>> It makes my flesh crawl to see college reduced purely to ROI, but at least they're honest that that's what they're doing. > This comment is coming from the

>> It makes my flesh crawl to see college reduced purely to ROI, but at least they're honest that that's what they're doing. > This comment is coming from the position of privilege. Absolutely. That's why I said so later in the message. I can now afford to pay the ridiculous prices without either me or my children going into debt. Ironically, that ability is a direct result of me going to college, with massive (mostly need-based) financial aid. But I am not pretending that my past history is relevant in today's world. My decision back then was based on a situation that no longer exists, not for me, my children, nor anyone else. > And I cannot possibly agree to it. What part? I agreed that ROI is valuable information. I guess you're saying that it's ok to reduce college to financial ROI, that ROI outweighs everything else and so everything else can be ignored. I agree with that if you're in a situation where you will end up in massive debt. Having a good time and learning lots is not going to counterbalance that. But not everyone is, and it's not based completely on how much money you have. Financial aid availability varies, college prices are across the board higher but some are less overpriced than others, community college transfers can halve the total expense, etc. The scenario of ending up debt-ridden is far, far more common today, but it's still far from universal. Looking only at theoretical ROI leads to bad decisions like going into a field you hate because it has better ROI, then abandoning it and ending up worse off. You need to look at ROI and other outcomes.