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So, many more students are attending college, median salaries for college educated folks haven't budged, tuition is more heavily subsidized, and yet college is

by krisdol 11y ago

So, many more students are attending college, median salaries for college educated folks haven't budged, tuition is more heavily subsidized, and yet college is many times more expensive. Hate to challenge hn libertarians but something doesn't add up here. Where's the money going in that equation? Are school administrators just vacuuming up all the extra money? Are professors mostly less than high school educated? There are more students in college because high school education does limit your job opportunities, and wages for non-educated jobs have not only not risen, but have fallen since the 1970s. Tuition may be more subsidized in the number of dollars touched by the state, but education budgets often haven't risen to meet demand and the only subsidies anyone's getting these days is loans. Grants and scholarships from the state have shrunk and shrunk and shrunk. A college education is more likely to lead to pulling you out of poverty than a lack of one.

toyg 11y ago
> Are school administrators just vacuuming up all the extra money? Yes. There have been quite a few stories showing how admin in education is booming. Also, growth in numbers requires growth in facilities, which are a big money sink for most education institutions; you could argue a lot of this extra money is actually going to the building sector (and again, admin required for all these projects) as well as the constant churn that is IT upgrades. > Grants and scholarships from the state have shrunk and shrunk and shrunk. The more the State pumps into loans (driven by student numbers, and carrying a considerable management overhead), the less it has for direct subsidies. In a situation where overall revenue from taxation is fixed or falling in real terms, that makes sense and it does not contradict TFA. > A college education is more likely to lead to pulling you out of poverty than a lack of one.* I agree there, but it depends on what "pulling out of poverty" means. A degree might help you get a job, but current trends mean that you might still end up being poor -- just a working one. Rather than enforcing class status through education tiers, a progressive agenda should concentrate on restoring dignity to regular jobs. Sadly this is seen as class warfare, whereas platitudes about getting everyone and his dog into 4 years of subsidised drinking go down fine with all sectors of the electorate.

by krisdol 11y ago

toyg 11y ago

> Are school administrators just vacuuming up all the extra money? Yes. There have been quite a few stories showing how admin in education is booming. Also, growth in numbers requires growth in facilities, which are a big money sink for most education institutions; you could argue a lot of this extra money is actually going to the building sector (and again, admin required for all these projects) as well as the constant churn that is IT upgrades. > Grants and scholarships from the state have shrunk and shrunk and shrunk. The more the State pumps into loans (driven by student numbers, and carrying a considerable management overhead), the less it has for direct subsidies. In a situation where overall revenue from taxation is fixed or falling in real terms, that makes sense and it does not contradict TFA. > A college education is more likely to lead to pulling you out of poverty than a lack of one.* I agree there, but it depends on what "pulling out of poverty" means. A degree might help you get a job, but current trends mean that you might still end up being poor -- just a working one. Rather than enforcing class status through education tiers, a progressive agenda should concentrate on restoring dignity to regular jobs. Sadly this is seen as class warfare, whereas platitudes about getting everyone and his dog into 4 years of subsidised drinking go down fine with all sectors of the electorate.