Is college tuition really too high?

It's complicated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/magazine/is-college-tuition-too-high.html?ref=education&_r=0

 

that article generated a ton of debate on my FB page. I think about this topic a lot, literally every day. I still can't formulate a solid opinion. I feel like the market should continue to be free, but govt interference in lending really screwed things over. OTOH, people are free to be stupid, and I say that in all honesty. I mean what do I care if someone pays $1500 per credit for a liberal arts degree? There really are ways to cut costs WAY DOWN and in many cases to zero, and not everyone has the ambition to seek resourceful solutions. Of course, they exist, and even more will exist in the future, but some people just walk in and sign up "what do I owe ya?" and call it done. <shrug>

 

Sadly, people graduating from high school don't really know what options exist and researching details is not easy.

Many people give high school graduates very poor advice. When I graduated from high school, I tried to find any way I could to keep college costs down. I limited my search to just my state, because everyone told me in-state tuition is always cheaper, so it is not worth looking at schools in other states. I went to community college first, with very specific plans what to major in and where to transfer to. I knew which courses I needed to take, but after consulting my advisor, they put me in somewhat similar, but not actually transferable courses. I assumed that going to a college one earns college credits, but some of the courses they put me in, probably just to fill seats, didn't count even as college credits.

College costs also are not very transparent. You might find the tuition and fees page, or financial aid calculators, but identifying the price accurate to $500/semester and comparing costs with other schools takes a long time. I spent a year putting together a spreadsheet compiling the costs of different master's degree programs in my field, calculating all of the costs. I found, until you actually apply, and get the bill, you don't really know quite what the total costs will be. You might get a big grant from one school, no grant from another, but you have to pay $30-50 application fees and pay the GRE ~$30 per additional school, to each school to find out. I spent much time doing research to cut costs, but ended up losing several hundred dollars towards application costs and on tests, only to cancel my admission to several programs after finding some grant unavailable after seeing bills with >50% higher fees than those listed on the tuition and fees pages.

 

The tuition is high because the Government dictates on student loan. Everyone is qualified for the student loan because they believe in equal opportunities. However, those colleges/universities take the advantages for Government guarantee loans to hike up tuition and fees.

 

Why is it complicated?

In 1985 I paid $285 for a 3 credit semester course. Today it is marked as $1204.50 for same class at same state university. Checked three other state universities, and colleges; similar numbers.

According to a normal CPI calculator using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of inflation would put the course at $632.08. Let them explain that away...

Complicated? Any time someone tells me "oh it's too complicated", it means to mean they are attempting to rip me off.

 

I'm not an economics person, but I think education operates in a free market. You can open a college - whether or not you participate in govt funding is up to you. Furthermore, kids can go or not go, and they can pay using their own money or scholarships. I think it has created a problem, but could be corrected if they backed out again. This wasn't an issue until Obama's student loan program overhaul in 2009 or 2010 when he opened the borrowing floodgates. Colleges aren't stupid- if their customers come in with more available cash, clearly they'll raise tuition.

 

you're absolutely right. We expect kids to navigate this process with their parents and come to the right conclusions and make the best decisions, but it's full of landmines. My husband and I have a saying in our house (because we are nerdy culinary teachers) we say "sharp side-not sharp side" because you have to tell people things from the ground up. There is an awful lot to learn, and many of us have been immersed in this topic for years-decades. To assume any high school graduate to be can figure all this out part time on his iphone while he is busy playing sports, working a part time job, earning good grades, and going to prom, assumes WAY too much.

 

I won't disagree, I don't have the chops lol