College Fiasco
Of all the great schemes, robberies, and traps ever mangled together in the history of mankind, perhaps none is more devious than the American higher education system. It is a trap that holds the ambitious and the opportunity-seeker by the ears and curses many with a life-time of debt and mal-employment. While we could go on and on about the faults in education itself, from the debilitating political indoctrination to the net crammed up useless knowledge and lack of skills, I am here to talk about the mass theft in the system. Basically, the problem is a huge discrepancy between the value we give education and the quality we receive. In other words, as we all know, college is too darn expensive, without a bang for your buck. This problem is more and more relevant every day because, every moment, the price is climbing and education is seldom improving; and, most importantly, the job prospects are declining.Although there are no breakthroughs in college education, the campuses are certainly improving—the new business buildings, dorms, stadiums, and higher salaries, more faculty, more administration. Colleges, like government, are a giant, inefficient, splurging, hungry mess. And the universities set the price because they can. We the consumers have so much power to incentivize colleges to improve and lower prices, but we don’t.
One word: hype. “Everyone should own a home.” It’s called a bubble—the housing bubble ignited the 2008 crash. And this is the education bubble. The government subsidizes demand (with loans and financial aid, which an astounding 75% of students receive), as do the people around us, especially our current educators, who insist college is the magical rainbow to happiness and success. This is not surprising. Over the past inflated booms, colleges produced banksters and bureaucrats that made good money in the burgeoning financial and government sectors, which now have to downsize, thus showing the consequence of having 350,000 business majors a year. Moreover, most high-achieving students are not willing to turn down an elite education, and frequently overlook the cost-benefit analysis. Not to mention, our favorite monopoly, College Board, has injected high schools with this SAT, AP, college preparation nicotine. (Non-profit? How amusing.) Lastly, there is a stigma with refraining from earning a degree. We all are guilty of looking down on the non-college-stamped and even on the people who go to trade schools to become, say, a welder, who ironically have a starting salary higher than many other grads. In fact, from what I recall, many successful entrepreneurs, i.e. Michael Dell and Bill Gates, did not get—or need—a bachelor’s degree.
So now we get the basic economic equation. Increased demand, without a substantial increase in supply (or innovation in the supply side) leads to, here’s the clincher: higher prices. This is perfect cover up for that new performing arts theatre at RPI or that huge real estate expansion at Columbia.
Now this is key: the government cannot fix this. It needs to get its grimy paws out of this business. It is not here to rock us in our carriages and “educate” us up to our first salary. It is largely responsible for this fiasco in the first place (I did not even mention how pesky licensing has required unnecessary degrees). My prescription is to use your power as a consumer in the marketplace. Realize college is not a magic, safe investment like we’re told. First, ask yourself, do you really need it? Do you want to end up as a struggling, undergraduate bartender or a comfortably living hair stylist or entrepreneur? Do you want to live dependently on Mommy’s money, even beyond graduation when you move back with her? I’m not saying that not going to college is the answer. If you do feel college is what you need, be practical about it. Go to the cheaper school. Encourage competition. Take the scholarship.
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