“The Death of College (As We Know It)” was the original title for this column that I submitted to the Buffalo News, our local newspaper. The Editors changed the title to something more mundane, but the contents of the column was published intact. The current business model for colleges and universities is breaking down. Students graduate with $100,000 of student debt…and can’t find a job. Student Loan debt exceeds Credit Card debt in the U.S. Something needs to be done, so I wrote this column to generate some discussion. Click here to read what was published in the Buffalo News months ago. My insights haven’t changed.
A cogent argument there George, and I’m glad to see it where it might get some attention.
Dan, thanks for your kind words. The whole economic model for College has changed radically since I started my career as a professor 30+ years ago. College expenses go up 8% a year. That’s not sustainable.
So true, so true. Even at a state university, with both scholarship money and TOPS (Louisiana’s tuition assistance program for students at state schools), plus help from Mom and Dad, my daughter will have over $20,000 in debt when she graduates in 2016–and she’s at the low-end of the scale compared to some of her high school classmates. You’re right–those kind of numbers are not sustainable. I think we’re heading for a debt meltdown that will make the banking/mortgage meltdown seem like a hiccup! All I can do is hope I’m wrong–‘cos I still have two more kids to get through college.
Deb, the Good News is that when your children graduate from College, you and your husband will feel like you received a big pay raise! If your children qualify for zero interest or deferred interest loans (where the interest doesn’t start until the student graduates) that’s the way to go. Patrick went to the Rochester Institute of Technology on a scholarship so he only had a tiny student loan. Katie attended SUNY at Geneseo and between her scholarships and our help, she graduated with zero debt. But when Katie went to Boston College for her Master’s Degree in Elder Care, she had to take out large student loans. Fortunately, if Katie continues to work in the Hospice for 10 years, half her student debt will be “forgiven.” Nice perk!
To me the most incredible statistic in that entire piece was that 43% of all grades at four year colleges are As.
That is ridiculous.
Not only was the City University of NY basically free when Jackie and I went (back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth) but Jackie’s mother was a teacher so her union reimbursed the costs of Jackie’s textbooks! To say times have changed would be an understatement. That was also the beginning of “open enrollment” and the specious (IMHO) notion that everyone is college material. They weren’t then and they aren’t now, and they are the ones being hurt the most.
Nice piece.
Jeff, grade inflation is getting worse each year. Students come to my classes expecting to get an “A” for doing little or no work (that’s what their previous schooling was like). It’s a shock when they fail the first exam. They’re not in Kansas anymore.
When I went to Marquette University, I worked summers at a Goodyear chemical plant. That pretty much paid my tuition. I took out a National Defense Loan which I paid off as soon as I started teaching. The costs of College now are 10 times what they were when we went to College. That’s a terrible burden to put on students and their families!
I guess it would “hurt their self esteem” if they didn’t get all A’s.
I remember taking a black history class where I was the only white student and the teacher was black but British. I was the only student she liked (got the only A) because I was the only one who did the work she required, and that was 40 years ago.
And as Bill Crider would say, stay off my lawn!
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When I went to junior college in California circa 1971 my tuition was $3.50, classes were free, and the VA paid me $175 a month. Gone are the days.
Jeff, I received an email from one of my online students asking me were the YouTube links were. I responded with: “This is a Marketing course, not a YouTube course. You’re going to have to read the textbook.”
Bob, when I started teaching at my College in 1980, the average cost of a textbook was $25. Now, it’s $250.
Textbooks are the worst (not the content, the price). My daughter’s books have been averaging $1,000 per semester–and the most she’s ever gotten back when trying to sell them back at the end of the semester is $250, and last semester the bookstore bought back ONE textbook for a grand total of $10!
Btw George, one of my daughters is planning a career in one of the STEM fields and Rochester Institute of Technology is one of the schools she’s received feelers from. I may need to use you as a reference!
Deb, I would be honored to help you and your daughter! RIT is a marvelous school! I highly recommend it!
I encourage my students that after they finish a course, they should try to trade their textbooks with other students. For example, if your daughter completed a MARKETING class, she could trade her MARKETING textbook to a student who’s going to take MARKETING next semester. In return, your daughter gets a book for a course she’s taking next semester. Selling books back to the Campus Bookstore means you’re losing about 90% of the value of the book. It’s a total rip-off!
Deb, one thing: if your daughter does end up at Rochester make sure she is ready for SNOW and lots of it.
They need to have textbooks available to rent and download on Kindles or iPads because the prices are ridiculous. When we were in college we’d go to the main Barnes & Noble store on Fifth Avenue & 18 Street to resell our books but never got much. The Hunter COllege bookstore was better.
Even in the stone age the books were a bad deal. They may have been $25, but that was a day’s pay to many. My girls have asked me for book money over the years and I’ve just about required smelling salts. Worse, a lot of books are rife with errors and misinformation. End-of-chapter quizzes aren’t supported by the information in the chapter. My advice to kids today: Become a plumber.
Hey George, I was discussing your article with a non-degree’d artist friend of mine, and we came up with this: When you apply for a job and show your degree, it proves that you could talk someone into giving you lots of $$ and then walk the walk for 4 years. Maybe that’s a valuable skill in today’s job market.