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I don't know how you can have a blanket forgiveness of student loans without also addressing college costs. Otherwise consumers become even less price-sensitive

I don't know how you can have a blanket forgiveness of student loans without also addressing college costs. Otherwise consumers become even less price-sensitive, expecting another round of forgiveness in a decade or so.

dbingham 4y ago
College isn't a consumer good. We need to stop thinking of it as such. It's a prerequisite for the vast majority of jobs. Which makes it a vital public good that should be run as a utility. We should be running a public university system with the goal and assumption that everyone has a seat at their local university - covered by their tax dollars.
- sct202 4y ago
  College shouldn't be a prerequisite for so many jobs. My bachelors is directly related to the field I'm working in and I don't think the content that I learned was that useful and the most impactful thing has been the college recruiting job fairs where I got internships and a job.
- josephcsible 4y ago
  Water and electricity are vital public utilities too, despite the taxpayers not being forced to pay for those for everyone else.
- nradov 4y ago
  Obviously college isn't a prerequisite for the vast majority of jobs. The majority of people working today don't have college degrees. Look outside the tech industry bubble. In many cases, employers only list a college degree as a job requirement because it's an easy way to filter down an excess of job applications. If they were actually short of labor they would eliminate that requirement in order to get more applicants. Most people don't belong in college in the first place. It's just a waste of their time, and a waste of resources. I'm certainly not willing to pay higher taxes so that students can goof around and party for 4 years. What we really need is expanded access to trade schools and apprentice programs.
abeppu 4y ago
Yeah, the trend in higher education costs seem especially out of line with the trend towards schools relying more on contract adjunct instructors, and shrinking down their core, tenure-track faculty. They're simultaneously spending less on actual instruction and spending more on administrators, and fancy facilities. I wonder if some regulation can make schools 'unbundle' instruction from other services, and allow students to enroll only in instruction, and opt out of services they don't intend to use, over-priced student housing, fancy sports facilities etc. And wherever we report student-faculty ratios, also reporting a student-non-teaching-staff ratio would clarify things.

dbingham 4y ago

College isn't a consumer good. We need to stop thinking of it as such. It's a prerequisite for the vast majority of jobs. Which makes it a vital public good that should be run as a utility. We should be running a public university system with the goal and assumption that everyone has a seat at their local university - covered by their tax dollars.

sct202 4y ago
College shouldn't be a prerequisite for so many jobs. My bachelors is directly related to the field I'm working in and I don't think the content that I learned was that useful and the most impactful thing has been the college recruiting job fairs where I got internships and a job.
josephcsible 4y ago
Water and electricity are vital public utilities too, despite the taxpayers not being forced to pay for those for everyone else.
nradov 4y ago
Obviously college isn't a prerequisite for the vast majority of jobs. The majority of people working today don't have college degrees. Look outside the tech industry bubble. In many cases, employers only list a college degree as a job requirement because it's an easy way to filter down an excess of job applications. If they were actually short of labor they would eliminate that requirement in order to get more applicants. Most people don't belong in college in the first place. It's just a waste of their time, and a waste of resources. I'm certainly not willing to pay higher taxes so that students can goof around and party for 4 years. What we really need is expanded access to trade schools and apprentice programs.

abeppu 4y ago

Yeah, the trend in higher education costs seem especially out of line with the trend towards schools relying more on contract adjunct instructors, and shrinking down their core, tenure-track faculty. They're simultaneously spending less on actual instruction and spending more on administrators, and fancy facilities. I wonder if some regulation can make schools 'unbundle' instruction from other services, and allow students to enroll only in instruction, and opt out of services they don't intend to use, over-priced student housing, fancy sports facilities etc. And wherever we report student-faculty ratios, also reporting a student-non-teaching-staff ratio would clarify things.