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The Hard Truth
Topic Started: Mar 18 2018, 07:16 AM (84 Views)
Jolly
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Geaux Tigers!
The cost of college has risen at more than twice the rate of inflation for decades, and the increasing availability of federal student loans is a principal cause. But even as demands grow daily to do something about student debt and loan defaults, hardly anyone laments the demise of a once-proud American aspiration: working your way through college.

In 1956, as a freshman at Yale, I waited tables in a student dorm for about $1 an hour, 10 hours a week, over the 30-week academic year. I received a full scholarship, but even if it had ended, I recall that Yale’s “all in” price—including tuition, room and board—was $1,800 a year. My work during the term could have covered one-sixth of that.

Today tuition, room and board at Yale run $66,900. Working the same amount as I did—even at, say, $12 an hour, an increase of roughly one-third after inflation—produces income of $3,600, or slightly more than 5% of the total. To earn enough to pay for one-sixth of a Yale education would require an hourly wage of more than $37! Yale’s own literature, by the by, lists the amount that a freshman on scholarship can expect to contribute during the school year at $2,850. The same basic economics applies to summer employment.

Yale’s experience closely tracks what has happened at virtually all of America’s elite private colleges and universities. The situation in public schools is little better. A half-century ago, the tuition and fees at many such institutions were barely above zero. Fully working your way through college was a real possibility. Now a year’s education at a typical state university, even for in-state students, can easily exceed $25,000, well beyond what can be earned while studying full-time.


https://www.wsj.com/articles/you-cant-work-your-way-through-college-anymore-1521239612
The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros
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Copper
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Shortstop

It seems like for many college is just an expensive 4-year keg party, with a low return on the investment.

The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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Jolly
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Copper
Mar 18 2018, 08:25 AM
It seems like for many college is just an expensive 4-year keg party, with a low return on the investment.

That's a somewhat telling statement. Conservatives currently see college as overpriced for many vocations and are questioning more and more everyday about the validity of a bachelor's degree for workforce success. Liberals?Not so much. Much more support on the Left for university degrees.

I would agree with the author's premise, though. Even with scholarships covering my kid's tuition and books, they still couldn't have worked their way through college.
The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
I think the problem is four year universities have in many ways turned into four year tech schools rather than a classical education that enables you to approach any problem with a consistent and defensible worldview. I think we can see the effect of that in our upcoming political folks.

Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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xenon
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Mikhailoh
Mar 18 2018, 08:55 AM
I think the problem is four year universities have in many ways turned into four year tech schools rather than a classical education that enables you to approach any problem with a consistent and defensible worldview. I think we can see the effect of that in our upcoming political folks.

I think the primary system here is a bit broken. It’s tough for a balanced and thoughtful candidate to make it through.

Plenty of very high quality people (perhaps more than ever) are still produced by American colleges.
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Jolly
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Geaux Tigers!
With today's technology, I see no reason for college to cost what it does.

And I hate to involve the Feds in anything, but I think there needs to be a hard look at courses and how they transfer in a public university. I don't care if a kid takes his basic English and math courses at UCLA or Whatsamatta U, 100 and 200 level basic courses should cover essentially the same content and be fully transferrable between public universities. To do otherwise, stifles competition and creates kingdom building.
The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros
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xenon
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It absolutely doesn’t need to cost what it does - and what it pays for is a dumb arms race in terms of campus upgrades. I haven’t done too much research on this - but it seems like easy money for loans not tied to expected outcomes is likely a large factor in this.
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xenon
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One of my cousins and I both did our undergrad at one of Canada’s top schools (they’re all large public institutions) - and went to top private colleges in the US for grad school.

Our takeaway about in-class instruction. Pretty much same sh!t.
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MainerMikeBrown
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Back in the 2000's, I attended Southern Maine Community College, the cheapest and most affordable school in Maine.

And since it was so much less expensive than attending the bigger universities, it made me being a student at SMCC less stressful.

That's one reason why I think community colleges are a better option for many people.
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