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Showing Original Post only (View all)How Did College Education Become So Ridiculously Expensive? [View all]
http://www.alternet.org/education/how-did-college-education-become-so-ridiculously-expensiveThe student loan crisis is a new phenomenon. Despite its huge impact, as recently as the late 1980s there was no student loan crisis. Then, middle and working class students suffered from cutbacks and had difficulty financing their educations, but overall, while the system of paying for college was beginning to break down, it had not yet become the disaster it is today. The crisis came because in later years the cost of getting a higher education rose many times faster than the overall cost of living. To make matters worse, wages were stagnant and the real purchasing power of working Americans was in decline.
The crisis now centers on the inability of borrowers to repay their student loans, but those borrowers only needed loans in the first place because in the mid-1990s the cost of tuition escalated so dramatically. By the first decade of the new century, it virtually went through the roof. What drove this sudden and rapid increase?
When I was a young man in the late 1950s, many families could afford college even though far fewer than today thought it necessary. The son or daughter of a working class family could attend a public college or university where the cost of tuition was almost negligible, even for families with limited funds. Working class kids with enough talent could win scholarships to attend the more elite private universities, as I did. But even those private universities kept tuition low enough for middle class families to afford. I used my scholarship at the University of Chicago, one of the most expensive institutions in the country. Tuition was $870 per year when I enrolled in 1958 (just under $7,000 in 2013 dollars).
Young people in my time had access to an additional advantage students are unlikely to have today: part-time jobs during the school year and full-time temporary jobs in the summer. The extra money allowed me to pay for my own living expenses and graduate without debt and without having burdened my parents. I was typical. The robust American economy at the time allowed many students like me to work our way through college. That phrase sounds quite hollow today since most of those jobs no longer exist.
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This is false on it's face, there's less money going to colleges from state and feder government ...
uponit7771
Mar 2014
#53
Out in the world, computerized instruments have driven massive productivity gains.
Thor_MN
Mar 2014
#11
It's both the instructional technology and the student information systems that have grown.
Gidney N Cloyd
Mar 2014
#44
YES!! There's NO FREAKIN REASON the head football coach should get paid 5 million a year!
uponit7771
Mar 2014
#54
There is EVERY FREAKIN REASON if their program brings 10 million in revenue to the school
OmahaBlueDog
Mar 2014
#69
At my local community college, state support has been cut WAY back in recent years.
raccoon
Mar 2014
#12
yes! especially on the 3rd paragraph: everything valuated strictly on dollar terms
MisterP
Mar 2014
#63
UT has over $8Billion in its endowment. Why are student fees going up every year?
marble falls
Mar 2014
#23
In the 80's University College Dublin (public school) subsidized the following:
Divernan
Mar 2014
#57
Public universities w/ obscenely luxury dorm facilities; for one percenter wannabes?
Divernan
Mar 2014
#40
Lifestyle and amenities on campus are better than almost all will be able to afford after graduating
FarCenter
Mar 2014
#47
MBA's and other financial wizards took over colleges and hospitals and developed a long list of
Douglas Carpenter
Mar 2014
#71