When I was in first grade I ended up in the intensive care unit at the hospital for a week because of asthma. Ever since then I have had to pay close attention to my asthma. I’ve been seeing an asthma specialist every year for the past 20+ years.
One time my doctor and I were discussing how expensive college has become (both undergrad and grad). My doctor’s wife is also a doctor, and they paid for med school by going at separate times: one of them went while the other worked, and then they switched. The amazing thing? They were able to both graduate med school with no debt. This is, for all practical purposes, impossible today.
To understand why college is so expensive we have to look at supply and demand.
One limit on demand is the affordability of a given product. There’s a reason why there is a limited market for houses costing $10 million-plus; people either don’t have the money or can’t get a loan for that amount. When it comes to a college education, everyone is able to get loans. This keeps demand constant, regardless of what colleges charge. Now that we have reached this point where a college degree is essentially a prerequisite for almost any job, the degree becomes even more valuable (regardless of how much someone learns while in school).
Because education is such a touchy subject, you will hardly ever see a politician publicly condemn government subsidization of college education, nor will they oppose the government being a lender in the student loan market. Also, if we made all student loans private, students who do not have parents helping them pay for college would be at a greater disadvantage because private student loans have higher rates than government loans. There’s no easy solution to this problem.
Essentially I believe that tuition costs will never decrease. It would take a catastrophic event (such as the crash of the dollar, and in that case tuition costs would be the least of our worries) for anything to change. It would be great if tuition only rose as fast as inflation, but I see that as being highly unlikely.
What do you think about the rising costs of tuition? Do you think college education will ever become more affordable? Does it make you worry about how your children will be able to afford college?
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while many are not thrilled with the idea of more government spending.. i think that our government should invest further into funding public universities, to make it easier and cheaper for our young folks to get educated… our children will have to compete in the world economy against other countries in europe and asia who have this advantage (government subsidized college education).
the deep dark secret of the unemployment problems in this country is that there are a TON of jobs right now in the technology sector, but it is difficult to find americans who have the required training and skillsets to perform those jobs.
jefferson
@seedebtrun The problem is that higher subsidization/spending by government on education hasn’t necessarily correlated with higher quality.
It’s true there are jobs out there requiring technical skills, and the US is hiring people from outside the country because that’s where they are finding the qualified candidates.
The flip side is outsourcing is alive and well (I know it is at my work) and I see that continuing. You can hire someone with an MBA in India and pay them half what they pay an accountant here.
@seedebtrun And often more government spending in education means there’s more money available in student loans and student aid – which can lead to even higher costs. I honestly don’t think more government money is the answer, i think the answer lies the other direction in finding ways to cut costs and ways to innovate new methods of teaching. Find ways to innovate with new technology and distance learning to bring down costs of education, allow new and online universities to offer degrees, etc.
I don’t really think about the rising cost of tuition much. I suppose I should because I have children who I hope will one day go to college. My hope is that I’ll be working at the local university when they are about college age so I can get the free tuition benefit (this is how my parents could put 7 kids through college.) If not, then I would encourage 2 years at the local community college and finish up at the university because it save a butt load of money!
@Em23 I have a couple friends whose parents work at the college they attended. No free ride, but discounted tuition, which helps considering they both went to private schools.
I’m not a fan. Maybe when student loans blow up access will get stricter and universities will have to reel in their spending and tuition levels to get people to attend… doubtful but hopefully.
@Money Life and More Unfortunately I don’t see it happening. Recently when interest rates were supposed to increase on student loans it became a huge political issue and neither party wanted to be the ones responsible for a higher rate.
I think the cost of education has gotten out of control, with costs far outstripping the pace of inflation. I was reading the numbers somewhere a while back, and it is amazing how fast the costs have risen, they’ve increased 439 percent since 1985! The sad thing is that the costs going up haven’t necessarily meant an increase in the quality of education.
I think something needs to happen to bring costs down, we’re getting to the point where students are graduating and they’re left with 50-100,000 in student loans weighing them down before they even leave the starting gate with their careers. It can be crippling for some folks, especially in an economy like we have now where the unemployement rate is inching closer to 10%, and much much higher for younger folks and recent grads.
The answer? I’m not sure, but I think part of the problem may be that we currently have a system where it’s so easy to get a subsidized student loan or government aid that the colleges and universities are able to boost costs, and students are still “able to pay” with unlimited low interest loans. if less of that government aid and loans were available, I’m sure costs would have to come down some. Also allowing for more competition and innovation in schooling options – like low cost online universities/etc can help to bring costs down.
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