MetaFilter posts tagged with studentdebt

The Corporatization Of Higher Education

the man of twists and turns — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 13:28:05 -0800

In 2003, only two colleges charged more than $40,000 a year for tuition, fees, room, and board. Six years later more than two hundred colleges charged that amount. What happened between 2003 and 2009 was the start of the recession. By driving down endowments and giving tax-starved states a reason to cut back their support for higher education, the recession put new pressure on colleges and universities to raise their price. When our current period of slow economic growth will end is anybody’s guess, but even when it does end, colleges and universities will certainly not be rolling back their prices. These days, it is not just the economic climate in which our colleges and universities find themselves that determines what they charge and how they operate; it is their increasing corporatization. If corporatization meant only that colleges and universities were finding ways to be less wasteful, it would be a welcome turn of events. But an altogether different process is going on

From Master Plan To No Plan: The Slow Death Of Public Higher Education: "The California student movement has a slogan that goes, “Behind every fee hike, a line of riot cops.”" Universities And The Urban Growth Machine

The “edifice complex” did not fade until the 1990s, and there have been at least two growth paradigms since then, both of them linked to the high-wage knowledge economy. One was the “creative city,” which Richard Florida popularized, and it revolved around recruitment of creative talent. This model was much cheaper than shelling out large subsidies for sports stadiums or to corporate investors—a few bike trails, some fair-trade coffee shops, and the semblance of an art scene (to attract the all-important gay population). But it did open up a new circuit of debt-financing for the urban growth machine–student loans. After all, student debt is what underpins the supply of the educated workforce in a “creative city.”

University of Chicago Works On Its Neighborhood - “It’s enlightened self-interest for us,” Mr. Greene said. “We’ve always been very competitive when it comes to providing a great intellectual community. But we found there was something missing when we looked at the quality of life for students and faculty who are used to the kinds of amenities you find in places New York, Boston and Palo Alto.” All in it together? The utility of universities to military, security and resilient activities

So, finance is a key problem in higher education because without it we cannot do high end research, advance knowledge, nor teach future minds. But we also cannot carve out the areas of highly competitive activity that puts us at an advantage as UK Plc against our rivals. Should universities retain their position as a state-sponsored skunkworks, and what level of control is required for that to work?

Could Dismantling the Submerged State Surrounding Student Debt Pay for Free Colleges? Why Subsidize College At All?, and a response to both: Liberal Metapaternalism And Higher Education Higher Education: Why Government Should Cut The Cord The Higher Education Bubble Isn't As Big As They Say

Often the solutions are bound to be worse than the problems. Here’s one reason why: The administrators themselves, full of models of excellence derived from business (encouraged by government when the Republicans are in power), schools of teacher education (which should be abolished or keep to themselves), and political correctness (encouraged by government when the Democrats are in power), demand quantitative, measurable, assessable solutions to tricky and often “goes with the territory” problems. A problem with techno-democracy is that it tends to harness everything to the imperatives of technology or “the measurable.” There’s more than some irony in addressing techno-democratic excesses with techno-democratic methods.

The Hole In Higher Education

Universities, particularly public research universities, have outstanding faculty. They usually have support staff to supplement those faculty members and to advise students and various other tasks. Universities also typically have highly respected Deans, Provosts and Presidents that are well published in their field and are not averse to asking for money from legislators and donors. What most public universities do not have, and they so desperately need at all levels, are business managers.

The Future Of Higher Education: Massive Online Open Disruption The Siege Of Academe

The ongoing carnage in the newspaper industry provides an object lesson of what can happen when a long-established, information-focused industry’s business model is challenged by low-price competitors online. The disruptive power of information technology may be our best hope for curing the chronic college cost disease that is driving a growing number of students into ruinous debt or out of higher education altogether. It may also be an existential threat to institutions that have long played a crucial role in American life.

Is a Law Degree a Good Investment Today?

reenum — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 12:38:23 -0800

Professor Herwig Schlunk of Vanderbilt University explores whether a law degree is a good investment today. (SSRN link) Paul Caron of TaxProfBlog summarizes Schlunk's findings here.

Think of higher education as the proverbial frog in boiling water.

VikingSword — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 09:51:39 -0800

'The ever-increasing cost of education is not sustainable.' 'Higher education in America, historically the envy of the world, is rapidly growing out of reach. For the past quarter-century, the cost of higher education has grown 440%, according to the National Center for Public Policy and Education, nearly four times the rate of inflation and double the rate of health care cost increases. ''In June of last year student loan debt reached $830 billion, surpassing credit card debt in America.''All this happened while total federal student aid more than doubled, in constant dollars, from $60 billion ten years ago to $120 billion today. Sadly, more federal student aid simply fuels the rising costs. The cost of education tracks with the growth in federal aid; the transaction cost for students is not lowered. The federal money effectively flows directly to the operating expenses of the Universities-which seem to rise in direct proportion to the flow of federal funds.' 'Over the past 14 years the average debt for a graduating college student has doubled. Today the loan obligation of graduating seniors is more than $20,000 for public university grads and more than $27,000 for graduates of private universities. More than two-thirds of all college graduates have student loan obligations. 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.' 'Because all universities offer some kind of financial assistance, the nominal tuitions are not the amounts universities actually take in. Discounting, often in the range of 25% to 35% of tuition, is offered as financial aid. But even after the discounting the average realized tuition revenue at universities continues to grow. The College Board projects that in 15 years, the cost of a four year college education at a private university will approach $400,000 (at the current rate of cost increases). Now it is true that college-educated people normally earn more than non-college-educated folks. 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.'

Is the next debt crisis in student loans?

k8t — Sat, 29 May 2010 09:19:41 -0800

Is the next debt crisis in student loans? Students are graduating from undergrad with 6-figures of student loan debt. With whom does the responsibility reside? (It isn't just the NYT claiming that student loan debt is the next big crisis, Suze Orman said the same thing in 2009.) The suspects: - The student his/herself? Was possibly a minor when the loans began, likely not financially savvy, possibly living less-than-frugally, wants to be in the best school possible. - The parents? In this NYT case, the parent was not financially savvy either and didn't understand the system, there is pressure to put kid in best school possible. - The universities? This article claims that the financial aid offices may not know how much debt the students take on, the university doesn't want do lose middle class applicants, the university doesn't want to turn away students, the university doesn't want to be big brother. - The private loan companies? They are predatory, certainly. But there is an effort to get private student loans pushed back to "last resort." And really, what's the value of a college education? Comments in the NYT blog are interesting as well.