Couple of charts posted by Prof. Mark Perry caught my eye …
In one post, Prof. Perry charted college enrollment rates and tuitions.
Both slope upward,
Supply and demand ?
Maybe.
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Keep the above red line (tuitions) in mind as you glance at the chart below: grade inflation.
The grades’ line also slopes up.
Sure looks like — as tuitions are rising — colleges are dishing out more high grades.
Cause & effect or just a coincidence?
Hmmm
That’s something an older colleague once remarked to me.
So, true.
I often quip that if a student shows up at the Verizon Center and Lady Gaga’s concert is cancelled, they’re bummed.
If they show up for my class and see a sign that class is cancelled, they whoop and holler with glee.
And, on balance, most of them think my courses are better than the average academic offerings.
On a grander scale, many are predicting that high-priced colleges will be the next bubble to burst. Folks have been paying an increasing amount of money to get a decreasing amount of relevant learning. That’s not a good formula.
Government subsidies and “full fare” foreign students keep pushing tuitions up to levels required to support lavish facilities, expansive athletic programs, outdated delivery methods (think classrooms vs. online), and light teaching loads for faculty journalists.
For example, reported in the NY Post: The journal Academic Questions recently concluded that … many new graduates are finding that the degree they’ve earned is not worth the investment.
That’s despite the fact that “most colleges have become trade schools — far more expensive ones than their for-profit counterparts.”
The former president of St. John’s College in Santa Fe argues that it’s no wonder that students have fled the liberal arts:
The Post concludes: Their parents — and increasingly the students themselves, through loans — are left footing the bill for degrees that neither pay off in the marketplace nor enrich the intellectual lives of those on whom they are conferred.
Good point !
During the SOTU address Pres. Obama warned colleges and universities that they risk losing federal funding if they do not keep tuition costs down.
Hmmm.
Loyal HomeFilers know that we rail often on the indefensibly high tuitions colleges are charging.
For example, see one of our all time favorite posts:
What do b-school profs and Lady Gaga have in common?
Many pundits are predicting that high-priced colleges will be the next bubble to burst. Students (or their parents, or their companies) have been paying an increasing amount of money to get a decreasing amount of relevant learning. That’s not a good formula.
Government subsidies, student loans and “full fare” foreign students keep pushing tuitions up to levels required to support lavish facilities, expansive athletic programs, outdated delivery methods (think classrooms vs. online), and light teaching loads for faculty journalists.
Let’s see if Obama follows through on his threat … and see if it has an impact.
I’m betting under on both counts.
Universities are hot beds of liberal thinking.
No way Obama puts them in his cross hairs.
In their book Academically Adrift, authors Arum and Roksa … name all the key actors involved in higher education – parents, students, professors, administrators, and government funding agencies – and explain why, given the behavior of all the other actors, no one wants to do anything about high cost and “limited learning” at most universities.
They argue that limited learning on college campuses is not a crisis because the institutional actors implicated in the system are receiving the organizational outcomes they seek,
In other words, the system satisfies the needs of all the players … which explains why everybody seems satisfied with the status quo.
And, explains why there will be a loud cheer when the President issues an Executive order to dismiss all student loans.
Source EconoLib
Thanks to Tags for feeding the lead.
Earlier this week we posted about the high – and increasing — cost of college.
As a throwaway point, we mentioned that the annual tuition in Georgetown’s MBA program is about $50,000 … $49,638 to be precise.
That caught some attention, so let’s put the number in perspective.
A Gtown MBA student takes 18 module-courses per year … so. the tuition works out to about $2,750 per module-course.
Each module-course is two classes per week for 7 weeks … so, the tuition works out to about $200 for each of the 14 class sessions.
Let’s put that number in perspective.
According to SeatGeek.com, Lady Gaga ticket prices averaged $182.43 on last year’s Monster Ball Tour … about the same as an MBA class session.
Hmmm.
A couple of hours of Lady Gaga or 75 minutes soaking in some b-school wisdom … bring your wallet and take your pick.
Yipes.
P.S. For the record, I think of that $200 number every time I walk into a classroom. Move over Gaga.
Given the uproar from the Occupiers and Campaigner-in-Chief, I got curious about the facts re: college tuitions.
According to the College Board. here’s what it really costs to attend college:
The College Board adds: “Keep in mind that — due to grants and other forms of financial aid — the actual price the average undergraduate pays for a college education is considerably lower than the published tuition and fees.”
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For the record, Georgetown University charges undergrads $40,920 per year in tuition … and about $10,000 in room, board and miscellaneous charges … MBAs pay a couple of bucks short of $50,000 — just for tuition.
Ouch !
The Homa Files 