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The culture of higher education isn't what it used to be. The advancement of knowledge is now secondary to economic growth in a university. Students begin as

The culture of higher education isn't what it used to be. The advancement of knowledge is now secondary to economic growth in a university. Students begin as customers and turn into products by graduation. Universities used to be gatekeepers to better economic opportunities but those opportunities have disappeared. This is a relatively recent phenomenon in that Baby Boomers don't have the student loan obligations that generations following them do. Boomers changed the policies to suit their own financial interests, destroying the opportunities that they benefited by for future generations. Massive student loan debt constrains major life decisions and limits access to credit. It's a lot easier to navigate life when you don't carry inescapable debt burdens. Government refused to limit access to credit and that allowed universities to constantly charge more every year. You can't escape student loan debt as you can business loans by declaring bankruptcy because of a fundamentally flawed logic about what the student loan enabled. Higher education is an economic investment. Yet, when the investment fails, the lenders aren't exposed to the losses -- the borrowers are. This has been a great deal for lenders as they aren't exposed to risk. Unfortunately, neither a Trump nor Biden administration is going to change anything. It's up to the free market and entrepreneurs to disrupt this exploitative system.

macinjosh 7y ago
> The advancement of knowledge is now secondary to economic growth in a university. I will second this just taking from my own experiences. > Students begin as customers and turn into products by graduation. To add to this the students' parents have also wedged themselves into the customer category. They are often footing the bill or at least the loan payments and some of the more helicopter-like parents feel entitled to demand universities do more and have more for their precious children.
ycombi3 7y ago
I'm sorry, but how could someone not have agreed with your statement? Online learning is a major threat to college for many of those reasons.
- non-entity 7y ago
  Online learning isn't a very big threat to colleges because colleges hold a sort of "social monopoly" on credentialling for majority of fields. No one will care about you coursera certificates they want a bachelors degree.
  - ycombi3 7y ago
    True. But I still think this is changing for the better, just very slowly.

macinjosh 7y ago

> The advancement of knowledge is now secondary to economic growth in a university. I will second this just taking from my own experiences. > Students begin as customers and turn into products by graduation. To add to this the students' parents have also wedged themselves into the customer category. They are often footing the bill or at least the loan payments and some of the more helicopter-like parents feel entitled to demand universities do more and have more for their precious children.

ycombi3 7y ago

I'm sorry, but how could someone not have agreed with your statement? Online learning is a major threat to college for many of those reasons.

non-entity 7y ago
Online learning isn't a very big threat to colleges because colleges hold a sort of "social monopoly" on credentialling for majority of fields. No one will care about you coursera certificates they want a bachelors degree.
- ycombi3 7y ago
  True. But I still think this is changing for the better, just very slowly.