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College tuition is way up because of a lack of Government, not because of Government.

Zalatix

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Yes, summer job paid tuition back in ’81, but then we got cheap | Local News | The Seattle Times

Now, I didn’t go to the UW. But I’m going down Husky memory lane because last week The Seattle Times featured a crop of harried UW students looking rueful and broke. The story said skeptical state legislators often say how “they worked their way through college. And then they ask: Why don’t students do that today?”

Of all our delusions, we old farts cling to this bootstrap one the most. We worked our way up on sweat and chicken grease, we say. Can’t this generation? What’s wrong with them?

What’s wrong is that after we got ours, we cut it off for them.

The reason a summer at KFC could pay for a year of UW med school in 1981 isn’t that we were so hardworking and industrious. It’s that taxpayers back then picked up 90 percent of the tab. We weren’t Horatio Algers. We were socialists.

Today, the public picks up only 30 percent of UW tuition, and dropping.
That's what's wrong with us old farts. We snatched away all the benefits for the younger generation, got stingy with taxes, and then told them "hahah, now you try getting ahead."

It's like taking away all the cheese and expecting the mouse to try to eat. There's no cheese left, we've hoarded it all. But it's the mouse's fault that they can't find anything to eat. That's what we're doing to the youth of today.

College tuition isn't going up because of student loans. It's because taxpayers no longer fund college like they used to. We all benefited from socialism but now we don't want anyone else to. WTF...
 
Re: College tuition is way up because of a lack of Government, not because of Governm

We have a debt culture. Call me a conspiracy theorist but I think the government wants high tuition, high student loan debt, and at a high interest to bring them in more money. Their answer has typically been to increase loan amounts instead of attempting to decrease costs. The educational institutions win in that they charge more, the government wins in that they make more on higher student loans with higher interest, and at the end students are the ones that loose.
 
Re: College tuition is way up because of a lack of Government, not because of Governm

I attended the University of Minnesota.

Figured in 2005 dollars, the support given the University by the State is down a bit.

The tuition has entered orbit. The problem is not the suppport afforded by those who support but the outlandish rise in cost by those who take the cash.

Minnesota has changed from quarterly schedule to semesters. In 1971, the quarterly cost for tuition was about $132 if I'm remembering it right. I do recall that the $300 I thought might pay for the first year would not be enough.

That one-year cost has risen to about $12,000. It's not the support from the state, it's the cost of the institutions.

http://www.academic.umn.edu/img/assets/17505/3-3.14 StateTax6105.pdf
 
Re: College tuition is way up because of a lack of Government, not because of Governm

I attended the University of Minnesota.

Figured in 2005 dollars, the support given the University by the State is down a bit.

The tuition has entered orbit. The problem is not the suppport afforded by those who support but the outlandish rise in cost by those who take the cash.

Minnesota has changed from quarterly schedule to semesters. In 1971, the quarterly cost for tuition was about $132 if I'm remembering it right. I do recall that the $300 I thought might pay for the first year would not be enough.

That one-year cost has risen to about $12,000. It's not the support from the state, it's the cost of the institutions.

http://www.academic.umn.edu/img/assets/17505/3-3.14 StateTax6105.pdf
Where the hell is all that money going?
 
Re: College tuition is way up because of a lack of Government, not because of Governm

Yes, summer job paid tuition back in ’81, but then we got cheap | Local News | The Seattle Times


That's what's wrong with us old farts. We snatched away all the benefits for the younger generation, got stingy with taxes, and then told them "hahah, now you try getting ahead."

It's like taking away all the cheese and expecting the mouse to try to eat. There's no cheese left, we've hoarded it all. But it's the mouse's fault that they can't find anything to eat. That's what we're doing to the youth of today.

College tuition isn't going up because of student loans. It's because taxpayers no longer fund college like they used to. We all benefited from socialism but now we don't want anyone else to. WTF...

funding college isnt socialism or protectionism,rather its seen as a country improving its competiveness.

think about it,if a population ismore educated,its more productive and more competitive,and the the benefit always outweighs the cost.id be more in favor of basic collegesand trade scgools being govt funded like general education,and only higher end universities being pay to attend,like harvard or yale.
 
Re: College tuition is way up because of a lack of Government, not because of Governm

Where the hell is all that money going?


Well, to be fair, I did not convert my $132 into 2005 dollars. I probably should just to become suicidally depressed over the pittance I get paid at work.

That is the question, though, isn't it?

I was aware of student loans at the time, but i don't know if they were new or just new to me. I worked full time and attended classes so the notion of the loans just kind of slipped past me. I've never liked the idea of indentured servitude and the loans for this purpose seemed to commit me to that life.

It does seem that the level of the cost has increased and it's my assumption that the cost increases when the demand increases. Demand increases when the loans are more available. Fewer students would lower the demand and therefore the costs.
 
Re: College tuition is way up because of a lack of Government, not because of Governm

This is one of the few things I think Germany is doing a lot better than us. For them college is completely paid for by taxes, so the students pay nothing. This is done for K-12 even in the states, why an extra few years of either college or job training would break the bank is beyond me.
 
Re: College tuition is way up because of a lack of Government, not because of Governm

Damn. I can't imagine what their university system's chancellor-equivalent earns.
That particular list is modest. You should take a look at, say, UCLA. It can be hard to find, but it's public information.
 
Re: College tuition is way up because of a lack of Government, not because of Governm

Holy crap! These people are getting paid a whole pile of money to make each other feel good.

It seems like they should be wearing leather micro skirts and working at midnight downtown.
...And one should expect awfully good service. I'm not picking on VA Tech - they're really on the lower end. It's not only the heavy, six figure salaries. It's spending on a grand scale throughout the system in this country.
 
Re: College tuition is way up because of a lack of Government, not because of Governm

Yes, summer job paid tuition back in ’81, but then we got cheap | Local News | The Seattle Times


That's what's wrong with us old farts. We snatched away all the benefits for the younger generation, got stingy with taxes, and then told them "hahah, now you try getting ahead."

It's like taking away all the cheese and expecting the mouse to try to eat. There's no cheese left, we've hoarded it all. But it's the mouse's fault that they can't find anything to eat. That's what we're doing to the youth of today.

College tuition isn't going up because of student loans. It's because taxpayers no longer fund college like they used to. We all benefited from socialism but now we don't want anyone else to. WTF...

Completely inaccurate premise that displays a lack of comprehension for basic capitalistic economies.

College tuition is out of control for the same reason health care costs are out of control. Third party intervention. As long as the government (in this case) continues to provide cheap money tuition will continue to rise and the liberals at our higher education institutions will continue to increase salary structures. There is no sanity in such a system due to lack of fiscal responsibility.
 
Re: College tuition is way up because of a lack of Government, not because of Governm

funding college isnt socialism or protectionism,rather its seen as a country improving its competiveness.

think about it,if a population ismore educated,its more productive and more competitive,and the the benefit always outweighs the cost.id be more in favor of basic collegesand trade scgools being govt funded like general education,and only higher end universities being pay to attend,like harvard or yale.

The problem is your assumption that more college = more competitive/educated/efficient society. If that were the case, why wouldn't we subsidize all graduate and PhD programs too? And even further? It's because all knowledge is not equal. Does an electrician in trade school really learn less than a medieval arts major in college? According to checkboxes, one has a diploma showing that he or she can sit through class for 4 years and the other doesn't; yet does that diploma somehow make you more "educated"? It doesn't. SOME fields should be emphasized, but what we have in America is TOO MANY college diplomas and, much like printing too much money, devalues each subsequent diploma while simultaneously driving up the cost of education and debt levels. Instead of expanding it, we should rein it in.

I think the problem is we fail to differentiate between remunerable, useful life skills and "4 year piece of paper". They are not mutually exclusive. I have learned more at work than I did in school, and I was an engineering major. Yes, on paper I'm more "educated", but school did not make me much more efficient. I imagine for most people, this is the case, and it certainly isn't worth the cost.

To address the title of this article--how do you explain private universities? They went from 0% state funding to...0% state funding, and yet prices for private universities have skyrocketed moreso than state universities. That tears apart the premise of the article.
 
Re: College tuition is way up because of a lack of Government, not because of Governm

...And one should expect awfully good service. I'm not picking on VA Tech - they're really on the lower end. It's not only the heavy, six figure salaries. It's spending on a grand scale throughout the system in this country.




When I was in school, there was a new athletic center built at a pretty high cost for the time. The price tag escapes me right now. The week after the opening, this was before the age of computers, a student was complaining in a lecture hall that the volume of the encyclopedia needed for a paper was missing from the Library.

A voice from the back of the room cried out, "Yeah, but we have a hell of weight room!"

Until that moment, it had not occurred to me that an athletic center was not a real needed part of my education, but an encyclopedia was.

Kind of reveals how badly I needed that encyclopedia.
 
Re: College tuition is way up because of a lack of Government, not because of Governm

When I was in school, there was a new athletic center built at a pretty high cost for the time. The price tag escapes me right now. The week after the opening, this was before the age of computers, a student was complaining in a lecture hall that the volume of the encyclopedia needed for a paper was missing from the Library.

A voice from the back of the room cried out, "Yeah, but we have a hell of weight room!"

Until that moment, it had not occurred to me that an athletic center was not a real needed part of my education, but an encyclopedia was.

Kind of reveals how badly I needed that encyclopedia.
The money spent is astronomical if you consider the source and it's purported purpose. They're supposed to be institutions of higher learning. They've turned it into a country club for the favored faculty and those in programs garnering attention and money.
 
Re: College tuition is way up because of a lack of Government, not because of Governm

I have to disagree with the OP here. Government intervention is a HUGE reason we have skyrocketing costs in education. This is a simple case of supply and demand. We've taught our kids for the last 4 decades that college = success. Demand goes up. 1971 court case (Griggs vs. Duke Power) makes aptitude tests in jobs go the way of the dinosaur due to fear of discrimination laws suits. Discrimination laws are of course created and enforced by the government. College degrees becomes the preferred way to weed out applicants for jobs that require above average skills. Demand goes up. Costs start rising significantly due to demand. Private student loans come start to become more common. Government grants and subsidies start to become more common. Cost and Demand rise due to easier access to money. A recessions happen..the student loan industry tightens up lending which worries people that college will be unaffordable without them (due to the increases in cost and demand from these other interventions) so the government starts backing student loans against default with 97 cents on the dollar, but caps interest rates. Lending booms again. Lenders are now taking huge risks with loans and also resorting to corrupt dealings with schools to make them "preferred lenders". Costs go up again. The government cuts student loan backing to 95 cents on the dollar due to corrupt and risky practices and cut the interest rate to 3.4% Lenders complain they can't be profitable this way. The Great Housing Market Collapse happens. Private lending slows to a halt. Government has to come in and buy up huge packages of loans. Current "Student Loan Crisis" is here.

So it is PRECISELY because of government intervention that college is so expensive...but that is what happens when you try to make a private free market do something it doesn't naturally do.. provide its services to people who can't pay for it. This is the same thing that's happened with healthcare. You want a market to do something unnatural so the government comes in and throws in some subsidies or regulations..costs go up..government has to come back in and do something to make sure people can afford to buy stuff from this market..costs go up.. government has to come back in again and do something else. Repeat ad nausem.

Colleges right now do not compete on cost. They compete on services. They build new gyms and dorms and pay researches to discover things that gets their name in the media. There is absolutely 0 incentive to reduce costs for them because people can and will pay for college because of the perception that its the only way to get ahead and the availability of funds to pay for it. This is demand 101. Demand being the level a goods a population is WILLING and ABLE to pay for. When you affect either the willing part or the able part, demand goes up. Costs go up. Oldest economic rule in the book.
 
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