Topic: What's wrong with Secondary Education in the US, and some solutions - page 2. (Read 369 times)

I'm going to say it straight out, the secondary education in the United States is a burden on the people that was BUILT to be a burden on the people. College didn't get magically more expensive because people were getting paid more (hint: wages haven't risen enough to even come close to percentage growth of tuition), college got more expensive for a domino effect that people didn't notice.

Government Policy
Financial aid is a great intention, yes, and it brings new minds to colleges that wouldn't ever be able to attend if they had to fund college for themselves. But the problem with spending 'other peoples money' is that you're going to stop caring about the price of something if you're not the person footing the bill in the end. If the Government pays for all or most of your education, you don't care if the school raises the rates on you and you won't stop yourself from going to the most expensive school. That sounds fine, yes, but if you were paying that all in cash and the government wasn't helping you, you'd be much more diligent about where you'd be going and trying to get the most bang for your buck.

Another issue with the government paying whatever has to be paid in financial aid is that colleges know this they're going to increase rates of tuition because they know the money is there and it's guaranteed by the government.

With this in mind, I don't think you can fully remove the blame from government officials. They might have been well intended, yes, and this is a very popular issue with the voters -- as the voters want EVERYONE to go to college -- but the only reason politicians enacted this policy was because it was popular and because they knew they could get re-elected if they supported it and continue to support it. We sometimes forget that politicians aren't these amazing people that are working so hard for us, they're working hard in order to get reelected and to keep their power.

Growth of Certain College Spending
In this millennial era or college-goers, colleges have had to change what they're spending their money on. Millennials like to feel special, unique, etc. Colleges know this, and in order to pander to this generation they spend money on certain amenities to try to get prospective students in their doors.

Whether it's the college with the nicest dorms or a college with with that one crazy amentities Certain colleges compare to some of the nicest country clubs in the amenities that they're providing in trying to attract students. Building these amenities isn't cheap, but that's not the end of it.

Not only do you have to build these amenities, but you also have to market them -- and marketing isn't cheap. The best marketers are already most likely working in the private sector, getting paid large amounts of money, so for you to bring them to your college to work for you and try to attract students - you too have to pay them the big bucks. And they do, as a large share of the increase in college, spending has gone to marketing (pretty much sales) efforts.

College may seem like a business right now to you, and in one line of thinking it is -- as colleges want to continue to grow and grow and the only way to do that is to pander to more and more students, even if it means raising the rates of tuition.

But it doesn't really matter to them if tuition rates go up, BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT IS GUARANTEEING PAYMENTS ANYWAY. So who cares, right? (haha)

Bloated Administration
But once you have all these cool shiny new buildings, you need administrators to manage all of this. But colleges have gone overboard with management bloat because from 1975-2008 administrative positions have grown 221 percent while teaching staff has only grown by about 50 percent to accommodate the large increase in the number of students.

Administrative bloat is a real thing in every single sector of the economy businesses face this issue every single day -- some companies go overboard when they start expanding, and it's not always easy to cut back the fat. Though in business, it's done easily (or should I say, more easily) as companies are beholden to their shareholders and are there to maximize profits -- THEY MUST trim back the fat, and if they don't they might be replaced by a board that doesn't support them.

Though this isn't the case in academia, as colleges continue to hire more and more administrators with no end in sight because they see no end to the guaranteed money that the government is shoveling to them hand over fist.


Jobs Requiring College Education and College Popularity
For businesses, college degrees have become an easy way to weed out those that can deem 'uneducated' -- it's a cheap way to weed out potential employees, and it gives them an easier criteria to judge people. Some sectors (such as Tech) have gone away with this model and have been hiring people without college degrees if they're able to code, but MOST professions still require you to have a college degree to even get an interview.

That's the problem with a college degree and people saying that you 'need one' You only 'need one' because everyone else has one, there's no value in you learning in a classroom compared to what you're going to learn on the job. Every employer knows that you're going to have to give the new guy a good couple weeks to fully grasp a real 'working environment'

To employers a college degree is an easy screening process, it's nothing else than that.

Who else is making money from this?
Eh, there's a bunch more people that love our current system.

Standardized college admissions test creators (such as the College Board, and the ACT company) make a great deal of money making potential college students pay for exams in high school in an attempt to get into the school of their dreams. Just for reference, you have to pay $79 each time to take this test (either one) and then around $30 per school to send the test to the schools. Yes, taking the test in most (if not all) schools is mandatory and you must also send it to the school.

Student Loan Financers - The people that are able to loan out money to students while being guaranteed by the full faith and credit by the US government LOVE THIS, they're getting paid a gross amount of money to have the least risky loan in the entire country. Crazy system, but that's what lobbying can do for you.

What can we do to fix this issue?
My idea - Lower the pressure on the financial aid and loans faucet. Quite literally this means stop being so generous with the amount of aid that you're willing to dole out. Make colleges accountable, and force them to lower their tuition rates by only paying 3/4 of the current financial aid amount (or any amount really)

With this sort of pressure, colleges are going to be forced to lower prices and cut the fat -- if they know a good deal of American students aren't going to be able to go their school that they need to fill, they're going to work something out.


What are your thoughts and your ideas on the subject?