The Higher Cost of Higher Education

[kenmac]

I have my last to put through college. He has 2 yrs left. of a 4 ye degree . I invested in a 529 plan. So far, I have used it to pay for every thing . He still lives at home and drives about 30 miles round trip to school. He doesn't work except for working for me when he's out of school and he has time. When he graduates ,won't have any college loan debt. That's the best I could ever give him.

 

[bcp]

A problem with some of these policies is that they provide disincentives for people to leave the welfare/poverty programs.

BBC News - Swiss to vote on incomes for all - working or not

... two more votes are on the way, the first on the introduction of a minimum wage, and the second, and most controversial, on a guaranteed basic income for all legal residents, whether they work or not.
...
the proposed amount for Switzerland, 2,500 Swiss francs ($2,800; ｣1,750) a month is scarcely enough to survive on, and that anyway a society in which people work only because they have to have money is "no better than slavery".
...
"The thought is not that people will work less, the people are free to decide - more, or less," he says.

That argument has found some enthusiastic supporters among young Swiss voters.

 

[smstonypoint]

... two more votes are on the way, the first on the introduction of a minimum wage, and the second, and most controversial, on a guaranteed basic income for all legal residents, whether they work or not.

Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.

Your most humble and obedient servant,
Frederic Bastiat

 

[dave1949]

A problem with some of these policies is that they provide disincentives for people to leave the welfare/poverty programs.

Let's rule out ill-gotten gains through rent-seeking and cronyism. By doing so, we have to ask how those folks generated their incomes and wealth. They have apparently provided goods and services that customers chose to buy. I don't have a problem with that. These folks don't leave their money under a mattress. They employ people in their own companies, they invest in other companies, they consume, etc.

<snip>

I think the solution consists of policies that promote economic growth rather than hindering it.

Trust me, I see rent-seeking and the principal-agent problem at work.

Steve

I am certainly not against being rewarded for ones efforts. That really isn't the issue. Economic theory, it appears to me, is concerned with cause and effect, and as Mankiw noted, to go outside of that puts one into the realm of philosophy.

What if that idea is turned on its head a bit; without philosophical matters being considered, there is a lack of grounding for economic theory because the relative values of "good and bad" are undefined. For example, we could have an economy built around cronyism as a measure of success. In fact I think there are more than a few of those in the world. Economists could study the methods of perfecting cronyism.

Our stated philosophy is to reward merit as evidenced by effort and success. The possible outcomes include effort without success. This condition is the heart of the matter for me. Not everyone who puts forth effort will have or deserve success, but when enough people are seen to be putting forth reasonable effort and not succeeding, there is a fundamental problem.

I think people confuse the fundamental problem with its symptoms. The symptoms are things like earning a degree and finding no employment, building a career and then finding your skills have become worthless in your own country, experiencing health issues which are treatable but at a cost well beyond what the median income could ever pay for, or finding the cost of higher education is well beyond ones means.

 

[dave1949]

Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.

Your most humble and obedient servant,
Frederic Bastiat

View attachment 350866

Isn't that why government was invented--by someone claiming authority through force or cultural means?

 

[smstonypoint]

Isn't that why government was invented--by someone claiming authority through force or cultural means?

I think the answer depends on how you define government.

Steve

 

[riptides]

One of mine just returned home from college. She got a degree, in something this board would be proud of, Agricultural studies.

She is returning to school because of the poor job market.

I have picked up her debt, as I am trying to do with all my kids in school.

So far, with no 529 plans or savings, I am 30k in the hole, due in part because of housing issues at the campus, and other expenses.

 

[check]

This is a real issue with my kid. She can go to the university where I teach, and the tuition will be free (since I am a faculty member and that is one of the perks), and stay at home for "free", or we can send her off to another city and pay some ungodly amount, most of which is for room and board.

So here is another question: It is better for the kid to stay in residence, or better to have them rent an apartment off campus? (My brothers stayed in residence first year, and they hated it.)

 

[riptides]

This is a real issue with my kid. She can go to the university where I teach, and the tuition will be free (since I am a faculty member and that is one of the perks), and stay at home for "free", or we can send her off to another city and pay some ungodly amount, most of which is for room and board.

So here is another question: It is better for the kid to stay in residence, or better to have them rent an apartment off campus? (My brothers stayed in residence first year, and they hated it.)

We have gravitated to off campus housing. While I encouraged all mine to try the "college life", I have found, with my kids, they seem to be more focused and develop a greater sense of responsibility towards self and real world applications, like maintaining a residence.

Then, there is the added benefit of visitation during football games, for me.

 

[MikeInEburg]

So here is another question: It is better for the kid to stay in residence, or better to have them rent an apartment off campus? (My brothers stayed in residence first year, and they hated it.)

I'd recommend on-campus for at least one year. This allows a student to make new friends and become a part of campus life.

I also recommend a school that is far enough away where home visits every weekend is not an option. I told my kids "go away and learn how to live life without mom doing your laundry".

Finally, I recommend a school in a city that is not a "college town". My eldest went to Georgia Tech in Atlanta. He loved the whole Atlanta experience and has since decided to stay. While we miss him, we want him to live his life on his own terms.