> Ironically, these tough standards make rigorous schools less attractive to many good students. I have spoken to admits who chose an elite university because t

> Ironically, these tough standards make rigorous schools less attractive to many good students. I have spoken to admits who chose an elite university because they knew that there, they were unlikely to earn less than a B, while at Caltech they would have to work hard just to graduate. John V.C. Nye's jeremiad against grade inflation is very good and well written. However, it screams 'get off my lawn'. He is, no doubt, a very accomplished person[0]. But I believe that he blind to the concerns and needs of the current generation of students. Cheifly, the issue of tuition at Caltech has radically changed the calculus of grades and of failing students. The tuition with room and board at Caltech in 1982, the year after he graduated from there, was $9481 for the school year [1]. In 2019 dollars that is $26,654.02 [2]. This year the tuition with room and board is $67,887 [3], roughly 2.5x over Dr. Nye's 'financial risk' at the time he went to Caltech. Say you failed out after two years at Caltech fully on student loans and then need to pay back those loans. Current rates and fees come to about 6%. So, those two years ($135,774) at 6% comes out to ~$680 per month, just to keep the principal at the same amount and not to add to it. At a wage of $15/hr for the non-degreeed job you can then take, you have about $1750/mo left over, after the debt is taken out. Look, I'm not going to try to say that you can or cannot make it on ~$1750/mo in Pasadena. But I think we all know that such a monthly income is not going to be anywhere close to easy to live on. It will take some tight budgeting. You can make up a lot of scenarios about how this 20 year old person can 'make it work', but it'll take moving very far away from Pasadena (as it likely would have in 1981, as well). To actually pay that down will take a LOT of work. Failing out of Caltech has never been a good option, despite the consternations of old men who like to tell the young men what is what. However, these days, the risks of failure at Caltech come with a much heavier financial burden than they did nearly 40 years ago. [0]https://economics.gmu.edu/people/jnye https://economics.gmu.edu/people/jnye [1]https://caltechcampuspubs.library.caltech.edu/110/1/1981-1982.pdf https://caltechcampuspubs.library.caltech.edu/110/1/1981-198... [2]https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ [3]https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/tuition-and-fees https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/tuition-and-fees