There was a lot of discussion around student’s declining attitudes toward the college experience. A lot of disparate theories were thrown out there, but they seemed disjointed and often conflicting. For an example, in regards to rising student apathy, hyper competitiveness was offered as the culprit. Beyond the conflicting nature, I think this explanation cuts against 1) our flagging global academic standings (under our own, domestic rankings), 2) what the average long-serving professor would say across nearly any discipline, and 3) common sense/observation.
The most common sense explanation is that undergraduate students are seeing what their brothers and sisters, older friends, and upperclassmen are graduating into and are dismayed. This was vaguely touched on last week, but it was shunted to the periphery of the discussion. It should be front and center.
Cost of a college education rises year over year. Number of diplomas dispensed rises year over year. Yet the number of people actually working in their graduating field drops year over year. The debt-incurred-to-salary-potential ratio is reaching an unsustainable level. This problem is troubling in and of itself. But the worst caveat is yet to be noted—the skyrocketing debts foisted upon these children are undefaultable. It will be extracted from the kid come hell or high water. We do not allow this in any other loan structure in the United States. Bankruptcy is always a way out. Everyone, everything is defaultable—save the loans we make to our children.
When you consider all these growing problems together, it’s fast becoming a blatantly predatory practice, yet colleges express no willingness to engage in a meaningful exploration of this problem. We’re still selling hopes and dreams at college. How do you put a price upon this? I don’t know, but we did. And you’re going to pay it. Even if you find yourself bussing tables at a coffeeshop. Even if it kicks home ownership out of your reach. Even if it takes the rest of your life to repay. And when we discuss it, we’ll suggest it’s a failure of optimism in the student body. It’s not a mental error or shortcoming to be troubled upon finding that the prosperity you thought you were promised isn’t actually in reach. Especially when you begin to feel how real and concrete the debt is compared to the fine piece of paper it’s bought you.
We have not presented a coherent answer.
Hi Alex,
I wholeheartedly agree… and it’s difficult to form a reply beyond this simple statement because what you offered in your blog post was so accurate, insightful, and powerful. It can be difficult to be excited about the college experience when nearly $100,000 of debt is perpetually looming above you until you accumulate enough to pay that loan—and the interest—off. While the price of college is incessantly rising, salaries are not increasing at the same pace. As you mentioned, it’s troubling! The fact that universities/colleges across the United States have successfully managed to place such a large price tag on information and a piece of paper is truly unfathomable and understandably, the reason for declining attitude toward the college experience. Below is a link to a graph (and article) that illustrates just how dramatically the cost of college has increased. My hope is that we can control and reduce the absurd cost of schooling so that students can focus on learning and growing throughout the college experience without such intense financial stress so that these precious years can actually be enjoyed.
Link: https://medium.com/@noamaltzman/keeping-up-with-modern-society-rising-cost-of-higher-education-ce451f052428
Your insight unfortunately reflects the reality of higher level academia today. While there have been many proposed solutions on fixing increasing tuition, none have been implemented. President Biden’s debt relief package has been rule unconstitutional. Even if it were constitutional, it would likely further justify tuition increases, as would any other government subsidy. At the moment, students are on their own when deciding whether to pursue higher level education.
Because college is an essential requirement for much employment today, aspiring graduates often see it as a mandatory. However, many forget that higher level education is an investment decision, which is especially true without government aid/control over the field. The added benefit of a college diploma must outweigh the costs of it to be worthwhile. When prices are drastically increasing each year, the benefit must be increasingly higher for students. As a result, as costs outpaces benefit in many professions, application and enrollment rates in colleges has declined in more recent years.
Alex, this post hits so many points that have been circling in my head for the entire time that I’ve been in college. With a bachelor’s degree becoming the bare minimum for getting extremely entry level jobs, the mountain of debt that students are being coerced into incurring is becoming more and more insurmountable. It seems that there is no ceiling that college tuition prices will hit; after all, there seems to be one of three (and a half) options presented to graduation seniors: college, trade school, the military, or (worst case scenario) prison. Many students can’t see themselves in anything other than college, and as a bachelor’s degree becomes more and more useless, they feel that going to a selective, extremely expensive private school is the only way to achieve success.
I am hoping that the steps to help the student debt crisis will soon be put into practice by our lawmakers.
Great post Alex. I wonder what you (and those that commented) think about the recent move by many prestigious academic institutions to bow out of the U.S. News and World Report rankings. How much does this system play into this problem? College tuition has increased SIGNIFICANTLY in my lifetime, but you can still get a pretty affordable education at a state school if you are paying in state tuition. I think often these discussions are focused only on private institutions.