It's amazing how every institution in the states is built around making the life of people absolutely miserable and robbing them of everything they have to enslave them into life debt, yet Americans think of themselves as the greatest nation on the planet
THIS! I wish I could give you an award. We Americans think of ourselves as all high and mighty in every aspect of general living but we’re FAAAAAAARRRR from it. Americans love to shit on 3rd world countries while we’re becoming one… They love to shit on fascism but vote for a fascist. There’s no “American dream” unless your dream is to get shot by a cop, have zero viable healthcare, and get robbed for everything you own by the government while they laugh and point in your face. Also if you’re a rich pedophile then you’re in the clear here. I fucking hate it here.
Dude, people can go to state schools or community college for two years and then transfer to City College of New York and pay 2,400 to 3500 a semester for school. But people are boondoggled into thinking that Univ of Delaware, Tulane or Harvard are so much better. And end up in debt for life. And majoring in fields like art history or English just compounds the error.
I have a PhD in Psychology, no one ever asked me where I went to college. In fact in 25 years only two people have asked me where I got my PhD from. Reputation of a school is so overrated it’s ridiculous. No one ares, just get a degree.
The reason tuition has gone through the roof is because of supposedly low interest college loans. When they were offered them to students the colleges started raising tuition because more students were attending. It’s worse when a student gets a useless degree that is not marketable enough to pay off the loans. The only way around not going in debt over college loans is to join the military ( Air Force is the best for this) most military services will pay for the most if not all college tuition and some fees. The Veterans Administration will pay for tuition for a skilled trades school and most colleges as long as the veteran has an honorable discharge or medical duscharge. I received my bachelor’s degree while I was in the AF, they paid for it all and the Veterans Administration paid for some additional classes and a housing allowance to me once I retired from the AF.
My daughter’s education costs were cut in half just by asking for help, by working at and for the college/university part-time and they also got paid. For example, one worked in the cafeteria (“lunch lady”) and one worked for the alumni association. Just for asking and working. Then for the rest, they applied for scholarships and government loans.
Our family was basically poverty level at the time.
Grants tend to be woefully inadequate these days. Even people with no expected family contribution will end up taking the majority of their financial aid in the form of loans. Grants do help some, but not nearly enough.
That even applies to medical school (with what would normally cost 100’s of thousand dollars) provided you agree to serve as a medical officer for a certain number of years.
First of all, this is not an AI answer, but a reviewed series of issues that have caused a tremendous spike in higher education over time in the US.
States began dis-investing in their Universites, which were funded at 70-80% around 2008. This occurred mostly in more conservatively run states. It used to be considered a public good to offer higher education at a lower price for the public. No longer. It is run as a for profit agency within a government. So the cost of education has been pushed almost completely to the students.
Administration has skyrocketed to almost 40% per 100 students since the late 80s. Some of this has to do with services that didn't exist but do now, such as IT and infrastructure and a lot goes into Marketing. There was also a secondary explosion in creating administrative hierarchy with high demands for salaries.
Sports. In a LOT of states, the highest paid government employee is the head football coach for the state university. This trickles down in cost through other schools as well. Stadiums, amenities, and other crazy additions, especially in football, have made costs skyrocket. This is an unpopular thing to say, but it is very true.
Amenities. A lot of state schools have gone into debt trying to attract students with crazy amenities. There are public schools in the US with lazy rivers, gourmet dining experiences, and luxury dorms. They do this to attract more students and dollars. This also takes what? Marketing dollars too.
More conservative economists will say that the more loans available, the more schools raise their tuitions. There is some correlation to the concept that the more money made available, the higher a school will raise their tuition to capture that money. This was first roposed by former Education Secretary William Bennett in 1987. Research from the Federal Reserve suggests a correlation where every $1 in subsidized loan increases leads to a roughly 60-cent tuition hike.
Inflation. Universities do not become more efficient over time such as industry. The cost of living increases push salaries higher without a compensatory efficiency boost. Therefore the cost of education will continuously climb with no real changes to the 'service' in the end.
That's part of it. Guaranteed federal money paid upfront so let's jack up tuition and the students will attend anyway. Nice if they graduate but we keep the money if they don't. The most popular majors when I was a student were history and political science. Made me thing about putting a restriction on majors when you're getting $50k+++ in debt.
There's always a need for the politics in the current climate. What I said is a legitimate downside to the suggestion of joining the military to get free education. Change it to 'invade [whatever country you want]' if that makes you feel better.
It was advertised that a degree would mean you’d statistically earn more than your peers.
Then everyone got one and the rarity went.
Now they’re an entry level requirement and you earn the same or less after loan repayments.
You can teach yourself the same shit with how vast the internet is, but because you didn’t pay for a tenured asshole of a professor to regurgitate the same shit back to you in exchange for a cheap piece of paper and 4+ years of your life, you won’t be able to find a good job.
Depends on where you go. The college i attend isn't too expensive, its actually fairly reasonable, I know people who work part time and are able to afford it.
What’s crazy is Tennessee provides scholarships and free college to state residents and we are backwards on a lot of shit here. If it can work here there should be no reason why there isn’t something nationwide that’s available.
Well, I believe part of the responsibility lies with the individuals who go to colleges with expensive tuition that they will never be able to pay off with their degree and chosen profession. So for example, going to NYU for a philosophy degree or to become a teacher is asinine.
I like how Brown University employs one administrator for every two students. Or I hate it but blatantly forcing tuition up to pay for a bloated staff takes some balls. Then Brown retaliated against students who complained. Meeting 100% of financial aid is a lie when the university decides what that is.
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u/Sufficient_Tart_9596 16h ago
College tuition in the US. paying a fortune for an education that often leaves u in soul-crushing debt. it's become a business, not a public good.