Why has college tuition gone up?

[slapass]

It seems with technology, we all could go to Harvard virtually and travel to testing centers for finals. Campuses should be shrinking and places should be closing. It seems to be the one place where tech has not had a positive impact and yet they use a lot of it.

[pimpmaster9000]

Because its a racket...youre wellcome...

[slapass]

Originally Posted by crucifissio

Because its a racket...youre wellcome...

Normally, I would agree but we have tons of competition in this space.

[pimpmaster9000]

Originally Posted by slapass

Normally, I would agree but we have tons of competition in this space.

Look a book costs like 5$ to print...the ability to transmit knowledge is not confined to a certain space...professors in berkeleleley for example can not even afford rent, so they have to be subsadized...

Having tons of competition in a racket obviously does not reduce the price any even though it theoretically should...the greed is too strong...

[Rochard]

People don't trust "online" colleges. No one knows who is logging in to do the course work. Then again, in a regular college it's not much different - seems to me like students rarely show up and just submit their work when it's due.

The amount of money my kid is spending on an AA degree is staggering.

[kane]

There are a few reasons:

1. Easy loan money. Anyone who wants to go to college can borrow the money to do so because you can't charge the debt off so short of dying, you will be forced one way or another to pay them back.

2. Increase in enrollment. College enrollment has been going up since the 1980's and kicked into high gear in the 2000's going up by 21% since 2005. In short, Millennials were told by adults they had to have a degree if they wanted to succeed so they went out and got degrees.

Colleges have seen no shortage of applicants. In fact, many big universities are turning away more students than ever, but they can charge pretty much whatever they want and people will pay it because, depending on the career, they may actually need the degree and even if they don't, they think they do. The colleges are in a position of power. They have something people need so they can charge a lot for it. People will bitch, but they still pay.

For it to be real competition there will need to be an influx of new colleges that could threaten to take applicants away, but even then many colleges have a built in reputation people are willing to pay for.

[Bladewire]

#Trump

[dillfly2000]

Too many kids dropping college to become twitch streamers.

[onwebcam]

Government involvement.. They dictate the pricing... That's why some schools have billions stashed away...

[AmeliaG]

Harvard has secondary online or executive revenue streams to monetize their brand. Having the premium product that they can charge so much for makes sense for them. They could afford to charge less, but easily obtained student loans allow universities with major endowments to play the market with massive war chests. Fundamentally, although initially well-intentioned, at this point, student loans help channel money to Wall Street.

I did not go to Harvard, but both my parents did for grad school, only my mother dropped out when her scholarship ended because it was going to be like two thousand dollars a year. (I'm not thinking of the exact numbers right now, but that was the ballpark.)

I use sites like Coursera and Khan Academy and Gale regularly, but, after getting a six figure education for undergrad (which took forever to pay off) I still took out six figures worth of student loans for grad school.

If I were independently wealthy, I'd just go to school forever. Online learning is awesome, but I love the in-person community experience when it works out.

[ilnjscb]

Originally Posted by slapass

It seems with technology, we all could go to Harvard virtually and travel to testing centers for finals. Campuses should be shrinking and places should be closing. It seems to be the one place where tech has not had a positive impact and yet they use a lot of it.

Everyone wouldn't get in. To get in Harvard as a degree candidate, you have to pass a series of classes that weed out almost everyone.

Originally Posted by Rochard

People don't trust "online" colleges. No one knows who is logging in to do the course work. Then again, in a regular college it's not much different - seems to me like students rarely show up and just submit their work when it's due.

The amount of money my kid is spending on an AA degree is staggering.

They are now live proctored at universities and often TAs watch student cams live. The "people don't trust online colleges" quote is an old saw from the 1990s, like "people will never give their credit card to a web site"

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by slapass

It seems with technology, we all could go to Harvard virtually and travel to testing centers for finals. Campuses should be shrinking and places should be closing. It seems to be the one place where tech has not had a positive impact and yet they use a lot of it.

why have any sort of traditional learning institutions then at any age?

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by Rochard

People don't trust "online" colleges. No one knows who is logging in to do the course work. Then again, in a regular college it's not much different - seems to me like students rarely show up and just submit their work when it's due.

The amount of money my kid is spending on an AA degree is staggering.

the amount of shit you pull out of your ass is staggering.


Online Course Enrollment Sees Relentless Growth

According to the Babson Survey Research Group's latest annual report on distance education in the United States, online student enrollment has grown for the 14th year in a row. Nearly a million additional students took distance education courses in 2016 compared to 2012, a count consisting of both people who took online classes (or other forms of distance ed) exclusively as well as those who took a mix of online and face-to-face courses. That translates to more than 30 percent of colleges students — 6.4 million in total — who took at least one distance education course during the 2015-2016 academic year.



https://campustechnology.com/article...ss-growth.aspx

[Bladewire]

College is now a racket meant to maintain an elite class in America and financially enslave the youth of the working class.

College used to deal in the commodity of knowledge, now it's just a money making scheme.

So many trades force you to have a 2 year degree minimum and so many kids are setup for a lifetime of debt. The college's get a commission for the student loans they sign you up for.

The colleges markup the price of books so high that now the cost of books are now 26% of a student's tuition. Sad

[crockett]

Originally Posted by slapass

It seems with technology, we all could go to Harvard virtually and travel to testing centers for finals. Campuses should be shrinking and places should be closing. It seems to be the one place where tech has not had a positive impact and yet they use a lot of it.

Because Bush changed how loans were given to students. It used to be govt based lending but Bush changed it to private for profit lending companies that are backed by the govt..


Meaning tax payers take all the risk but private lenders get the profits..

Bush also allowed all these shitty private colleges to get govt backed loans for students..

Another direct result of Republican greed fucking citizens and tax payers and shoveling money to private companies..

[dyna mo]

I just checked, the cost of tuition at my Alma mater since the year I graduated, 1996, has increased 3x.

the cost of gas since the year I graduated has increased 3x.


I would bet plenty of commodities had the same inflation.

[kane]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

I just checked, the cost of tuition at my Alma mater since the year I graduated, 1996, has increased 3x.

the cost of gas since the year I graduated has increased 3x.


I would bet plenty of commodities had the same inflation.

I just did the same. I was a freshman in 1989. Total then was about $3,500 a year and that included room, board, books, fees, and tuition. Today it is about $20,000. So about a 6X increase.

During that same time, the minimum wage has increased by about 3X. The big one here is housing. The average cost of a home in Portland in 1989 was around $100,000 There was just a news story the other day that said the average cost of a home in Portland is now $425,000.

[NatalieK]

teachers got to live

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by kane

I just did the same. I was a freshman in 1989. Total then was about $3,500 a year and that included room, board, books, fees, and tuition. Today it is about $20,000. So about a 6X increase.

During that same time, the minimum wage has increased by about 3X. The big one here is housing. The average cost of a home in Portland in 1989 was around $100,000 There was just a news story the other day that said the average cost of a home in Portland is now $425,000.

that's a big difference between the two.


it appears the average cost of tuition for private schools has double in the last 30 years and the average cost of public college tuition has tripled.


https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/29/how-...8-to-2018.html

[Bladewire]

Originally Posted by kane

I just did the same. I was a freshman in 1989. Total then was about $3,500 a year and that included room, board, books, fees, and tuition. Today it is about $20,000. So about a 6X increase.

During that same time, the minimum wage has increased by about 3X. The big one here is housing. The average cost of a home in Portland in 1989 was around $100,000 There was just a news story the other day that said the average cost of a home in Portland is now $425,000.

Originally Posted by dyna mo

I just checked, the cost of tuition at my Alma mater since the year I graduated, 1996, has increased 3x.

the cost of gas since the year I graduated has increased 3x.


I would bet plenty of commodities had the same inflation.

Yet wages don't keep up at the same rate.

[kane]

Originally Posted by Bladewire

Yet wages don't keep up at the same rate.

Not even remotely close to keeping up. Wages have been pretty stagnant since the 80's yet the cost of everything has gone way the hell up. It's no wonder the middle class is so vulnerable, they are up to their eyes in debt just to maintain a normal standard of living so if anything goes bad, they are screwed.

[kane]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

that's a big difference between the two.


it appears the average cost of tuition for private schools has double in the last 30 years and the average cost of public college tuition has tripled.


https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/29/how-...8-to-2018.html

My brother's youngest daughter is a Junior in high school so she is starting to talk about colleges. It is crazy how much money they are. She wants to go somewhere close by so she can live at home and save the housing cost, but even the "cheap" colleges are $10,000 a year and Lewis & Clark (where she would love to go) is freaking $50K a year just for tuition. It's as expensive to go to Lewis & Clark as it is Harvard.

I feel fortunate. I graduated with only about $1,100 in student debt which I paid off quickly. She may find herself with tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

[tony286]

In this public system, the high cost of college has as much to do with politics as economics. Many state legislatures have been spending less and less per student on higher education for the past three decades. Bewitched by the ideology of small government (and forced by law to balance their budgets during a period of mounting health-care costs), states have been leaving once-world-class public universities begging for money. The cuts were particularly stark after the 2008 recession, and they set off a cascading series of consequences, some of which were never intended.

The easiest way for universities to make up for the cuts was to shift some of the cost to students—and to find richer students. “Once that sustainable public funding was taken out from under these schools, they started acting more like businesses,” says Maggie Thompson, the executive director of Generation Progress, a nonprofit education-advocacy group. State cutbacks did not necessarily make colleges more efficient, which was the hope; they made colleges more entrepreneurial.

https://www.theatlantic.com/educatio...merica/569884/

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by kane

My brother's youngest daughter is a Junior in high school so she is starting to talk about colleges. It is crazy how much money they are. She wants to go somewhere close by so she can live at home and save the housing cost, but even the "cheap" colleges are $10,000 a year and Lewis & Clark (where she would love to go) is freaking $50K a year just for tuition. It's as expensive to go to Lewis & Clark as it is Harvard.

I feel fortunate. I graduated with only about $1,100 in student debt which I paid off quickly. She may find herself with tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

Lewis and Clark is a highly esteemed private institution I recall, I used to work with someone who graduated from there.

[JesseQuinn]

mine was $6.5k per per term (did 2 per year-fall/winter and summer) averaging the cost of my u/g and masters. that was eons ago (roughly 10 years) so sure it's gone up since then. just insane. 12k per year to learn? not including the cost of books?

did my the first year of my undergrad working for $11 per hour in security full time on top of a double major, often the only thing I had in my fridge was a brita and nail polish. my cats always got fed before I did.

got a full scholarship for my second year but I still was working 40 hours plus a week for 11 bucks to pay for my personal expenses and to try to build up some savings.

then thank god I found camming as it was stressful as fuck being broke. I don't spend much money on myself even now as there's not much I need but an empty bank account was harrowing.

I suppose I could have taken the student loan route but I have never been in debt and never plan to be, and it's a fucked up system as (at least at that time); you only got your loan in October if you opted for that.

was super fun for my friends who had to take student loans, going a month into term sharing one copy of a book at a library that could not be lent out as it was used by every other student waiting on their loans. luckily I'm a speed reader, I lent out every single book I ever bought for every class I ever took. All of them except for a few favs got passed down the line.

I really hope online courses and degrees are taken more seriously as time goes by. university tuition cost is ridiculous and to start your life tens of thousands of $$$$ in debt is not a way to build a future.

I see online as a way to lower the barriers to entry to peeps who don't have a wealthy mummy or daddy to pay their way. plus different schools excel at different programs.

I chose a uni way out in the suburbs that took an hour and a half to reach, as it was known for excelling in what I wanted to study, even though I was accepted as well to the two other uni's in my city that were within walking distance.

the awful commute was worth it (I loved my time at school), but to able to do all those classes online would have been so awesome.

for those in places without much choice, not having to board at a school out of one's city is a huge plus for those with very targeted pursuits.

as to the anonymity of online, if I can do a 4 way skype show pretty sure there are mechanisms for online tutorials, study groups, ways to engage that are easier for those who have to work full time, have families, are going on non-hands on program at a uni out of state/city/province/whatever as they work at jobs to not be in debt.

I do believe education should be a right, and needed for fully democratic societies. people are curious, have dreams and pursuits and dollaz as the barrier is pure bullshit

online is a way to solve this.

[dyna mo]

there are plenty of advantages and reasons to traditional learning over online learning. do we really want an entire population of home schooled? the social learning experience alone is invaluable. the professional network of people established during college years can pave a career path that is priceless. the benefits of being immersed in academia with like-minded people is huge.

[kane]

Originally Posted by JesseQuinn

mine was $6.5k per per term (did 2 per year-fall/winter and summer) averaging the cost of my u/g and masters. that was eons ago (roughly 10 years) so sure it's gone up since then. just insane. 12k per year to learn? not including the cost of books?

did my the first year of my undergrad working for $11 per hour in security full time on top of a double major, often the only thing I had in my fridge was a brita and nail polish. my cats always got fed before I did.

got a full scholarship for my second year but I still was working 40 hours plus a week for 11 bucks to pay for my personal expenses and to try to build up some savings.

then thank god I found camming as it was stressful as fuck being broke. I don't spend much money on myself even now as there's not much I need but an empty bank account was harrowing.

I suppose I could have taken the student loan route but I have never been in debt and never plan to be, and it's a fucked up system as (at least at that time); you only got your loan in October if you opted for that.

was super fun for my friends who had to take student loans, going a month into term sharing one copy of a book at a library that could not be lent out as it was used by every other student waiting on their loans. luckily I'm a speed reader, I lent out every single book I ever bought for every class I ever took. All of them except for a few favs got passed down the line.

I really hope online courses and degrees are taken more seriously as time goes by. university tuition cost is ridiculous and to start your life tens of thousands of $$$$ in debt is not a way to build a future.

I see online as a way to lower the barriers to entry to peeps who don't have a wealthy mummy or daddy to pay their way. plus different schools excel at different programs.

I chose a uni way out in the suburbs that took an hour and a half to reach, as it was known for excelling in what I wanted to study, even though I was accepted as well to the two other uni's in my city that were within walking distance.

the awful commute was worth it (I loved my time at school), but to able to do all those classes online would have been so awesome.

for those in places without much choice, not having to board at a school out of one's city is a huge plus for those with very targeted pursuits.

as to the anonymity of online, if I can do a 4 way skype show pretty sure there are mechanisms for online tutorials, study groups, ways to engage that are easier for those who have to work full time, have families, are going on non-hands on program at a uni out of state/city/province/whatever as they work at jobs to not be in debt.

I do believe education should be a right, and needed for fully democratic societies. people are curious, have dreams and pursuits and dollaz as the barrier is pure bullshit

online is a way to solve this.

People often forget about the cost of board. I had to live on campus (I guess I could have gotten an apartment nearby) because the school was about an hour each way from where I lived and I couldn't do all that driving and still have a job. The school was also right in the heart of downtown Portland so everything was expensive and it would have cost me more to live off campus. Like you, I had a job (only part time during the year then full time in the summers). I bet 50% of the colleges expenses where room and board.

My college now charges $9,000 a year just for board for a shitty, tiny dorm you have to share. In essence, they are renting a 300 sq foot apartment with shared bathroom for about $2K a month.

[kane]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

there are plenty of advantages and reasons to traditional learning over online learning. do we really want an entire population of home schooled? the social learning experience alone is invaluable. the professional network of people established during college years can pave a career path that is priceless. the benefits of being immersed in academia with like-minded people is huge.

I highly recommend going to college on campus if at all possible. Like you say, the experience is half of it. Online stuff has a place and if that is your only option, great. However, looking back, what I remember most about college is the people and experiences I had during it.

[JesseQuinn]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

there are plenty of advantages and reasons to traditional learning over online learning. do we really want an entire population of home schooled? the social learning experience alone is invaluable. the professional network of people established during college years can pave a career path that is priceless. the benefits of being immersed in academia with like-minded people is huge.

but that is the point, in the age of online those who are dedicated to their studies will find a way. I would have still done the work and learning I did if not physically present, and in some places with few options as Kane expressed it is go home or get in. then what if you can't afford to study abroad?

I live in Jamaica now and for good, the vast majority of students lack the option to even go on to high ed here. If they are lucky their folks can afford to send them to Florida, Miami or Toronto.

For the rest? no options.

'IRL' does have it's advantages. I got to experience a lecture by Paul Rusesabagina aka the real dude whom Don Cheadle played in Hotel Rwanda at my school

but if he did not do a lecture in my city and at my uni (if not my uni I would have snuck in), I would have had the cash to fly out to experience that if 'online education' had not been a joke at the time.

One of the coolest things I've ever experienced.

And peeps connect online for work all the time, whereas if you ignore a bullshit class and just show up for exams and to drop off a paper in a prof's inbox and you smoke the course and he gives a rec for you as a MA even though he knows you despise him. true story. he met me twice. first class and final exam. and gave me a rec for my application for my MA and believe me I did NOT ask him.

'home schooled' to the best of my knowledge is different; from the outside it seems often like parents are trying to shield their kids from the outside world and to the best of my understanding relates to non-uni (grade and high school) education.

Online higher ed need not be like that. It's all in how peeps shape it.

[JesseQuinn]

Originally Posted by kane

I highly recommend going to college on campus if at all possible. Like you say, the experience is half of it. Online stuff has a place and if that is your only option, great. However, looking back, what I remember most about college is the people and experiences I had during it.

that's the thing though, I work with a ton of peeps online I have never met (and I'm lucky for the few I have during my travels) and have made some real friends, learned and I hope shared real knowledge about the world and our purview(s).

for a 25 year old in a dead end job with no family support (not me, just positing here) is online not miles ahead of working in a gas station for the rest of his or her life?

we need to make online ed a valid option, otherwise to me at least it's just more ivory tower bullshit.

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by JesseQuinn

but that is the point, in the age of online those who are dedicated to their studies will find a way. I would have still done the work and learning I did if not physically present, and in some places with few options as Kane expressed it is go home or get in. then what if you or your folks can't send you abroad?

I live in Jamaica now and for good, the vast majority of students lack the option to even go on to high ed here. If they are lucky their folks can afford to send them to Florida, Miami or Toronto.

For the rest? no options.

'IRL' does have it's advantages. I got to experience a lecture by Paul Rusesabagina aka the real dude whom Don Cheadle played in Hotel Rwanda at my school

but if he did not do a lecture in my city and at my uni (if not my uni I would have snuck in), I would have had the cash to fly out to experience that if 'online education' had not been a joke at the time.

One of the coolest things I've ever experienced.

And peeps connect online for work all the time, whereas if you ignore a bullshit class and just show up for exams and to drop off a paper in a prof's inbox and you smoke the course and he gives a rec for you as a MA even though he knows you despise him. true story. he met me twice. first class and final exam. and gave me a rec for my application for my MA and believe me I did NOT ask him.

'home schooled' to the best of my knowledge is different; from the outside it seems often like parents are trying to shield their kids from the outside world and to the best of my understanding relates to non-uni (grade and high school) education.

Online higher ed need not be like that. It's all in how peeps shape it.

no, that's actually not the point I was making at all.

The point I was making is the gestalt of the college experience has value that virtual learning simply can't come close to. virtual learning is convenient, period. there is no value in learning something online more than learning in person together among peers.

I used "home schooled" as a metaphor. I assumed that was obvious, I certainly hope you don't think I meant that parents teach their college level children.

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by kane

I highly recommend going to college on campus if at all possible. Like you say, the experience is half of it. Online stuff has a place and if that is your only option, great. However, looking back, what I remember most about college is the people and experiences I had during it.

exactly. just because online learning is convenient, that hardly makes it better. in fact, it lacks quite a bit from the actual experience of going to college.

[JesseQuinn]

I guess my experience of peeps trying to access high ed is more broad as I've lived a bunch of different places, and no disrespect to either of you for that intended whatsoever.

just if poor, have a family and full time job in any nation or live in place where it's hard to access

Jamaica does take scholarship students but a very limited number and your grades have to be A++ across the board, in Turks and Caicos where I lived from 2014 to 2016 no uni whatsoever - if your parents can't afford to fly you to England you are fucked. For those peeps online could be a real benefit.

I did all my degrees as a 'mature student' so didn't par with the uni crowd much. got over my kegger days by the time I was 15. made some wicked friends but mostly parred with them off campus.

I dunno, not saying y'all are wrong but for so many peeps I know, the credibility of online ed would def enhance their lives and leave more $$$$ in their pockets for what they need.

[CaptainHowdy]

I have a pretty anti-academic spirit so . . .

[kane]

Originally Posted by JesseQuinn

that's the thing though, I work with a ton of peeps online I have never met (and I'm lucky for the few I have during my travels) and have made some real friends, learned and I hope shared real knowledge about the world and our purview(s).

for a 25 year old in a dead end job with no family support (not me, just positing here) is online not miles ahead of working in a gas station for the rest of his or her life?

we need to make online ed a valid option, otherwise to me at least it's just more ivory tower bullshit.

Don't get me wrong, I think online is a very valid option. I have a friend who started his degree right after high school then dropped out because he became a dad and had to make more money. Now, seven years later, he has three kids and a wife and he wants to finish his degree so he is doing it online and it works great for him.

I might have done it had it been an option for me. I grew up in a small town about an hour outside of Portland. If the option to live at home, keep the job I had, and go to school online was there, at the very least I would have given it a deep, long look.

I was just saying that the experience of going to college, especially if you are young and it is your first time living on your own, can be a great one. It didn't hurt that Portland in the early 1990's was a fantastic place to be. I had some amazing experiences outside of school and with my classmates that I will have memories of for the rest of my life.

[JesseQuinn]

Originally Posted by kane

Don't get me wrong, I think online is a very valid option. I have a friend who started his degree right after high school then dropped out because he became a dad and had to make more money. Now, seven years later, he has three kids and a wife and he wants to finish his degree so he is doing it online and it works great for him.

I might have done it had it been an option for me. I grew up in a small town about an hour outside of Portland. If the option to live at home, keep the job I had, and go to school online was there, at the very least I would have given it a deep, long look.

I was just saying that the experience of going to college, especially if you are young and it is your first time living on your own, can be a great one. It didn't hurt that Portland in the early 1990's was a fantastic place to be. I had some amazing experiences outside of school and with my classmates that I will have memories of for the rest of my life.

I'm sincerely happy it was a positive experience for you and for kids who have parents who can afford it? absolutely do that route. it does allow for some independence for young-'uns, even if I didn't go that route I can imagine that.

guess what I'm trying to say is online vs campus is not a zero sum game

but your experience differs from mine so therefore I am forced to hate you =p

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by JesseQuinn

I guess my experience of peeps trying to access high ed is more broad as I've lived a bunch of different places, and no disrespect to either of you for that intended whatsoever.

just if poor, have a family and full time job in any nation or live in place where it's hard to access

Jamaica does take scholarship students but a very limited number and your grades have to be A++ across the board, in Turks and Caicos where I lived from 2014 to 2016 no uni whatsoever - if your parents can't afford to fly you to England you are fucked. For those peeps online could be a real benefit.

I did all my degrees as a 'mature student' so didn't par with the uni crowd much. got over my kegger days by the time I was 15. made some wicked friends but mostly parred with them off campus.

I dunno, not saying y'all are wrong but for so many peeps I know, the credibility of online ed would def enhance their lives and leave more $$$$ in their pockets for what they need.

we were counting up all the places I've lived my life a few weeks ago. I've lived in ~30 unique cities split among 2 countries and 10 US states.

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by JesseQuinn

I did all my degrees as a 'mature student' so didn't par with the uni crowd much. got over my kegger days by the time I was 15.

"the uni crowd" = Animal House? You probably shouldn't make such sweeping assumptions. I had to study my fucking ass off to graduate. If I had approached my degree immaturely, I wouldn't have a degree.

[kane]

Originally Posted by JesseQuinn

I'm sincerely happy it was a positive experience for you and for kids who have parents who can afford it? absolutely do that route. it does allow for some independence for young-'uns, even if I didn't go that route I can imagine that.

guess what I'm trying to say is online vs campus is not a zero sum game

but your experience differs from mine so therefore I am forced to hate you =p

One of the things that helped me out in a major way was financial aid. It sounds like there isn't much where you are. Here we have a bunch of financial aid options. I got grant money and won a scholarship. The combination of those two things ended up paying about 90% of the cost so I ended up getting a degree with only having to pay about $2,500 out of my pocket. I come from a poor family so had those options not been there, the only other choice I would have had was to take on a lot of debt which I'm not sure I would have done. I might have just not gone.

[Rochard]

Originally Posted by kane

There are a few reasons:

1. Easy loan money. Anyone who wants to go to college can borrow the money to do so because you can't charge the debt off so short of dying, you will be forced one way or another to pay them back.

2. Increase in enrollment. College enrollment has been going up since the 1980's and kicked into high gear in the 2000's going up by 21% since 2005. In short, Millennials were told by adults they had to have a degree if they wanted to succeed so they went out and got degrees.

Colleges have seen no shortage of applicants. In fact, many big universities are turning away more students than ever, but they can charge pretty much whatever they want and people will pay it because, depending on the career, they may actually need the degree and even if they don't, they think they do. The colleges are in a position of power. They have something people need so they can charge a lot for it. People will bitch, but they still pay.

For it to be real competition there will need to be an influx of new colleges that could threaten to take applicants away, but even then many colleges have a built in reputation people are willing to pay for.

Good post. Spot on.

[Rochard]

Originally Posted by kane

One of the things that helped me out in a major way was financial aid. It sounds like there isn't much where you are. Here we have a bunch of financial aid options. I got grant money and won a scholarship. The combination of those two things ended up paying about 90% of the cost so I ended up getting a degree with only having to pay about $2,500 out of my pocket. I come from a poor family so had those options not been there, the only other choice I would have had was to take on a lot of debt which I'm not sure I would have done. I might have just not gone.

I only have an AA degree. I made $600 payments while I went to school for two years, and then paid my loan for what seemed like forever.

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by Rochard

I only have an AA degree. I made $600 payments while I went to school for two years, and then paid my loan for what seemed like forever.

seriously? that's more than my tuition at Berkeley was. by thousands of dollars. It was ~$4k/year for me then. you paid waaaaaaaaaaaay more than that per year for an AA somewhere?

[kane]

Originally Posted by Rochard

I only have an AA degree. I made $600 payments while I went to school for two years, and then paid my loan for what seemed like forever.

Did you go to a technical school like ITT, Concorde or one of those? I used to work with a lot of guys who had AA's from ITT and it cost them more than a bachelors at most state colleges would have.

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by Rochard

I only have an AA degree. I made $600 payments while I went to school for two years, and then paid my loan for what seemed like forever.

Originally Posted by Rochard

LOL @ fine arts degree. That qualifies her for what?

One of our family members went for a big degree and is now over one hundred thousand dollars in debt. She works as a child psychologist at a local school in Southern California making $70k a year. She's lucky her husband is making bank or she would be homeless. It's interesting because this person is very smart and she can see the difference between what her degree is costing her vs what she will be making.

you are a remote CSR for a porn company, She helps children.

[ilnjscb]

Let's go back to the original university used: Harvard.

Harvard College does not have a degree that can be obtained exclusively online, but one can obtain a bachelors degree from Harvard University by spending only some time on campus.

The University of Maryland really pioneered online schooling (probably because the degree says "University of Maryland" not some wanker name like Phoenix College). They began offering a public university degree in late 1990s and had 15,000 students within 3 years. The credits cost roughly the same.

Since that time, hundreds more universities have adopted either full online or hybrid online/class degrees. We have only two decades to evaluate, but so far there is no universal metric whereby an online program can be disparaged. Further, these degrees do not say "earned online" or "earned partially online", they just say baccalaureatus and they don't materially affect a graduate's prospects.

Perhaps there is a downside, but I would ascribe the tendency to attribute such to the personal bias of the recipient. There is no definitive data that marks them as in any way inferior.