“But you can’t hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behavior of a few, sick twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn’t we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn’t this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you, Greg – isn’t this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we’re not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!” – Animal House
Pugsley climbing a climbing wall. Not pictured: college degree he earned.
Last week we reviewed how college may provide (does provide) a lot of poor choices for student degrees – essentially you can get a degree that’s not worth very much to any employer. But, thankfully, in an era where I can look up the most obscure facts online, I can count on college being cheaper now?
No. It’s more expensive than ever.
Huh? You have a service that more people are requesting, one that’s essentially unlimited since Wikipedia® is free, and the prices go up?
Yes. But Wikipedia™ does not have climbing walls.
At least colleges are paying more for instructors/professors, right?
No. Colleges are increasingly pushing instruction onto “adjunct” instructors. These adjunct instructors are generally paid in PEZ® and pity. If the college feels guilty, it leaves a little extra on the nightstand in the morning.
How much have prices gone up?
Prices have gone up everywhere, but let’s pick Harvard™. In 1970, Harvard cost about $4,000 a year for tuition. Not bad? Well, the median family income was about $10,000 back then, so, not so bad. If you hustled you could (with a small scholarship and working a pizza delivery job) make it.
Harvard now costs over $43,000 a year. Median family income is closer to $60,000 a year, so prices (in terms of a family income) are up over 180%. But Harvard® has literally billions of dollars in a cash horde that the administration rolls in when they can’t get enough sleep. Other colleges have gone up more. Much more. One state school has gone up (since 1980) from $6,000 tuition to $40,000. This is more than Harvard’s 180%, but I won’t do the math because I’m feeling like I don’t want to. Oh! The solution is left to the student! Yeah, that’s what the books said . . .
So why are prices going up?
One theory, and it’s a good one, is student loans. Student loans were created as a mechanism to trap young people into debt before they can legally buy whiskey means to allow anyone to go to school as long as they were willing to borrow enough money.
Student loan debt is the very worst kind of debt I know of that doesn’t involve a blood oath with the Mafia. It is the herpes of debt.
Just like herpes is incurable and makes you (when disclosed) a lot less attractive to the opposite sex (or same sex, or whatever combinations including androids that are possible in California) student loan debt makes you less attractive. And you can’t declare bankruptcy and get out of student loan debt. Again, like herpes, it’s forever. Unlike herpes, you can pay your debt down to zero.
But you should avoid both of them, if you can. Debt, especially student loan debt, will outlast your mortgage. I bought and sold four houses, three unicorns and one wife before I paid off my student loan.
I met him. Nice guy. But he never did a song about a unicorn or a Pegasus.
But why would student loans cause the cost of college to increase?
Simply put, there’s more money available? The colleges most exposed to student loans increased their tuition the most. Quite simply – tuition expands to consume as much money as you can feed it. There’s a pretty comprehensive study that proves it – you can find the info here (LINK). What, am I supposed to do all of your research?
So where is the money going?
PEZ® for the adjunct professors? No. Administrators. I’ve seen this before in other organizations that aren’t subject to market punishment (like, say, your friendly federal or state government or school district). One administrator has a job. It’s not a hard job, but it’s his (or hers). They are paid, at least partially, on the number of staff that they have. So, they get approved positions for “essential” work. Soon enough, a job that was barely important enough for one person is now down by a staff of thirty. (This tendency will be discussed again in a future post, and was discussed in “Government is a Jobs Program here (LINK).)
Professor Doom is a very good writer. His blog is “Confessions of a College Professor” and I strongly suggest that you read it, especially if you are certain that colleges are bastions of honor, learning, and goodness. Recently, the learned Professor had a post where he described that at Evergreen College in Washington State, that there is one administrator for every six students. I kid you not. Here’s the link (LINK).
But the education is better, right?
Again, I’ll have to defer to Professor Doom. He writes again and again how grade inflation has taken off (LINK). I tried to find his post about how, due to a computer error, bunches of students at a school he was at were signed up for a class AFTER they got their schedules.
When this error was discovered at the end of the semester, fully a third of students (who had never attended class) had an “A” in the class that they had never been to and weren’t aware of. Yeah, you read that right.
In at least a third of your classes, you never need attend and you’ll pull an “A”.
Wow. That’s not really education at all, except maybe in the “son or daughter of a President or Senator who gets on a corporate board of directors because they can fog a mirror” way.
Why?
On snowy day a long time ago I decided I wanted to teach. A new college had come to town – I had never heard of it, “University of Phoenix™.” They put an ad out looking for faculty, and I sent in my résumé. Or rësümë if you’re in a 1980’s hair metal band.
Well, in the 1980’s I had hair . . .
I got an immediate call back. Pretty soon I was in “New Faculty Training” – which included a batch of people with master’s degrees. Most of us had teaching experience at the undergraduate level – that was, back in the day, how you paid to go to grad school.
We sat in a circle and discussed how to teach at the University. We would get stock options if we did well. The curriculum was set, and it was explained to us that the students were often working. And had a tough time. So we shouldn’t treat them exactly as students.
Think of them as customers instead, we were told.
So, what if a student never came to class?
“Well, they’re paying for it, so, it’s not a problem.”
What if a student didn’t turn in an assignment?
“You should give them a chance to turn it in late – they might have had a sick kid.”
One of the prospective faculty got pretty blunt: “So, we shouldn’t flunk them?”
The leader of the orientation paused. “Well, not if you can help it.”
So, a course you didn’t have to show up for, you could turn in assignments late, and would almost never flunk? That sounds like the state of higher education today.
That was my last meeting with the University of Phoenix©.
Was it a smart financial move? I just checked. I wouldn’t have been a billionaire if I would have stayed with them. So, whew.
What happened, John Wilder?
Prior to our current generation, college had been about the reputation of the institution and the graduates. If you were a Harvard® man or a Vanderbilt™ grad, that meant something. Not only was the curriculum difficult, but you only had a very small chance of even getting into the place.
The reputation of the school was that it was difficult – only the best should try to get in. Only the best will succeed. The often repeated story was of a Dean getting up before the freshman and saying, “look to your left . . . now look to your right. Only one of you will be here in four years.”
That was something they were proud of. If you didn’t dig in and study, well, you’re gone. That enhances the value of the school’s name.
This was important. The school would rather eat a kitten (an actual, living kitten without condiments like creamy horseradish sauce that go great with kitten) than put a graduate out that wasn’t up to their standards.
Now? Students are “customers” and the administration wants as many of them as possible so they can spawn a never ending series of administrator clones (college administrators reproduce asexually) to bring into the college administration. They don’t want to kick a student out, because that would mean that they would lose the precious, precious money that the student brings in. So they need things to attract more customers. Like elephant rides. Free panty hose. Margarita Tuesday.
Oh, did I mention that our college has climbing walls?
