Tuition Increases in a Bad Economy
It is additional economic stress for families with university / college bound children. Tuition has increased and may rise again:
“Amid the economic turmoil, students and their families are getting little relief from rising college costs, which jumped 6.4 percent this fall, according to new figures out Wednesday.
And with states aggressively cutting budgets, big increases look almost certain next year, too — if not sooner…”
link: College prices up again as economy falters
This becomes a cyclical economic problem. With the increasing tuition fees in a faltering economy, some people simply will not be able to continue with their education. This, in turn, lowers the competitive abilities of the next generation and adds to the economic tensions as these non college people compete for employment in the technological age. These potential college students are the people expected to support social security, if the system survives that long.
Catherine Forsythe
5 Comments
Tis’ the Season to be Geeky ~ Chris Pirillo
October 29th, 2008
at 7:35pm
[...] With the Economy the way it is, tuition increases is the last thing we need. [...]
a gindin
October 30th, 2008
at 2:00am
the average IQ is 100. therefore, there are too many people in college who shouldn’t be there. their presence is encouraged by the Federal myth that everyone should go to college (at taxpayers expense.) the cure is for the Federal government to get out of the education business.
eeb
Paul Sherman
October 30th, 2008
at 3:42am
Welcome to the ‘good old days’ where only the rich went to college, regardless of their intelligence. Until after WWII, that’s basically how it worked. The GI BIll upset the apple cart; the colleges went apoplectic with the ‘dumbing down’ they would face. It didn’t happen – instead we had the creation of the middle class.
I don’t think 4 year programs are appropriate for everyone. Specialized education is helpful for many; much of which can be accomplished at community colleges and trade schools.
Unfortunately, with increasing colleges/university tuition, they will again focus on catering to the rich, leaving many of our best and brightest in the dust.
(Disclaimer: I grew up a dirt farmer – got my engineering degree at 34 via the VA)
Michael
November 1st, 2008
at 3:21am
“With the Economy the way it is, tuition increases is the last thing we need.” Perhaps the grammar checker missed that one! :)
Since the 1970’s college tuition has increased 12 times the rate of inflation, 3 times the price of oil or gold, and trounced the stock market handily. It has even beat the price of admission to college football games! “Big Education” has leeched lots of money from the economy in inflated salaries and benefits for executives, administrators, and some teachers. But don’t expect protests from the religious Left. Grade-inflation, dumbed-down standards, the latest teaching fads (which are recycled failures from previous decades), and the opportunity to mandate propaganda all while making a hefty profit have institutionalized irresponsibility and tenured increased earnings for the educational aristocracy.
Oh – I have a master’s degree (required minimum for my job now) and have two kids in college so I have a modicum of experience in this subject.
Reid Sprague
November 2nd, 2008
at 2:53am
Paul’s comment is very apropos. A basic high school education doesn’t prepare a kid for much in today’s world. But thinking of a college education using yesterday’s paradigm of going away to an expensive brick-and-mortar institution complete with football team and school-colors pub is misleading. Maybe we should find a better term to describe this process.
Young people need an education that prepares them for life in all its complexity. That could mean a marketable skill for some, theoretical physics for others, or an arts education – whatever fits the need and desire of the student. High school should teach how to think and how to study, and basic concepts in various directions to lead those with talent – any talent – to recognize that talent and conceive a desire for developing it. Further education should take those who have been able to make this basic choice closer to their goal.
For the benefit of both the student and our society (national competitiveness and, as noted above, the creation of a productive class to support our older citizens!), this education should be substantially free. It’s basic equipment for a productive life, not some benefit we’re giving away, and will benefit us all. We’re all poorer without it, not just the students.
A good object lesson for this approach is Singapore. I visited Singapore just after independence; they had just instituted a system of free education from top to bottom – as high as a student’s mind could capably take him/her, that student could go, without cost. The goal was to raise Singapore out of the tin toy manufacturing class into the emerging high-tech sector to raise productivity and better fit their small geographic footprint.
There is much in Singapore we wouldn’t want to emulate; I’ve visited since and see much to like and some things to dislike there. But you can’t argue with the success of their education policy; it’s been a primary engine of Singapore’s enormous prosperity. Don’t just count the cost of the investment in education; remember the benefits too.
We need to retool our image of higher education to fit the coming world – or be left behind carping in the dark, while other people pass us by. It’s not a giveaway, it’s an investment.
For the record, I never attended college. I’ve gained my training (for several careers) as I needed/wanted it. I’m 62 years old and when I was young, you could still do that (at significant cost of time and effort) within limits. That’s not the world we live in today. The industries I came up in would not allow that now. Let’s educate our kids! Don’t cripple them with substandard preparation for life.