Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Have things deteriorated so much for higher education in the United States that it is no longer a wise investment to attend college? Jack Hough at SmartMoney says “yes,”
based on the combination of staggering tuitions and the declining value of college degrees.
It used to be a no-brainer: Go to college, make more money. But Hough argues that even though “college degrees bring higher income,” the cost of attending universities “can’t make up the savings they consume and the debt they add early in the life of a typical student.”
In his Future Majority blog, Kevin Bondelli disagrees with Hough’s argument that non-college graduates have brighter futures than those with degrees. But he does agree that there is a serious problem with college affordability, thanks in part to some Republican lawmakers’ willingness to jack up tuition rates and cut financial aid because they see college as merely a personal financial investment for young people, who should bear the cost because it benefits their own financial futures. Bondelli argues that universities are also important for economic development on a national scale.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Don't Get That College Degree! (by Jack Hough, New York Post)
Has College Become a Bad Investment? (by Kevin Bondelli, Future Majority)
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