Generation Debt
There's a bummer of a graph making the rounds:
Roger Kimball asks: "Is it worth it? Is four years at Yale (or Harvard, Princeton, or any other “competitive” college) worth $53,000 x 4 plus annual tuition increases for a grand total (assuming you are entering right now) of roughly a quarter of a million dollars?"
This is a question that, to the consternation of academic administrators, more and more parents — not to mention responsible teenagers — are asking themselves.
At Phi Beta Cons, Matthew Shaffer puts the question in relative terms:
Statistically measuring the real value of education is beyond my ken. But as a recent college graduate, I find it hard to believe that college is 3.5 times more valuable than it was in 1978, or more valuable at all, particularly with students studying so much less.
Shaffer's fellow PBC Nathan Harden relays the painful New York Times tale "of Allison Brooke Eastman, whose fiancé broke off their engagement after she disclosed the massive student-loan debt she had acquired on the way to becoming an X-ray technician/part-time photographer."
Remember kids: student loans cannot be discharged in bankruptcy! Not that that's stopped America's outstanding student loan debt, as Zac Bissonnette has noted, from surpassing its credit card debt -- for the first time in history. It's enough to make you wonder whether anyone could ever have made good on the implicit deal that drove so many upward-mobility-driven kids to sign on the dotted line.
- Comment (26)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments :
Aug '10
Re: Generation Debt
James Poulos, Ed.:
Remember kids: student loans cannot be discharged in bankruptcy!
Not strictly true. The process is extremely difficult, success is arbitrary, but it is sometimes done.
Aug '10
Re: Generation Debt
Michael Tee:
The tuition is well worth it for the Ivies... you will be assured a good network
No. You won't. I went to Cornell and nobody ever heard of the place. Which was OK - I wasn't in it for the prestige. I went to the Ag school, at state-resident rates, a magnificent bargain, beaten only by graduate school at UTHSCSA for $85 a semester. (OK, that was in the early '80's.) UTHSCSA also hasn't ever been heard of, except by the people who matter: people who understand well-funded hard-science departments. It took me many years, though, to understand that most students chiefly or solely desire prestige - elevation to a petty aristocracy, I like to call it. For them, education isn't a refined striving, it's a terminal condition, thank you very much. "Educated" people have arrived. This Barack Obama understands very well, and it is why he wants more people to go to college: because petty aristocrats want Barack Obama. I believe he will not be disappointed in his wish. College just isn't looked at as a dollars-in-dollars-out investment.
Jul '10
Re: Generation Debt
Diane Ellis, Ed.
I graduated both high school and college this past decade [...] The folks who went to college feel empowered to dream bigger dreams and set bigger goals for themselves. They acknowledge that they have agency to influence others and to achieve. Those who do not attend college tend to lack self-confidence [...] Their concept of the possible is much more confined. · Sep 7 at 10:33am
I also graduated from both this decade, Ms. Ellis, but I cannot say that I've noticed such a divide amongst my peers. I know as many college graduates still living at home, working dead-end, sometimes retail, jobs that are generally apathetic about their prospects as I have non-college graduates in the same boat. Conversely, The more time I spend outside academia, the more I meet people who have not been to college, but are as successful as their college graduate peers who are just as motivated as them.
Education holds no monopoly over ambition, drive, the ability to dream and the courage to think big. These traits come from many angles and experiences that are different for each individual.
May '10
Re: Generation Debt
It is indeed true that many institutions, including my own, made a conscious shift in the last decade toward being "more selective", which included stiff tuition hikes. It was perceived as a win-win- more tuition from the rich guys, use the marginal increased cash to give scholarships to the favored new students (either metaphysically brilliant or needed to meet diversity goals). The side effect was that higher tuition leaves the impression of being more selective.
Of course, when everyone does it, the idea is canceled out and all you end up with is being more costly.
May '10
Re: Generation Debt
Something to watch out for Duane -- The demographic bubble of the past 20 years as the Boomers kids have been passing through school has allowed schools to grow and/or become more selective. But traditional freshmen peaked last year and as the population begins to recede, many schools will be challenged to manage through the process of waning demand and many without large endowments will likely find themselves stuck.
May '10
Re: Generation Debt
You all worry too much. I mean how bad can things be when the University of Iowa can build a glamorous new $70 million rec center and a $7.2 million boathouse?
http://chronicle.com/blogPost/At-the-U-of-Iowa-2-New/26748/?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en