Soon it will cost $1 million to go to College

[HeSaidSheSaid]

at this rate, business plan of those Brick and Mortar universities can't survive in the future. too much liabilities yet not enough revenue, especially competing with online institutions. no tax payer can support those cushy pension plans, basically working only 9 out of 12 months of the year. we're at the phase where knowledge is every where. one can learn a lot from the web ....

 

[Bob111]

Quote from HeSaidSheSaid:

at this rate, business plan of those Brick and Mortar universities can't survive in the future. too much liabilities yet not enough revenue, especially competing with online institutions. no tax payer can support those cushy pension plans, basically working only 9 out of 12 months of the year. we're at the phase where knowledge is every where. one can learn a lot from the web ....

what? I throw you an example. .temple University(average size) raised this year 65m from charities alone! not enough revenue? you probably confusing universities with public schools.

 

[piezoe]

Quote from nitro:

$1 trillion in student loan debt, and many can't pay

http://news.msn.com/us/dollar1-trillion-in-student-loan-debt-and-many-cant-pay?stay=1

I would suggest that instead of a "one-time surgical strike on Syria," at a cost of ~0.5 Trillion^*, so our president can save face, the money would be better used to retire 50% of the student loan debt (the ave loan is ~$25,000) leaving 40 million student borrowers with an average of $12,000 in debt.

I'd rather do neither, but if we are going to do one or the other, rather than kill more Syrians, with questionable benefit while putting ourselves at greater risk, I'd prefer that we assist 40 million of our own citizens. I am old enough to have learned that there are many problems that can't be solved with missiles.
___________________________
^* Cost estimate from CNN Retired General Talking Head.

 

[nitro]

Required reading: Textbook prices soar, students try to cope

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101036916

 

[TrendPlayer]

these days, in order to get a job worth the investment on college you have to attend an elite university for 50k per year. The return on investment isn't what the media or the universities would like you to believe.

 

[piezoe]

Quote from Bob111:

you can use whatever stats or dollars..i'm using this-

http://www.pa529.com/save-gsp.html

and it says that the cost in state system of higher education will be up 3% for 2013-2014 for gsp plans

Do you not believe there has been at least 3% real inflation? Actually it is greater than 3% so you can see why many Universities are struggling, and it is only their alum contributions and their endowments that keep them going.

Do not mistake what I am saying here. I am NOT saying that it isn't a struggle for families to afford higher education, because while tuition has kept pace with real inflation, but barely, wages for much of the middle class in constant dollars have declined. Thus the squeeze. Lets work together to fix the underlying problems that have decimated the middle class.

 

[piezoe]

Quote from nitro:

Required reading: Textbook prices soar, students try to cope

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101036916

That is a problem. And it is more complex than one might realize. It isn't all about profiteering by the publishers. There are several forces at work creating this problem.

 

[piezoe]

If you had to generalize, you would have to characterize traders as anti-intellectual. You're fooling yourself if you don't read posts on ET with that in mind.

 

[Scataphagos]

Quote from EMRGLOBAL:



However, like myself, attending a Private University to be guided in the studies of "Liberal Arts" based on the Classic Book's Track,( ie: Philosophy, Mathematics, History, English, Science/Physics and the Arts.) and understanding that this is in effort to create a sound base for "Critical Thinking" on your own, is worth the money for the right institution.

Gee, I learned something. I always thought "Liberal Arts" excluded the hard sciences.

I never found value in non-science courses other than English, Logic, Philosophy and a few others. (There is a college in Michigan which requires all degree earners to have passed a course on the US Constitution. One of my colleges required a course in public speaking... both valuable.)

 

[piezoe]

Quote from drcha:

It won't make any difference if it's free. A lot of knowledge is free, and people still don't take advantage of it--they would rather sit in front of a TV set. People who really want to go to college will figure out a way to do it. They will get loans, work nights, live like a pauper, and give up much of their leisure time, as I suspect many of us have done. And those are the ones who will get the most out of it--not those who had it handed to them on a platter (or crammed down their throat unwillingly) and paid for.

Questionable how valuable college will be unless you have a genuinely marketable skill when you finish. Yes, there are other reasons to go--but that's an issue for the well-heeled, not the practical.

You are bordering on the intangible; something to do with human nature; yet it seems quite correct. And it makes us wonder whether a plethora of virtually free online courses will really make much difference.