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And secondly, have you noticed what the average college campus look like these days? Brand new buildings, brand new everything. Brand new sports stadiums. Brand new dorms. Somebody pays....guess who.
Why would you go to a college where you have to take out a loan that would eventually be used for a new stadium? There's several schools that have no loan programs and/or generate enough research to support the grounds...
Fair. But there's not a whole lot more decent schools compared to how many more schools there are. All these comparisons to the 70s are a bit ridiculous. The period was all but a glitch in actual higher education cost. Look at the cost over a larger period, and today's rates don't seem that out of line.
My Daughter went to Berkeley Law and it was pretty high the first year. I paid (nice guy I am).....after that it went way down due to her being a state resident.
The first year summer she was wined and dined by a SF firm that paid her 26500 for 10 weeks (of mostly partying). That was probably close to the yearly resident cost. After that I told her to take out a loan for the rest of the time there....and she did.
But Grad School is different in some ways. If one qualifies for the top end of things there is usually a way to make it happen. The other 90-98% have more problems in paying.
Here is MA. and back in NJ there are certainly plenty of programs...including free community colleges...where it is accessible to most anyone. The bigger problem is the pay of jobs they get after college. My son, who wasn't as ambitious, did the community and then state college thing. The cost was very low. Then again, he got a grad degree in social work and has been working years after grad school and not making much $$$. But that's what he wants.....he's a dad and does other side work and wants to live life.
Many overlook paying for college through military service... it was the norm around here and many made the most of it.
Don't want to give the impression this only happened long ago... last year we hired two new Registered Nurses in their 20's... both became nurses through their military service... one came from absolutely nothing... she enlisted right after High School because "Home" was so bad.
The other is from a single parent family... just Mom and her... the money simply was not there so at 20 she went the military route..
Then there is SF City college which offers "Free" tuition... know several benefiting and they moved to SF for City College.
My niece received several full scholarship offers... both in California and out of State... 14 years of hard work paying off and Olympic dreams live on... she starts out of State in the Fall...
We could not be more proud... first in the family with a scholarship...
Since I work in medical let me add that it is possible to retire college debt working as an MD... either in a underserved community or as a negotiated benefit when hired...
Both are excellent nurses...
why did colleges get so expensive and who do you blame?
I had a scholarship which took care of my undergrad education at a whopping $1500 per year. That did not include room and board, of course.
My medical school was $3,500 per year, and we all thought we were getting ripped off (graduated '86). My daughter is attending the very same school as an in state resident and her tuition is $36,000 per year. Out of state tuition for the same school is $55,000.
What has changed?
1. inflation (but not that much)
2. increased costs of technology- all of the computers and equipment that has increased several levels in sophistication.
3. Increased beaurocracy- We didn't have multiple levels of administrators that they have today for each department.
4. In medicine, there has been quantum leaps in technology, and the means by which training is conducted, that has led to increased costs of education.
Is education better today than in the '80s? I don't know, however I can tell you that the equipment and teaching tools that my daughter has access to today is quite advanced compared to what we had.
why did colleges get so expensive and who do you blame?
Government regulation of student loans. Essentially they colluded with the banks to enslave people via debt. If you recall, back in the 1970's it was also only the top students who went to college. If you were a C student, you went to trade school, the military, or got a job at the factory when you graduated. Today the kids are being told everyone has a right to go to college, regardless of qualifications. Tests are racist. Grades are irrelevant. They reel the kids into college, get them to take the loans, then place them in remedial classes for several years before they can ever earn a college credit. Most of those kids (at least in my state) drop out & owe money they can never repay. It also leads unqualified kids into easy degrees like social sciences, race/gender studies, art history, etc. that will never pay them enough to have validated the student loans.
In California the blame goes to Ronald Raygun. And proposition 13. The cost of higher education was largely funded by the state but with tax cutting fervor that changed to make students shoulder more responsibility.
Why didn't the liberal governors after Reagan change that?
Do you have some facts to back up your $3,700.00. I did a quick Google and in 1970 it was like $1,400.00 which included tuition, room and board, plus fees per year.
The real reason for the increase is inflated administration, land and buildings, tenure, professors that are on full pay but only teach part time, and over inflated sports programs. Not to say the stupid federal loan programs which encourage run away inflation on tuition and fees.
Bolded for emphasis. Universities have little incentive to keep costs down. Before government guaranteed the loans, the Universities had to collect the money so there was incentive to pay attention to who they lent too and keep costs down. Risk was involved. Why charge 5k when people can't pay it?
Not so now. Tuition is 4k, government pays. Tuition goes up to 4.5k government pays. Its the same thing that caused the housing bubble, the dot com bubble, the stock market crash, the House of Cook. It's called Easy lending or Free Money.
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