In the field of higher education, reality is outrunning parody. A recent feature on the satire website the Onion proclaimed, “30-Year-Old Has Earned $11 More Than He Would Have Without College Education.” Allowing for tuition, interest on student loans, and four years of foregone income while in school, the fictional student “Patrick Moorhouse” wasn’t much better off. His years of stress and study, the article japed, “have been more or less a financial wash.”
“Patrick” shouldn’t feel too bad. Many college graduates would be happy to be $11 ahead instead of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, behind. The credit-driven higher education bubble of the past several decades has left legions of students deep in debt without improving their job prospects. To make college a good value again, today’s parents and students need to be skeptical, frugal and demanding. There is no single solution to what ails higher education in the U.S., but changes are beginning to emerge, from outsourcing to online education, and they could transform the system.
The credit driven bubble is only part of the problem. The liberal, socialist, communist, progressive takeover of College has detached much of the institution from reality. Real jobs have no value for what colleges produce. And then there is the notion that everyone should go to college…..why?
If people want real jobs, here they are;
http://www.mikeroweworks.com/job-site/
Diesel techs for Cat working in North Dakota are pulling down well over six figures with hiring bonuses. How many “feminist studies” majors get offers like those?
I could also add [to be fair]: how many seminary grads get those type offers?
Yes, yes, I know the rewards of seminary are not monetary; but the payments due on the debt are.