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I also paid for my college largely with high school jobs (I was fortunate enough to have had a home, clothes, food, etc. while I was earning that money). So ki

I also paid for my college largely with high school jobs (I was fortunate enough to have had a home, clothes, food, etc. while I was earning that money). So kids, it is all true. I work at a college and I am also just finishing putting my two children through college, so I am very interested in the topic. I find the report at http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/Anatomy-of-College-Tuition.pdf http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/Anatomy-of-College... informative. In particular, on page 2 you can see that the steady increases in the cost of college fits with the fact that college is a service industry (or at least it has been up to now). On page 10 you see in a graph the point that the Seattle Times's article made with an anecdote, that state and local governments have reduced support and families have had to make good the difference. In my mind, just as we as a society pool our resources to build bridges, we also need to produce people who will lead tomorrow (but then, as I say, I work at a college).

gambogi 13y ago
I've been working since I was 15 (I'm 20). In total, I've made around $15k. My first year of school cost roughly twice that figure. If I wasn't majoring in CS (or my Grandfather hadn't died), I would not be going to the school I am. This isn't how the system should work.
- jimhefferon 13y ago
  Oh, I absolutely agree (as does the original article) that a hard-working bright student from a middle class household who wants to go to a state school cannot do so from working hard, as you and I did, from age 15 through college, at the kinds of jobs that such students would hold (I worked in a resturant; that's the kind of job I meant). I agree with the article, and I assume with you, that it is wrong that such a thing is not possible today.
danielweber 13y ago
We also didn't have price explosion. A generation was told "go to college, don't worry about how much it costs, just go to college." And the colleges priced accordingly. Make college debt dischargeable in bankruptcy and you will see real price pressure. No school will expect any student to go more than $10,000 in debt because they'll discharge and walk away.

gambogi 13y ago

I've been working since I was 15 (I'm 20). In total, I've made around $15k. My first year of school cost roughly twice that figure. If I wasn't majoring in CS (or my Grandfather hadn't died), I would not be going to the school I am. This isn't how the system should work.

jimhefferon 13y ago
Oh, I absolutely agree (as does the original article) that a hard-working bright student from a middle class household who wants to go to a state school cannot do so from working hard, as you and I did, from age 15 through college, at the kinds of jobs that such students would hold (I worked in a resturant; that's the kind of job I meant). I agree with the article, and I assume with you, that it is wrong that such a thing is not possible today.

danielweber 13y ago

We also didn't have price explosion. A generation was told "go to college, don't worry about how much it costs, just go to college." And the colleges priced accordingly. Make college debt dischargeable in bankruptcy and you will see real price pressure. No school will expect any student to go more than $10,000 in debt because they'll discharge and walk away.