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lets not forget that all this increased enrollment increases the price of education and puts a strain on resources for all of us. Not only were there slightly l

lets not forget that all this increased enrollment increases the price of education and puts a strain on resources for all of us. Not only were there slightly less comp sci graduates but they grossly overpaid for their education compared to graduates in 1985. One of the biggest bummers about that chart is the increase in debt it represents.

edderly 15y ago
I'm curious about this, how does the price of education increase because of increased enrollment? I just figure when lot's of people go to Walmart that doesn't increase the cost of their goods. Or are you inferring that colleges could fallback on their endowments with fewer students? I'm not sure many institutions could rely on this.
viscanti 15y ago
False. Several complex factors are at play here, but supply/demand effects are not the root cause. This Forbes article does a good job of explaining things. http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/01/rising-cost-education-opinions-best-colleges-10-feldman-archibald.html http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/01/rising-cost-education-opini... TLDR; it turns out that comparing educational costs relative to the inflation rate is inaccurate. Efficiency gains in almost every other domain have artificially lowered the overall inflation rate. Artisinal fields like education haven't had a 10x efficiency increase (we don't teach students any faster than we did in the past), so their rates have increased at the true rate of inflation (or what the inflation rate would be if no efficiency gains happened in other domains).
- gerggerg 15y ago
  2 things. 1) I don't know how you think you can start a discussion by shouting the word false at someone. 2) While I should definitely have made my post seem more of a conjecture than a fact the article you link to is also mainly conjecture. Be it though conjecture of two experienced men. When I went to college, nearly all the programs were impacted. Because of this the schools needed to hire more (good) teachers. Teachers don't have a bulk rate. All of the schools facilities experience more wear and tear and need to be upgraded to handle more humans. The school i went to is still impacted. More students than the school can handle increases tuition rates for all. You don't pay less for an art degree than a comp sci degree.

edderly 15y ago

I'm curious about this, how does the price of education increase because of increased enrollment? I just figure when lot's of people go to Walmart that doesn't increase the cost of their goods. Or are you inferring that colleges could fallback on their endowments with fewer students? I'm not sure many institutions could rely on this.

viscanti 15y ago

False. Several complex factors are at play here, but supply/demand effects are not the root cause. This Forbes article does a good job of explaining things. http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/01/rising-cost-education-opinions-best-colleges-10-feldman-archibald.html http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/01/rising-cost-education-opini... TLDR; it turns out that comparing educational costs relative to the inflation rate is inaccurate. Efficiency gains in almost every other domain have artificially lowered the overall inflation rate. Artisinal fields like education haven't had a 10x efficiency increase (we don't teach students any faster than we did in the past), so their rates have increased at the true rate of inflation (or what the inflation rate would be if no efficiency gains happened in other domains).

gerggerg 15y ago
2 things. 1) I don't know how you think you can start a discussion by shouting the word false at someone. 2) While I should definitely have made my post seem more of a conjecture than a fact the article you link to is also mainly conjecture. Be it though conjecture of two experienced men. When I went to college, nearly all the programs were impacted. Because of this the schools needed to hire more (good) teachers. Teachers don't have a bulk rate. All of the schools facilities experience more wear and tear and need to be upgraded to handle more humans. The school i went to is still impacted. More students than the school can handle increases tuition rates for all. You don't pay less for an art degree than a comp sci degree.