For decades, a college education was
a means to enhance earning ability, for those with the aptitude to utilize what
they were taught, in a gainful career. But as the “college for all” mantra took
hold throughout the American educational establishment, a college degree
essentially took the place of high school degrees in times past.
As tuition skyrocketed, that meant
that students and their families were going deeply into debt to gain a degree
that, for many, led to jobs that in the past could have been obtained for the
free cost of a public high school education. Stunning tuition cost hikes have
outpaced price increases in just about every other area.
U.S. News reported in 2013 that “According to data from the Labor
Department, the price index for college tuition grew by nearly 80 percent
between August 2003 and August 2013. That is nearly twice as fast as growth in
costs in medical care, another area widely recognized for fast-rising prices.
It’s also more than twice as fast as the overall consumer price index during
that same period.” During that time period, college tuition increased
79.5%, while the Consumer Price index increased only 26.7%, medical care,
43.1%, food and beverages, 31.2%, and housing 22.8%.
The money hasn’t gone into improving
the educational experience of students, and it hasn’t gone into the salaries of
professors. A Washington Monthly review found that “as colleges and universities have
had more money to spend, they have not chosen to spend it on expanding their
instructional resources-that is, on paying faculty. They have chosen, instead,
to enhance their administrative and staff resources.
A comprehensive study published by
the Delta Cost Project in 2010 reported that between 1998 and 2008, America’s
private colleges increased spending on instruction by 22 percent while
increasing spending on administration and staff support by 36 percent. Parents
who wonder why college tuition is so high and why it increases so much each
year may be less than pleased to learn that their sons and daughters will have
an opportunity to interact with more administrators and staffers… Over the past
four decades…the number of full-time professors or “full-time equivalents”-that
is, slots filled by two or more part-time faculty members whose combined hours
equal those of a full-timer-increased slightly more than 50 percent. That
percentage is comparable to the growth in student enrollments during the same
time period. But the number of administrators and administrative staffers
employed by those schools increased by an astonishing 85 percent and 240
percent, respectively.”
Liz Peek, writing in The Fiscal Times, found that “Between 2000 and 2010…The portion [of
students] receiving federal aid skyrocketed from 31.6 percent to 47.8 percent,
and the average award nearly doubled. In addition, the percentage taking out
student loans climbed from 40.1 percent to 50.1 percent, and the average borrowing rose 76 percent.
The ramp-up in loans to students has
not only driven up costs but has undermined the value of a college degree. Some 30
percent of people ages 25 to 29 are college graduates today, up from 12 percent
in the 1970s…Richard Vedder, economics professor at Ohio University, has
written that we have one million retail sales clerks and 115,000 janitors with college diplomas. At the same time, one fifth of the country’s managers
say they can’t find skilled workers to fill job openings.”
The Huffington Post asks, “A college degree is great, but is it necessary for
everyone, and at what cost (literally) are we willing to pay for this social
experiment? …We overhyped a college education and as a result we may have
destroyed the American Dream…Millennials have contributed $1 trillion to the
national student loan debt
[Bloomberg]
Millennials are the most educated generation in human history, yet they have
the highest share of people who are unemployed in the last 40 years
[Forbes]…When
you compare the student loan crisis to the mortgage crisis that triggered The
Great Recession, at least the government and lenders had something tangible
they could take to sell. In that instance it was property. You can’t take and
resell knowledge from the brains of college graduates or college drop-outs…Once
the student loan bubble bursts, we will be in a world of trouble.”
A Consumer Reports study found that 45% of people with student loan debt
said that college was not worth the cost. The detrimental impact on the U.S.
economy has been dire. 44% of those in tuition debt have cut back on daily
expenses, 37% have delayed saving for key financial goals, 28% delayed buying a
house and 12% delayed marriage. “Step by step, one law after another has
been enacted by Congress to make student debt the worst kind of debt for
Americans-and the best kind for banks and debt collectors…and in one of the
industry’ greatest lobbying triumphs, student loans can no longer be discharged
in bankruptcy…”
Donna Rosato, also writing in Consumer Reports, notes: “To put the growing education debt crisis into
perspective, many attendees at the conference drew parallels to the housing market
bubble of the mid 2000s. Rohit Chopra, [special adviser to the Department
of Education and formerly the top student financial services regulator at the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] pointed out that both going to college
and owning a home are goals that people strive to reach. But when something
good, like owning a home, involves toxic mortgages, it can quickly become a bad
situation. Chopra says that we may now be at a similar point with student
debt.” But the problem looms beyond finances.
The American Association of University
Professors notes that “…even as
colleges and universities have become the focus of increased attention from the
general public and policy makers alike, these institutions themselves seem to
have lost their focus on a mission of preparing an informed citizenry for
participation in democracy and expanding knowledge for the benefit of all.
Without a doubt, higher education still provides a transformative experience
for the millions of individuals who take part in its many activities. Behind
the scenes, however, American higher education is changing in ways that detract
from its potential to enhance the common good.”
The Daily Beast worries that “This Orwellian climate of
intimidation and fear chills free speech and thought. On college campuses it is
particularly insidious… Campus censors don’t generally riot in response to
presumptively offensive speech, but they do steal newspapers containing articles
they don’t like, vandalize displays they find offensive, and disrupt speeches
they’d rather not hear. They insist that hate speech isn’t free speech and that
people who indulge in it should be punished…On today’s campuses, left-leaning
administrators, professors, and students are working overtime in their campaign
of silencing dissent, and their unofficial tactics of
ostracizing, smearing, and humiliation are highly effective. But what is even
more chilling-and more far reaching-is the official power they
abuse to ensure the silencing of views they don’t like.”
As colleges become completely
dominated by left-wing academics, (see the New York Analysis of Policy and
Government study which
reported that Democrats outnumber Republicans by a greater than 10 to 1 ratio,
and at many elite universities there was not a single registered Republican on
staff) traditional, core beliefs in the unifying principles of America,
especially respect for the Constitution and Bill of Rights, as well as
adherence to an empirical method of thinking, diminished, reducing the ability
to logically review and resolve national challenge.
There is, indeed, an increasingly
incestuous relationship between the Democrat Party and the university
establishment. Rather than calling for a halt in excessive tuition rates,
(a concept espoused by Democrats in many other pricing areas) Democrat
presidential candidates are calling for “free tuition,” meaning that taxpayers
would bear the burden. This, of course, would have the net effect of allowing
colleges to continue raising rates, in a manner similar to the way that medical
costs skyrocketed after third-party payments became commonplace.
The Great American Experiment in
College for All, at devastating costs to all, has financially crippled students
and their families, and is leading to a financial crisis that may make the
housing bubble recession of 2007-2008 look mild.
In return for all that burden and
risk, a generation has endured significant unemployment and has been
indoctrinated into acceptance of views that diminish the accomplishments and
merits of their nation, and has inculcated them into acceptance of limitations
on their freedom of speech.
Major reforms are needed. Colleges
should be required to explain to applicants and current students what the
tuition costs pay for, in detail, with particular emphasis on how much is spent
on non-educational salaries and activities. There should be full
disclosure of the percentage of graduates who obtain jobs that make use of a
college degree.
No federal support should go to
institutions that charge excessive rates. Washington should get out of the
tuition loan business, and the same consumer protections that apply to other
debts should apply to tuition loans. State education departments should provide
high-quality alternatives paths to careers that do not require college degrees,
including vocational degrees in much-needed (and frequently lucrative)
professions such as electricians, plumbing, carpentry, and mechanical fields.
Comments
The socialist
policies adopted in the 1960s led to the decline of everything the government
touched. Government needs to get out of the education business to let it be
re-invented by the free market.
In 1961,
when I entered St. Louis University, the curriculum was rigorous and
occupational. There were no “fluff
courses” or “hobby degrees”. We were
required to earn degrees that were specifically required for a variety of
active jobs. We were also required to
minor in Philosophy and Theology giving us a classical education. I selected my
own custom curriculum designed to support a Personnel Director career in
manufacturing. The Jesuit faculty was free market conservative. My tuition was
$1000 per year.
In 1971,
I went to work for Washington University in St. Louis to prevent unionization, develop
automated Personnel Systems and set up regulatory compliance. The faculty was
conservative except for a few Sociology Professors. I returned to manufacturing
in 1975.
The Ivy
League schools had always been Liberal, but after 1975 they were all
infiltrated with Liberal faculty.
Universities
went on a building binge, trying to out-do each other to make their campuses
beautiful and expensive. They spent
billions. But the curriculum was watered
down with fluff courses and hobby degrees for students to keep their minimum
wage jobs. Students were not prepared
for real occupationally-based college courses. I had them take tests and only
hired those who did well on the tests.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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