mptnstr@44
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RE: Interesting stuff from President Ono
(04-27-2013 01:12 PM)#41 Wrote: (04-26-2013 01:41 PM)lazyeyep22 Wrote: (04-26-2013 09:25 AM)#41 Wrote: He sees the writing on the wall, IMO -- the current college scheme is broken and heading for a massive collapse in the near-term.
You think the current crop of 20-somethings, with unemployment hovering around 50% for recent grads and average student-loan debt of roughly $26,000, is going to recommend that THEIR children go deeply into debt to pay for college?
I think you're right, though I'd make two points. First, a public university with UC's endowment, assets, and roster of quality programs is in a much better position than a lot of other colleges. Second, the problem isn't so much the student debt - $26,000 is really peanuts over a career - it's the lack of traditional opportunity once you get the degree. Our higher education system has evolved into a career machine. Attend classes, pay a little bit of attention, get a degree, get a decent job. Those "decent jobs" have all but evaporated and colleges have almost entirely failed to adjust or otherwise prepare students to succeed in the world. This is combined with skyrocketing costs and the continued loss of funding from the state. It's a huge problem that, as #41 said, is pushing secondary education to the brink.
Not to get into an education diatribe, but if you guys think that Santa Ono's biggest worry in the world is whether or not the Bearcats play in the AAC in 2015, you're sorely mistaken.
$26,000 is peanuts over the course of a career, but you don't pay it off over the course of a career -- you pay it off in the first 10-20 years after you graduate, where you're at the start of your career and are (presumably) making the least amount of money that you will during your working life.
College is still, statistically, a quality investment in your future -- but the future of the higher education system in America is one where universities will be forced to compete on price with one another. For years, universities were free to charge whatever they wanted under the assumption that students will just borrow what they need to pay. Lenders, backed by the government guarantees and knowledge of the nondischargability of student loan debt in bankruptcy court, were all too willing to hand over as much money as it took.
Now, students are taking a second look at cost and future debt. Schools used to entice kids by charging lots of money and using that to build dormitories that are palaces, state of the art rec centers, gourmet dining halls, etc. Higher ed became a facilities arms race with the debt being placed on the back of a generation of grads. The future, though, will be kids who make decisions based on costs v. spacious single-occupancy dorms and future debt burden v. personal trainers at a rec center.
Ono sees this coming -- that UC will be forced in the future to compete on price with online learning, community colleges, and other state institutions that are more cost-concious for students.
I think President Ono is making these decisions and statements to show his understanding of the difficulties of students paying for school. He is also showing his solidarity with UC staff who for most of the past 5 years have gone without raises. He really gets it. The saving from his proposals are only a small part of UC's gigantic institutional annual budget but they are symbolic.
There has been collegiate arms race with single occupancy dorms, sota rec centers, movie theaters, mall food court type food options — these were all driven by focus grouping students and their parents as to what gen X "expected" when they went away to college. They were used to eating out, their own rooms, having their own cars etc. from over indulgent baby boomer parents so some of the cost people are complaining about now, they created themselves with their high end expectations.
Another major problem for students is not being properly prepared for college when they enter requiring a year or two of remedial work that does not fulfill degree requirements thus making what should take 4 years take 5 or 6 if they finish at all. Providing remedial courses, tutors, writing centers, math centers, etc. all add costs to college. In the end every parent believes their child is college material but quite a few aren't and would be better served in technical school.
Switching majors adds years to college and cost as well.
Online and for-profit college will grow and provide competition but will never replace B&M traditional college because employers don't trust degrees from online and for-profit schools and won't hire those grads. This could be solved in some majors with licensing testing. Whether you go B&M or online if you can pass your field's licensing test — think state boards in all majors — you are certified as having the appropriate education for competency.
(This post was last modified: 04-27-2013 03:34 PM by mptnstr@44.)
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Interesting stuff from President Ono
