new WPA, or some Americorp-like program. Make those that want to get an education do something along the way to pay it back.
As the 'proud' possessor of Student Loan debt, and of other older loans I have already paid off - I would have jumped at the chance back in the 1980s to work off some of the debt I acquired - and gain job experience at the same time.
Require some sort of Government or Community Service of all students - even the rich ones that CAN afford to ride their legacy into Haaaavad.
But, I am afraid, Americans will not understand this and make it increasingly harder for their kids to get a first class education. Who needs, that, after all, when Walmart has the shelf stacker position for you at minimum wage and without health insurance?
So an 18 year old who spends time in the military or in some other service isn't wasting time. Some kids take a few years to find themselves and rather than fail in college they should have the chance to succeed in another way first.
If that ever changes, colleges will be in for a big let down.