My international friends laugh at Americans--stunned that the American system even sustains itself. (I remind them how corrupt car manufacturers, "professional" sports, banks, and industrialized fast food--all in America--sustain themselves while price-gouging their consumers). It's quite unfathomable to most Europeans (England excluded) that you start your adult life tens of thousands of dollars in debt. I started $100,000 in debt. Great graduation gift, huh? My university ushered me in and helped me achieve it with gusto! My annual tuition was $26,000, starting in 1995.
Costs to travel to campuses for Admissions tests/interviews. Most colleges raise tuition by 5%, every year.
Parking permits of $200 per semester for student cars (not even conveniently located), while campuses still have metered parking, in addition to that!
Spring Break vacations cost thousands of dollars.
Dues at fraternity or sorority houses cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Costs to travel/visit family during school breaks is high due to the times of the year that they occur (and America's airline price gouging).
Surcharges occur if a student stays on campus during those breaks--or any days after the spring semester ends.
Schools rent kitchen appliances to students... or storage to keep students' own appliances on campus until the next year.
Costs for wardrobe (my College of Business required us to own a suit/shoes for in-class presentations).
Schools sell "care packages" to be sent from parents.
Schools sell overpriced crap in their Bookstores, subscriptions to the student newspaper, tickets to events/movies/sports games, and graduation accessories: class rings, photographs, diploma frames, greek keys.
Costs for job hunting/visiting interviewers.
After graduation, schools immediately ask for Alumni Donations, alongside your invoices for student loans.
The University of Louisiana offers a year-long cost of $4,000 for 15 meals per week. At that price, lets hope it involves more than crappy cafeteria food. My university downgraded its meal plan/ingredient suppliers... while costs to students increased.
Textbooks might cost $2,000, each year. According to Ben Popken at NBC, the cost of college textbooks has risen 1,041% since 1977. That's 3x the rate of inflation! The cost for textbooks rose higher than medical costs or new home prices! Until the 1990s, textbook prices and the American Consumer Price Index both increased at the same rate. In the 1990s (when I went to college), textbook costs jumped higher, and they've risen higher and higher! Consumer prices continue to grow at 3%, while textbook prices have risen astronomically! Thus, American students experience "price gouging" and capitalism... especially when students realize that professors assign textbooks that they've written (so the professors can get more royalties).
Each year, there are always "new" books per syllabus. Some schools have internal codes to make sure you "register" your new books, after buying them. Publishers have shortened the revision cycle of many textbooks, regardless of whether the previous edition needed updating or not. They bundle annually-updated software/workbooks into the textbooks. Both of those underhanded tactics limit students' ability to reduce their costs by purchasing used textbooks and selling new textbooks back to campus bookstores at the end of the term. Publishers entice professors and schools to keep making students buy new books... just how pharmaceuticals bribe the medical industry to keep prescribing drugs instead of curative methods.
Most of those expensive textbooks are barely used. Some aren't even essential for the course... but they're "required" materials. Sites like "RateMyProfessor" allows you to read from past students, to see if books are essential or not. School bookstores make a huge profit, ripping off students... like "shooting fish in a barrel" since their tuition-paying students are "captive consumers". It's like saying, "Thanks for paying us with your tuition--that your parents have been saving since you were born--and now we're going to scam you out of thousands of more dollars, just to make ourselves more profit!"
While retail bookstores across America are closing, publishers are loving the rigged book sales on campuses. I'd prefer to see all books onto iPads.
Just like your cellphone or cable bill, hidden "administrative" fees might equal another $2,000.
The average American college costs $20,500 per year (mine cost $26,000 in 1995). Compare it to other countries:
Japan = $11,000 per year
Germany = $933 per year
Canada = $6,000 per year
England = $5,200 per year
The Netherlands = $3,000 per year
Finland = $1,200 per year
France = $585 per year
Denmark = $600 per year
Most of those countries offer free college educations, unless you want to buy a specialized education. *Incidentally, I visited 7 of those 8 countries and can attest that their societies are better than America's.
According to US News & World Report (which I referred to when I selected colleges), American student Loan Debt has ballooned to more than $1 trillion... and more than 7 million borrowers are in default. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau claims that the level of debt incurred by students in America is unmatched in the rest of the world. Welcome to America, kids! Land of bank fees, profit scamming, lack of public awareness/education, and overspending. Land of huge national debt! *If the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was ACTUALLY protecting us, they'd forewarn children before they enter colleges!
Considering how our government allowed big banks to create the "bubble collapse" of the American Housing Market in 2007 (then bailed them out--with taxpayer/mortgage-holder money--while mortgage-holders lost everything), or allows Big Tobacco to sell products that are proven to cause cancer, or endows McDonald's $1 menu items to cost less than a bag of vegetables... I'm not surprised that federal agencies have the same non-care of citizen welfare, when it comes to price-gouging college schemes. Welcome to the American Land of Opportunity!
Most youngsters learn it the hard way when they're struggling to pay their college loans--WITH INTEREST FEES--amidst their crappy post-college job (that their alumni network rarely helps them find). Still, colleges like mine continually ask graduates to donate their time and money (which they don't deduct from the money you owe them). [Speaking of which, I was one of the founders of Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Circle at my university. That gave my campus a gold-star, and it uses it to lure more students. I also resurrected my college's chapter of the American Marketing Association--winning national awards of recognition (more than they'd ever gotten in the previous 10 years). My college touts that proudly... luring more students and raising its tuition prices... like a hotel does when it gets a star-rating. Yet, do they thank me by reducing my debt? No. Had I been a great athlete--winning the school more money, they would've rewarded me with discounts/scholarships. Is that fair?]
As a paying student, you somehow can't simply take the courses/classes that you WANT to take, to achieve your major. You have to take elective classes. I'd prefer taking online courses, so I could skip the unnecessary costs of elective classes. Electives don't do anything, they don't contribute to your graduation, they waste time, and they drain you of money. A four-year eduction without electives could probably be done in under 2 years! (even faster if taken online)! If you study a craft, like carpentry, you only have to take necessary courses. You're not required to take classes about Philosophy or Music Appreciation or British Authors. Plus, you don't require a meal plan or dorm room.
Now we get to the question of whether graduates actually benefit from their fancy college degrees? Of all my college friends, only ONE is in an occupation that he studied for in college. The rest let their diplomas collect dust, because they're working in fields that have nothing to do with what they studied in college. Suffering from $100,000 of college loan debt, they scrambled to get jobs any way they could. That whole scenario is ludicrous. In many situations, people graduate with college degrees but cannot find employment in oversaturated American job markets (with underpaying corporations who offer only $35,000 per year). More and more situations in America involve young people who dropped out of college to make money.
In addition, most kids choose a college based on which is considered the best Party Campus!!! Is it worth $100,000 just to have a drunken sex fest? No.
After 2012, with millions of debt-burdened graduates still underemployed by one of the worst economic recessions on record, many young Americans regret "investing" in higher education. Parents can barely fathom paying for their children's college costs. Looking at their meager jobs and huge school debt, graduates wonder if it was worth the SAT score studying, tutors, extracurricular activities, final exams, and tuition dollars? Owing $100,000+ at age 21 is not "excellence".
This month, Fortune magazine stated that America suffers from $1.2 trillion in school debt!
As if that debt wasn't enough, schools are happy to flood students' mailboxes with credit card applications. Some school administrator is probably getting a big bribe to choose which lenders can reach their students! During all my expensive business classes (Finance, Business Strategy, Organizational Behavior, Marketing, Accounting, Economics, MIS, et cetera), nobody from the university warned us about proper credit behavior.
Instead, they encouraged us to use our new credit card limits... in order to get higher credit limits. Nobody mentioned the benefits of credit card utilization ratios or that rollover balances / overspending is hazardous. (I learned that on my own, as my Platinum American Express card tingled my pocket... until my family tragedy).
One college buddy of mine simply stayed in school--literally--getting a useless masters degree and then a doctorate degree (in Philosophy). Then, he got a job working for the university's Department of Residence Life. Instead of encountering the risk of hunting in the job market, he simply stayed on campus. It's a nice "bubble", and he now has the title of Assistant Vice President of Student Development.
Currently, the annual tuition to attend New York University is nearly $100,000. That does not include the costs for dormitory accommodations. That's insane!
Referring to my first question at the beginning, perhaps because Americans are so gullible, ignorant, and stupid, THAT'S why they keep stressing and lining up to pay for 4+ years of on-campus collegiate education. Honestly, I warn youngsters away from entering many American colleges--to avoid wasted time and heavy debt.
You can read the college segment of my Life Story
http://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2012/11/part-iii.html
No comments:
Post a Comment
Don't be shy: leave your comments :)