This week, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, the nonpartisan think tank on state and national education issues, released a scathing report that found that college tuition and fees have skyrocketed in the last quarter century 439 percent, three times the rise in median family income in the same time period.
The rise of college costs surpassed even the 251 percent hike in medical care costs. In the 1999-2000 school year, the cost of four-year public college represented 18 percent of median family income for the middle quintile, 23 percent for the lower-middle quintile, and 39 percent for the lowest income quintile. Those respective figures are now 25 percent, 33 percent, and 55 percent. They account for grants and scholarships. (Read the rest.)
And Crooks and Liars had this post up today, entitled Remember College?
After a year away at college last year (granted, at an out of state school) our daughter is in debt around $25,000. When she was planning to go, we spoke with a financial aid officer at the school about our need -- her dad's frequent periods of being laid off from his construction job, etc. -- and guess what? They didn't give a rat's ass. "I'm sorry, there really isn't anything we can do to help you." Well, for multiple reasons, our daughter decided not to go back to school this year, and frankly, I am relieved. I don't want her to be over $100,000 in debt at the age of 22. Some people act as if she has thrown away an opportunity, but I think if you were to do a cost-benefits analysis I think you might find that the cost far outweighs the benefit at this point. (Particularly because she wasn't happy ... but that's a different issue.)
You might remember that I also went to college last year. I started a program to get a master's degree in Library Science. Each course cost $1,800, and there was really nothing they could do to help me financially either -- even though I have spent 22 years in public service. I applied for grants for older women returning to college, non-traditional students, etc. Nope. So I sucked it up and paid it. Silly me, for that price I thought I might have professors who knew how to teach and respected me as a learner. What planet was I on? I also am taking a break, with no intention of going back to that program.
I keep trying to see the bright side of the collapse of this gilded age we're living in. My hope is that the failure of all of these bloated institutions will create space for alternatives in all areas. Because the people and the needs aren't going to go away.
9 comments:
Oh man. The very idea of college makes me sweat right now. I really worry about how The Dancer is going to afford it. Georgia just approved higher fees - those things that scholarships and grants don't usually pay for.
I wonder about your last question, too, because we're looking at a real shift here. I do wonder where it will take us. The status quo obviously isn't working and people are tapped out so now what?
The annual report from the UW School of Veterinary Medicine for the entering class (class of 2012) reports that the students will graduate with an average debt of $107,000. Yes! Pay attention! Then people wonder why, when they go to their vet, the poor vet is pushing every product and service they can on earth to help pay off that debt.
And that's grad school, right? So that's on top of whatever has been accrued as an undergrad?
Yes, that's on top of undergrad loans and doesn't include the cost of the ever more important post DVM internship....yikes...
A couple of the articles I've been reading about this recession we may be heading for (she says with just a touch of bitterness and irony) talk about how the advice for unemployed people is to go back to school for "job training." Another huge disconnect. How can an unemployed person afford school? And job training for what, exactly?
You are penalized if you're filing a joint tax return too. If I were still married, I don't think we'd be able to swing putting two kids through college. It's very hard as it is. I will have spent all of my proceeds from the sale of my house and will have a debt of about 20 grand to pay off. And my daughter who is graduating will have about 30 grand to pay off. That's with scholarships and grants. The annual cost of her college is $48,686 including room and board. Considering that, what we've jointly put in is a "bargain". If I were living alone, there is no way that my kids would be able to go to college unless it was a public, in-state institution. And frankly, in MA those school largely suck. I know, cuz I graduated from one.
One of my daughters is graduating in 2009 and intends to take a break. This is whole other issue, of course, but if she's not enrolled in college full-time and can't find a job with health benefits, how will she, with a chronic mental health problem, get insurance???
Crazy-ass country we live in.
What a tale you tell us Suzy... I think you all are very wise to have chosen this path for your daughter and for yourself at this point. To get in that much debt for school... Especially at this time. It makes no sense.
I worry about this all the time - my stepdaughter is 12 and I have no idea how college will be afforded by time she gets to that age.
I started graduate school this year, just one class at a time. The classes are $1400 each and I am grateful that 2/3 of my education is subsidized by my church and diocese - at this point. If that changes, my ability to go changes as I am not taking out any loans, that much I know for sure.
Alternatives will emerge. I just worry about the implications of the anti-elitism regarding education introduced to us by that woman from Alaska. If the higher education system collapses something else must fill the vacuum, lest we all become moose hunters. (shudder)
A properly prepared moose can be quite delicious.
(And my daughter's year at college was not a total waste. She just informed me that she taught herself how to wiggle her ears -- an important life skill.)
You have no idea how much your support means to me, mom. It's really hard to stand up to the people who act like I've made a huge mistake by dropping out. Of course, there are even more people who congratulate me on being able to make that decision, but the dissenters are louder. Even Edy gives me a hard time about it sometimes. It's frustrating.
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