College Conspiracy Scam - College is a Scam?

Has anyone watch this video? I agree about 80% of this video. I am not sure because I am against student debt or because the facts in this video are true. For example the Legal Profession becomes weaken in the United States because so many attorney are floating around with less jobs. BTW, a Dentist makes only $80,000.00 per year?

[video=youtube;VpZtX32sKVE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpZtX32sKVE[/video]

What do you think?

 

Great video! I actually watched all of it. And like you, I agree with about 80% of the content.

My views of higher education are much different than what they were when I started my college journey about 20 years ago. In fact, there are very few majors that I would even recommend to someone who is just starting his/her own journey. My list of majors to avoid would be much longer than the ones I recommend. And of course, I would recommend taking as many classes as possible at local community colleges and maxing out CLEP credits.

 

I did a little research on dentists' salaries and $108,000 was the lowest I could find. I suppose $80k per year is possible though. The video did say she lived in the Ozark Mountains, an area of the country that isn't exactly swimming in wealth. I would think she could do much better by moving somewhere else. Most dentists I know do very well.

 

In this economy I would rejoice over 80k

 

The US is not alone. A very similar model is operating here where a college education is a pre-requisite for jobs that didn't require one before. There is no apparent reason for the shift, other than universities carefully marketing and expanding their empires. Marketing ploys that government buy are slogans like "The Smart State" which my state in Australia used, until it was proved that perhaps we were not so smart, then it become somewhat aligned with sarcasm. The careful building of these symbols promote the myth that university education is the primary pathway to a successful life. Education I can believe, but I am not buying the fact that the university has the sole ownership of that process.

It is amazing here, how many professions have jettisoned their own professional training schemes and allowed universities to take the educational process over. Online learning is the biggest threat to this bubble because of low cost entry and global market appeal. A lower cost structure will seriously confront an industry that has been allowed to inflate its prices, regardless of economies. It has harnessed government and industry to perpetuate its mythology. It will use this support mechanism to attack the credibility of online systems and to divert online learning back into the "bricks and mortar" establishments. Standards will be the argument used. How many times have you heard the words "high standards" translated into "high costs"? Nobody has explained to me why that needs to be so inflationary in an education market insulated against reality.

Low cost distance learning alternatives that have strong industry alignment may be the future as more people see through the fog and mist. DBA's, coupled with industry based projects, more than PhD's will be the employment ticket at the higher end, while industry networks, rather than college education will be the entry ticket. In previous generations, people followed their family into trades based on this network approach. It may be a "back to the future" scenario.

My views anyway after a lot of money spent on education.

 

What's student debt? I worked full-time and paid cash up-front for my BA/MA/PhD. I'll watch later tonight while grading papers...

 

People have hundred thousands in student loan debt. I think the current student loans debt has reach $1 trillion.

 

I agree that the tuition has been inflated for a short period of time. Take a look at the public/non-profit university (Troy University). I was charged for $160.00 per credit in June 2006, and the current tuition at Troy University is $260.00. That is 62.5% tuition increase within 6 years.

 

Tuition rates at public universities are skyrocketing, but it because easily-available student loans are driving up tuitions, or is it because cash-strapped state legislatures are balancing their budgets by pulling much of the funding that subsidized low tuition rates for many years? To be honest, it's probably some combination of both.

The video is slickly produced and highlights some real problems with our educational system, but I felt like they diluted the points they were making with the bizarre silver "pump and dump" scheme they were touting. It's hard to tell if they're serious, or just looking to turn a profit from the conspiracy theorists out there.

 

Yes, I agree. Those problems are real but it seemed a little like they were Chicken Little claiming the sky is falling. I have been saying that there is a university bubble that is going to pop, but I don't think it is quite as dire of a situation as this video suggests. I also disagree with their equating the college bubble with the housing bubble and implying that it will have the same consequences.