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As the article mentioned schools are no longer competing on price, but they are competing on features / services / amenities. It seems intuitive to cut those to

As the article mentioned schools are no longer competing on price, but they are competing on features / services / amenities. It seems intuitive to cut those to reduce costs, but the market doesn’t want that even if people say that is what they want that is not how they vote with their dollar. The biggest declines in enrollments are at community colleges and state schools. Also counter intuitively when a college lowers their listed tuition to offer more transparent pricing they almost see an enrollment decline. The difference between 50k, 60k, 70k, 80k per year is almost irrelevant to the students if they are able to secure a gurnanteed government loan.

mfer 4y ago
Some of this situation is bad advice up front. I know numerous people who were guided by guidance counselors, schools, and loan folks to think that taking a large student debt would be just fine. Only to later have issues with it. Schools and loan folks have skin in the game so I can understand why they are pushing for more high priced loans. Why aren't school guidance counselors and school programs better preparing people? We should be taking a hard look at that.
- SoftTalker 4y ago
  High schools in general do an extremely poor job at teaching financial literacy. The only education I had on the cost of debt and the time value of money were incidental story problems in math classes. The strangely named "home economics" classes were all about cooking and nutrition and sewing, not about buying vs. renting a house or buying a new vs. used car vs. leasing, or saving for retirement or emergencies. It's no wonder many young people have no idea what a burden debt can be.
- speeder 4y ago
  I went to college while taking debt, and a big reason for it was not even just "advice", it was almost coercion, adults in my life back then (in a way I was still a minor, being 17) just outright made it look like not going to college, or waiting for a year to get in a military college (that was free) was going to ruin my adult life and whatnot, and when I was adamant about going to military college, my parents told me they would just go and sign me up for a private college without my consent ,and all I could do was choose what college I wanted. No, I didn't went to military college, sadly, and now that I am properly independent and could do that in theory, I am over the age limit. I am now debt free, but paying debts took a huge chunk of my life and set me back a lot, I married way later than I planned, got back to my sport way later than planned too and so on. (it took me 16 years to be able to rejoin my old team! now I am horribly out of shape and struggling to get back in shape).
clairity 4y ago
right, the causal chain is so apparent and obvious, it's hard to see why someone would provide puzzling alternatives such as "fluff". schools can't fluff up unless an unlimited money spigot appears out of the sky, as it did in the 90s. fluff is a result, a part of the end of the causal chain, not the beginning. tuition was certainly rising before that, because government assistance existed before that, but it was limited by political means until the spigot was thrown wide open in the 90s. in any market, there are broadly only two competitive strategies, cost or differentiation, and cost no longer matters when money is "free".

mfer 4y ago

Some of this situation is bad advice up front. I know numerous people who were guided by guidance counselors, schools, and loan folks to think that taking a large student debt would be just fine. Only to later have issues with it. Schools and loan folks have skin in the game so I can understand why they are pushing for more high priced loans. Why aren't school guidance counselors and school programs better preparing people? We should be taking a hard look at that.

SoftTalker 4y ago
High schools in general do an extremely poor job at teaching financial literacy. The only education I had on the cost of debt and the time value of money were incidental story problems in math classes. The strangely named "home economics" classes were all about cooking and nutrition and sewing, not about buying vs. renting a house or buying a new vs. used car vs. leasing, or saving for retirement or emergencies. It's no wonder many young people have no idea what a burden debt can be.
speeder 4y ago
I went to college while taking debt, and a big reason for it was not even just "advice", it was almost coercion, adults in my life back then (in a way I was still a minor, being 17) just outright made it look like not going to college, or waiting for a year to get in a military college (that was free) was going to ruin my adult life and whatnot, and when I was adamant about going to military college, my parents told me they would just go and sign me up for a private college without my consent ,and all I could do was choose what college I wanted. No, I didn't went to military college, sadly, and now that I am properly independent and could do that in theory, I am over the age limit. I am now debt free, but paying debts took a huge chunk of my life and set me back a lot, I married way later than I planned, got back to my sport way later than planned too and so on. (it took me 16 years to be able to rejoin my old team! now I am horribly out of shape and struggling to get back in shape).

clairity 4y ago

right, the causal chain is so apparent and obvious, it's hard to see why someone would provide puzzling alternatives such as "fluff". schools can't fluff up unless an unlimited money spigot appears out of the sky, as it did in the 90s. fluff is a result, a part of the end of the causal chain, not the beginning. tuition was certainly rising before that, because government assistance existed before that, but it was limited by political means until the spigot was thrown wide open in the 90s. in any market, there are broadly only two competitive strategies, cost or differentiation, and cost no longer matters when money is "free".