I'm well aware of the current situation. Costs are ballooning out of control -- not because affordable options don't exist -- but primarily because children are being
told to go to college, and given blank checks in the form of loans, but are not being
prepared to plan their own financial future. College should not be treated as high school 2.0 with a blank check.
The average price of attendance is being inflated because the average student is picking a school first and then burdening themselves and their parents with whatever gigantic loans it takes. Kids are picking a school based on campus tours or social pressures, but on the first day of class they still couldn't tell you how much it's costing them to go there. They are underprepared to begin with.
There are affordable 4-year schools if you are prepared and shop around. The US has more scholarship opportunities than anywhere else in the world if you are prepared in advance to get them. There are expensive programs that are worth financing. And there are dirt cheap 2 year options that are still affordable today, on an hourly wage income.
But there are also plenty of stupid decisions that are possible to make when buying a higher education, and the system is not set up to prevent you from shooting yourself in the foot.
If a student can't say what they want to study, why they want to study it, and how they're going to pay for it -- they probably aren't prepared to be making the decision to attend. Unfortunately, too many parents are uncomfortable accepting this transition of responsibility in life and pressure them to "just try it". Signing the loan docs are easy enough, and that's the recipe for disaster.
The average price of attendance is being inflated because the average student is picking a school first and then burdening themselves and their parents with whatever gigantic loans it takes. Kids are picking a school based on campus tours or social pressures, but on the first day of class they still couldn't tell you how much it's costing them to go there. They are underprepared to begin with.
There are affordable 4-year schools if you are prepared and shop around. The US has more scholarship opportunities than anywhere else in the world if you are prepared in advance to get them. There are expensive programs that are worth financing. And there are dirt cheap 2 year options that are still affordable today, on an hourly wage income.
But there are also plenty of stupid decisions that are possible to make when buying a higher education, and the system is not set up to prevent you from shooting yourself in the foot.
If a student can't say what they want to study, why they want to study it, and how they're going to pay for it -- they probably aren't prepared to be making the decision to attend. Unfortunately, too many parents are uncomfortable accepting this transition of responsibility in life and pressure them to "just try it". Signing the loan docs are easy enough, and that's the recipe for disaster.