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Isn't the ease with which students can get sizable, non-dischargable, government-backed student loans the primary driver of these problems? Universities can pra

Isn't the ease with which students can get sizable, non-dischargable, government-backed student loans the primary driver of these problems? Universities can practically charge whatever they want and they will always get paid, which leads to extravagant health centers, rec centers dining halls, etc. If anything, I think decreased incentives for schools to charge such high tuitions would lead to cutting lots of these high-salaried administrative deans and perhaps the universities thinking twice about building that new $5M rec center.

cgearhart 11y ago
Guaranteed loans are part of the problem. That's why I think the funding should be provided to the school rather than the student. Same money, different mechanism. It would also force schools to justify their extravagant investments, and limit their ability to borrow against future tuition revenues.
mpweiher 11y ago
Yes and no. In Germany, universities are essentially free, even for foreign students[1] (experiments to charge higher "tuition" that's still ridiculously low by U.S. standards have largely failed), and low-income students can get loans to cover some of their living expenses while attending. As far as I can tell, costs for educating one student average around 1/4th of U.S. levels[2], despite also having a very high administrator/educator ratio. We generally don't have lush campuses or dorms, university sports exist but are something completely different etc. My sister went to Stanford, so yes, U.S. unis are really nice. But maybe not all of that is strictly necessary. It seems to me that you can get away with government funding if both sides are government-controlled. It's the "Public Private Partnership" angle where you combine the profit motive with effectively unlimited government funding that you get in trouble. "Privatize profits, socialize losses(/costs)". [1] http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32821678 http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32821678 [2] http://www.marketplace.org/topics/education/learning-curve/how-german-higher-education-controls-costs http://www.marketplace.org/topics/education/learning-curve/h...

cgearhart 11y ago

Guaranteed loans are part of the problem. That's why I think the funding should be provided to the school rather than the student. Same money, different mechanism. It would also force schools to justify their extravagant investments, and limit their ability to borrow against future tuition revenues.

mpweiher 11y ago

Yes and no. In Germany, universities are essentially free, even for foreign students[1] (experiments to charge higher "tuition" that's still ridiculously low by U.S. standards have largely failed), and low-income students can get loans to cover some of their living expenses while attending. As far as I can tell, costs for educating one student average around 1/4th of U.S. levels[2], despite also having a very high administrator/educator ratio. We generally don't have lush campuses or dorms, university sports exist but are something completely different etc. My sister went to Stanford, so yes, U.S. unis are really nice. But maybe not all of that is strictly necessary. It seems to me that you can get away with government funding if both sides are government-controlled. It's the "Public Private Partnership" angle where you combine the profit motive with effectively unlimited government funding that you get in trouble. "Privatize profits, socialize losses(/costs)". [1] http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32821678 http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32821678 [2] http://www.marketplace.org/topics/education/learning-curve/how-german-higher-education-controls-costs http://www.marketplace.org/topics/education/learning-curve/h...