This is Why U.S. college educations are worthless.

Discussion in 'Economics' started by wilburbear, Dec 28, 2011.

  1. Post from the internet-


    "Yes, the college situation in the US is fucked beyond help. You have employers who require college educations for jobs that really don't need one. You have HR departments that only care to check a box that says "undergrad degree". You have high school counselors telling kids that they can't get "good jobs" without college.

    You have high schools who are pressured into grading kids high because they don't want to be the cause of kids not getting into college, making high school GPA pretty much a meaningless measure that's still somehow incredibly fucking important to a lot of colleges.

    On top of that, you have rapidly rising tuition costs driven by the unreasonable demand of kids who go to college for no other reason than their parents and peers tell them it's important against a dwindling supply of actually-qualified instructors.

    All of that leads to a huge population of undergrads who have no actual qualifications, because most of them went to schools that didn't really give them a quality education, mostly because failing kids out doesn't keep the tuition checks coming in.

    And employers... instead of trying to fix this situation by, say, using proficiency tests or some other metric than "has a degree", just increase the requirements to graduate education. Which in turn is leading to a glut of under-educated Masters graduates.

    Everyone loses here. The schools are losing any kind of distinction they once had, and along with it the trust of the general population who are learning to devalue higher education. Employers are needing to pay less-qualified people more money, because those people demand more so they can pay their student loans (and after all, they have a degree, right?).

    Most of the students lose, because the marginal increase in income is insignificant next to the burden of student debt they accepted to get the degree. And society loses twice over by locking up young talent in college when those kids could be providing valuable services (for careers that don't really require higher education), and by devaluing the education and skills for those careers that really do demand higher education (e.g. sciences, engineering, etc.).

    tl;dr: The current situation with college education in the US pretty much fucks everyone over and not much is being done about that."
     
  2. Not in disagreement with your arguments, just stepping in with this...

    I like Peter Schiff's idea, and perhaps others, to eliminate Sallie Mae. Possible course to lower tutions. Its simple, stop the government backed loan program, less students are then able to get student loans and thus cannot pay for tution. Demand falls off the cliff, low and behold, universities suddenly lower tuition to encurage enrollment. Until then, and with Sallie Mae, universities have no skin in the game with the government backed guarentee loan programs. I'm not against student loans, just those backed by my tax dollars. If the universities want to mae the loans, they should take on the full risk of default themselves. Perhaps we'll see a lot less of these useless degrees.

    Just sayin'
     
  3. It should have been allowed to happen in 2008...Of course, many other quasi-state run institutions should have met a similar fate. What you've outlined above would go a long ways towards reducing the head count at these universities that have become bloated pigs...building extensive athletic facilities, libraries, new computer labs, new student centers, etc, etc...They are one of the few remaining bubbles left..jacking tuitions well above the "official" inflation rate (of course that's another debate).

    Nonetheless, I won't hold my breath that any sensible solution will ever be undertaken. They are another protected racket that ultimately serves itself, it's gargantuan endowment fund and tenured faculty members.
     
  4. DT-waw

    DT-waw

    except banks. they profit from interest on loans.
    called usury in islam.

    buy hey, poor western hipsters feel entitled when the bank grants them a loan :D
     
  5. DT-waw

    DT-waw

    credit is the reason why some services/assets are inflated in price.

    without people buying with loans, there will be MASSIVE deflation, and great prosperity. people could buy whatever they want CHEAPLY without credit.
     
  6. WS_MJH

    WS_MJH

    This is true and false. A college degree is very overrated. It's basically the new HS degree, a basic credential. The real exception is if you graduate from a top 15 university or top 3 Lib Art college. Those are worth the money for the opportunities. Otherwise you should go to the best public school you can. You can succeed without college: entrepreneurship or a good trade. But outside of these two, just having a HS degree is a disaster.
     
  7. Bob111

    Bob111

    while i agree with most of the posters in this thread,not everyone born as a businessman..if you are decent parent,you should be able to see,what your kid might be good at..imo-it's one of the parents goals.my question to all of you-what would you do,if your son want's to be a doctor? not for the money,but for a passion? sit down and wait until the bubble burst? it may never happens..and as for now-i see no "cheap" way to get there..if my math is right-it's at least 8 years + around half a mil $ for MD.
     
  8. SREC

    SREC

    I like this idea.

    I've heard that back in the day you could finance a college education with a part time job. Prior to massive student debt.
     
  9. So true. The other problem is people seem to be getting dumber. They come out of a degree with more knowledge but the great majority still can't think at a high level.
     
  10. I am not familiar with how universities operate in other countries, but one huge bone I have to pick with the US system is this: why am I forced to take so many unnecessary courses in order to earn my degree? I earned an engineering degree from a public school, but I'd say at least 25-40% of my credits were for useless "generals".

    Getting rid of that requirement would reduce overall cost to the student as well as remove lots of dead-weight from the universities

    If you're interested in taking a philosophy/history/women's study/etc, etc, no problems, but it shouldn't be force fed to you.

    (Seriously, I actually had to take a "physical education" credit. How ridiculous is that???)
     
    #10     Dec 28, 2011