College May Become Unaffordable for Most in U.S. , page 1

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Topic started on 3-12-2008 @ 09:36 AM by TheWayISeeIt

College May Become Unaffordable for Most in U.S.

www.nytimes.com

The rising cost of college — even before the recession — threatens to put higher education out of reach for most Americans...

Over all, the report found, published college tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007, adjusted for inflation, while median family income rose 147 percent. Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade, and students from lower-income families, on average, get smaller grants from the colleges they attend than more affluent students.

(visit the link for the full news article)

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 09:36 AM by TheWayISeeIt

Buh-bye Middle Class, hello dumbed down manual labor America. ... or .. "Americans the new Mexicans" How do you like that? Because that's exactly what this report is stating.

This is outrageous! How does this happen? How does the cost of higher ed increase over 300+% to family income? Why are you people with children not in the streets demanding a Federal Law that keeps colleges in line with cost of living?!

This is much more important to the security of this nation than the wasted TRILLIONS thrown at the make-believe War on Terror. Wake-up! Act up! This is insanity.

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 09:40 AM by stikkinikki

Colleges will have to respond to market conditions. I suppose some of them will shut down but that would just be a culling of the ill adapted business models. State colleges and universities can be fantastic. I recommend the University of Washington if you are a resident there. Top notch.

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 09:45 AM by jjkenobi

I totally agree that colleges are raising the tuition at ridiculous rates. The college I went to from 96-00 was 11k a year. I got grants and scholarships for about 8k a year so it was reasonably affordable.

The same college now is charging 20k a year. The local one in my town is charging 24k a year!

(private institutions)

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 09:46 AM by warrenb

education needs to be free for people of all ages

if that ever happens; we will see humanity taking a step in the right direction

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 09:49 AM by jefwane

You know, I'd just once love to see an article that even mentions how the easy availabillity of student loans has been part of the reason that tuitions are rising so quickly. Not only has the easy availabillity of credit driven the price of a college education up, but it's leaving those that use it with a crushing, almost impossible to discharge debt burden. With the almost certainty of a prolonged recession if not outright Depression, an almost impossible to discharge debt is one of the worse things to have especially if we get deflation.

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 09:49 AM by thisguyrighthere

reply to post by warrenb

Yup. then all those kids who are only there because their parents said "get a job and move out or go to school and we'll support you" can go on four year slut, drug and booze binges at little to no cost.

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 09:50 AM by Finn1916

the cost of college is already out of the range of anyone not middle class o above. And those that are lower class sometimes fall through the cracks because the system is broken.

MAybe instead of complaining that suddenly the middle class will not afford schooling, maybe we should be discussing why their seems to be a pln in place to make it impossible for poor people to beter themselves beyond manual labor. The article in question states it is harder for poorer people to get grants as apposed to afluent people. I know that first hand. They are trying to keep the poor uneducated so they can dig ditches and work at walmart forever. So now the middle class gets to see what the rest of us have been dealing with forever.

[edit on 12/3/2008 by Finn1916]

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 09:51 AM by warrenb

reply to post by thisguyrighthere

your assuming we stick to the current model

don't assume

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 09:53 AM by Sator

Originally posted by TheWayISeeIt

College May Become Unaffordable for Most in U.S.

Is it not already?

I thought that most people in US could not afford college nowadays, having to relay on loans for that.

Speaking of "loans + education" that also give me the creeps:

Think about it. You are getting a LOAN to PAY what is your RIGHT to have?
Nice way to push down people's throat this SCAM that our so called capitalism has become.

Peace

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 09:54 AM by thisguyrighthere

reply to post by warrenb

Well, whats the different model?

If it goes so that any slob can buy their way through school but any student consistently making Deans list gets a free ride then it's all good and the worthwhile students will succeed at no cost and the bum students will bankrupt themselves.

You should tell me your model if your going to say I shoulnt assume the current model. Or am I just assuming that if you claim the current model is failing you actually have another model to replace it with?

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 09:59 AM by RFBurns

reply to post by TheWayISeeIt

Umm...the middle class faded away about 15 years ago. And the affordability of college has been a problem for over 20 years.

But let me ask this to you young college folks out here.

Why is it that I see so many young college students driving around in fancy cars with spoked spinner wheels and blaring subwoofers and buying all kinds of gadgets to throw into the mix when there is an education to be paying for????

Now unless your filthy rich and just going to college to satisfy mommie and daddy and you got one of those fancy vehicles, well thats one thing, but the majority who rely on mom an dad's credit card accounts and savings they built up for your college education..and its all being spent on fancy comptuers, fancy i-gadgets and expensive cars and clothing, why is there any wonder that there is a "cry foul" about college tuition????

Perhaps diverting all those funds that are supposed to be for the college education from all that useless material crap may help.

Cheers!!!

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 10:04 AM by warrenb

reply to post by thisguyrighthere

It is not for me to give you the information but for you to seek it on your own.
One does not learn by being given the answers but by seeking them oneself.

I'll be nice and give you a head start. Mind you this is but one drop in the ocean of possibilities.

[edit on 3-12-2008 by warrenb]

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 10:05 AM by Finn1916

Originally posted by RFBurns
reply to post by TheWayISeeIt

But let me ask this to you young college folks out here.

Why is it that I see so many young college students driving around in fancy cars with spoked spinner wheels and blaring subwoofers and buying all kinds of gadgets to throw into the mix when there is an education to be paying for????

Cheers!!!

I can't speak for everyone but my fiancee is college. Yes, I see kids driving cars that are worth more than our house we are renting. They get cazy ammounts of grants to do whatever with. What do we drive? a ten year old toyota, use 6 year old computer, a lot of second hand clothes. Why? because she needs her education more than fancy cars clothes or gadgets. Theproblem is yes,the majority of kids at a good university are going to be living off of mommy and daddy. at least the ones I have met and work with are. You get a small percentage that are actually paying for it themselves through working and loans. Those are the ones that get less help, cause again, we gotta keep the lower classes down so they can do crappy labor jobs. Thy also are the ones, on average that I have noticed, take harder classes and pass them mroe often than not. Why? cause they grew up in tse crappy living conditions and actually want to get out of that rut. So this is how we reward those trying to better their lives? Guess the entire system has failed, time to start over.

Of couse then you have the students that have to work in order to actually afford to live as well as atend classes, so what happens to them? They don't get agood of grades and therefore don't get as much help meaning they have to work more meaning their grades suffer. I remember ba in highschool being told by a teacher that i should be focusing more on school and work less. When you have to SURVIVE that is not a option.

Hope this answers your querry as to why a bunch of spoiled rich snots in colleges waste money on spinner for their mercedes instead of paying their way throug school.

[edit on 12/3/2008 by Finn1916]

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 10:08 AM by Grumble

The rising costs of college, medical care, and other services has more to do with our poverty than anything else. We Americans tend to view wealth as being able to afford things, and things can be made more and more efficiently, while services, requiring actual people, rise in apparent cost in comparison. We have been becoming more and more poor for years, and we just have not realized it because our DVD's, TV's, etc., have continued to become cheaper. Now, many people will be forced to accept their poverty as the credit bubble bursts and their hard earned money simply will not pay for things Americans have long taken for granted. This is not some sort of new crisis, but an inevitable reality we must now face. We are not as wealthy as we have been led to believe.

[edit on 3-12-2008 by Grumble]

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 10:08 AM by nyk537

It's been headed this way for decades now.

At a certain point people will stop attending colleges and they will be forced to either drop their tuition or shut down. I think we have just about reached that point.

Of course...I guess we could always just ask the government to take care of us and provide for us.

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 10:16 AM by TheWayISeeIt

reply to post by nyk537

This is not about the govt. providing for us, they already do that with the college loans. I am suggesting that the federal govt. should withold funding to States whose public colleges are raising their tuitions. They coud easily do this, by putting a limit on exactly what they will 'loan' each student each year for the school and it should be in line with cost of living.

And if lower income kids are not getting govt. loans in a way that is dispropotinate to affluent kids, that too needs to be changed. If we don't start acting like it is our money and our govenment it never will be.

This is an issue that everyone with kids, which from the looks of things is most people, can get around and demand a change in. It is harder to create the confusing smoke-and-mirrors around this issue ala health care. This is a simple thing to understand. What excuses are the colleges going to be able to make to jusrtify this, other then greed?

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 10:24 AM by buddhasystem

Originally posted by nyk537
Of course...I guess we could always just ask the government to take care of us and provide for us.

In many civilized countries, higher education is free. From meeting people who obtained such education, I can attest it's top notch. I can also attest these people are not freeloaders.

Next.

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 10:26 AM by nyk537

I don't think they have to justify it.

They are providing a service, and charging what they want for it. Do I agree with it. Hell no, but that's the way it is.

I absolutely think health care should be affordable for everyone, but as long as these universities are public institutions, they can charge whatever they want, no matter how ridiculous it is.

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 10:27 AM by nyk537

reply to post by buddhasystem

In many civilized countries, the government can actually run things efficiently.

In America, the government ruins everything it touches.

Sorry, but I don't buy that working here.

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