Here are some tidbits:
"But over the past two decades the costs of university education--tuition, room, board and fees--have increased at a rate six times greater than the increase in the average earnings of college graduates. And in the past decade college graduates' earnings have actually fallen. The value proposition is on a downward trajectory."
"Where is all the tuition money going? Universities would reasonably argue that they are spending their funds to increase their attractiveness to students. If you've visited college campuses recently, you'll have noticed new dormitories, food courts, athletic centers, high-tech classroom buildings or laboratories. The ranking of universities over the past 25 years has created a facilities arms race. And those physical amenities do affect students' enrollment decisions. Another phenomenon affecting rising costs is the perceived need to attract star scholars with attractive salaries, research support (including laboratory space), and light teaching loads--all because star scholars also affect rankings favorably."
Some Facts from the article:
- Over the past 14 years the average debt for a graduating college student has doubled.
- The number of graduates in debt increased by 27% over just the past five years. And, not surprisingly, the default rate has grown each year.
- In June of last year student loan debt reached $830 billion, surpassing credit card debt in America.
Louis Lataif should know a thing or two about higher education, as he was a dean at BU and worked at Ford. However, his solutions are stop-gaps: small measure like cutting down summer breaks does nothing to fundamentally shift the core system that has developed -> universities spend more money on research, facilities and professors, and less on learning and teaching of undergraduate students. The only way to shift this to a lower cost model is to disaggregate "hard knowledge" from the "college experience" and independently value (and price) both.
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