Couverture de Episode 5: Is College Still Worth It?

Episode 5: Is College Still Worth It?

Episode 5: Is College Still Worth It?

Écouter gratuitement

Voir les détails

À propos de ce contenu audio

 In our first podcast conversation, we briefly noted our concerns about the mounting cost of college. We’re both fathers who’ll one day be on the hook for college tuition and related expenses. So we wanted to return to that issue today. In today’s conversation, we make note of some of the factors that influence prices in higher education. We also cover whether we can expect this trend to continue and whether college remains a worthwhile investment. We approach this latter question from two different perspective, our own and a theoretical median American’s. We also discuss whether society is asking college institutions to do too much and why campus and faculty lounge politics are so heavily skewed leftward.Notes on Content Related to the Episode* It’s generally accepted that college costs have skyrocketed, but it’s important to get a handle on the actual data: * A 2022 NBER study found that “Enrollment-weighted average tuition at four-year public universities increased by nearly 200% between academic years 1987-88 and 2018-19, with increases particularly marked in the years around the Great Recession and then slowing in recent years. Because approximately 70% of students at four-year universities in the US attend a public university, the potential burden of increased prices is consequential.”* However, the sticker price of tuition can be deceiving. There is economic research (Ibid) that suggests higher tuition prices can have “progressive” effects on low income access to R1 universities. Essentially, students from well-off families subsidize the costs allowing net tuition to be lower for low/moderate income students. These benefits are more pronounced at more prestigious institutions. However, the absolute share of students from low-income backgrounds is low at R1 institutions even though the relative share has improved. * “the net tuition paid by students from the lowest-income families (less than $30,000 in family income) at four-year universities increased by only 4.5% between 2008-09 and 2018-19, while tuition increased by 32.6%” (Ibid)* Since the 1995–1996 academic year, the “sticker price” at four-year institutions rose over 70% (source). Fortunately, need-based and merit-based financial aid drove down the percentage of students who pay the full sticker price—only 26% of in-state public and 16% of private nonprofit college students paid the full price in 2019–2020, compared to 53% and 29%, respectively, 25 years earlier. * However, money to fund that difference between sticker price and price paid comes from somewhere, and what doesn’t come from the university still constitutes more dollars (mostly public grants) chasing the value of increasingly uncompetitive degrees. * The above data confirm prices have risen. They show the costs are distributed differentially across students of different socioeconomic status. Let’s look closer at why costs have risen:* From a very low resolution perspective, it looks like tuition prices increases over the last 3+ decades are at least partially a product of something called cost disease socialism. The basic idea is that social policy has constrained supply (i.e. the accreditation system and prestige maintenance of acceptance rate/enrollment) while subsidizing demand (i.e. federal grants and loans). Plus we’re talking about a college degree where demand is inelastic, meaning people will almost pay anything to obtain a degree. This is a recipe for driving prices through the roof in a vicious cycle. * Now, we can’t wholly blame social policy. Economic and cultural factors and private decisions figure prominently too. We could put a lower premium on the value of higher education credentials. Prestigious institutions, flush with cash and huge endowments, could have also have opted to expand enrollment. * The ways universities, especially public institutions, obtain funding has changed some since the 1980s. State appropriations have declined while federal grants and private fundraising has increased in importance. This has worked out well for prestigious private and flagship public institutions but other non-research and lower-tier public institutions face more challenges, meaning they are more dependent on keeping enrollment high and getting students to pay tuition and fees.* Returning to some market/culture-related talking points: Obviously, expectations are extremely high. Young students expect schools to be more than institutions of higher learning. They want fancy playgrounds or borderline resorts populated with range of the world’s interesting people. Plus, the competition among institutions for high performing and wealthy students is quite high too. Colleges are compelled into an arms race of sorts to develop campus resources and opportunities outside of the classroom. This has increased administrative bloat and tightened the screws on professors/teaching faculty. * We’ve addressed a little bit of why costs have...
Les membres Amazon Prime bénéficient automatiquement de 2 livres audio offerts chez Audible.

Vous êtes membre Amazon Prime ?

Bénéficiez automatiquement de 2 livres audio offerts.
Bonne écoute !
    Aucun commentaire pour le moment