The Great College Hoax

Today, there are too many people with CS degrees to hire history majors for IT jobs.

Indeed, that's the issue. They are giving out CS degrees like candy, and as a result those people who could very well be better workers don't have a hope in hell of being considered. And because of that, more people have to get their CS degree to have a chance, and so if you want a leg up you need to have a masters, and then everyone gets their masters, and so you'll have to get your PhD, and then...

The point is 30 years ago a college degree in anything meant you were a good worker and were most likely capable of doing any job put in front of you, whether it was in your "field" or not. They were far less expensive then, and orders of magnitude more valuable. Now, half of the college degrees earned are barely worth the paper they're printed on, and cost tens of thousands of dollars. Do we see the issue here?

Yes. College courses need to be a lot more challenging if we're going to stop their value in the workplace from continuing to plummet. Unfortunately, this is going to mean a lot of colleges telling students "Yes, you failed, that's tough" and denying admission altogether... something they're probably not going to be willing to do in the face of losing profits and funding.

All through high school I kept hearing "You're not going to be able to get away with this in college!" and "You're in for a surprise!"
You want to know the truth? College was no easier or more difficult than high school. The material was obviously more advanced and more focused on my field, but I had to put in no more effort than I had been, and I was studying in a pretty "difficult" field.

I dunno, maybe it seems easier in retrospect than it really was. I'll admit that's a possibility. But it doesn't feel that way.

When you start searching for that perfect college for your child, you might think there’s plenty of information to help you with your decision. Just for starters, every college has a website that will give you all the essentials.

Take Stephens College, a private, four-year women’s school in Columbia, Missouri. A quick tour of its website will tell you that the college offers more than 50 major and minors, everything from English to event planning to equestrian science. Class sizes average just 13 students. Annual costs total $32,250, but nearly all students get some kind of financial aid. And the campus looks nice.

But what you won’t see without diligent searching is that half of Stephens students fail to graduate, even after six years. Not to pick on Stephens, which does mention that statistic deep in its website. Point is, little of the data that colleges provide really tell you much about the value of your investment: the quality of the education, the experience of the students, or how the graduates fare later in life. Instead parents have long accepted the value of the diploma on faith. And many assume that a college that charges $50,000 a year will give their child a better education than one that charges $25,000.college_degree_diploma2.03

That may be about to change. As tapped-out families realize they can no longer borrow more and more for expensive colleges, they are increasingly focusing on lower-priced schools. As two college officials recently warned, higher education may be the next bubble to burst. Many experts are even questioning the value of a college degree in an economy where B.A.s are competing, often unsuccessfully, with high school graduates and those with vocational training.

All of which may give momentum to long-standing efforts to improve higher education accountability, which is something that colleges have successfully resisted for years. (Ironically, these same schools have demanded increasing amounts of information about applicants and their parents’ ability to pay.) As Kevin Carey, policy director at Education Trust, noted in a recent interview, “Families need more disclosure about value of the education their money is buying, and the federal government should encourage colleges to make this information transparent.”

Truth is, many colleges do a poor job at graduating well-educated students. A recent study by the American Enterprise Institute found that on average four-year colleges graduate fewer than 60% of their students with six years. And there were wide differences among all categories of schools; even for the most competitive colleges, average graduation rates differed by 13 percentage points. (To find out the graduation rates for many four year colleges, go to collegeresults.org.) Other studies have found that good students who attended less prestigious colleges ended up earning the same as those who went to brand-name schools.

It wouldn’t be that hard to provide data about educational quality, since schools compile most of it anyway. They just keep it private, which is curious considering that most colleges are public institutions or or least partially funded by taxpayers. The National Survey of Student Engagement gathers loads of data on how they spend their time in school and how they feel about their education.The College Learning Assessment tests students’ ability to reason analytically and solve problems during their academic career. As for student outcomes after graduation, well, most colleges keep tabs on their alumni for fundraising purposes. So it’s time that they shared some of that information with tuition-paying families. And who knows? A little more disclosure might improve the quality of higher education and even slow the rate of tuition hikes.

The statistics that colleges hate to share [cnn.com]

we were offered nearly $20k/SEMESTER in FEDERAL loans! It was up to us to choose how much to accept.I guess it's very common for kids to take out loans in excess of tuition and live on the rest.... a very bad idea.

If, as a parent, you'd want to help your children, then fine - let them accumulate the debt then surprise them at graduation with a check.

Educational institutions certainly are shady, but I don't place all of the blame for students failing to overcome debt and earn higher wages on the schools. The obligation of the school is to impart knowledge, not wisdom.

Oooh.... I'm not comfortable with how you put that last portion. I would at least say it is the obligation of the university to expose the student to wisdom.... if not to impart it. That was the original premise of higher education in the first place. Functional knowledge was the preserve of primary and secondary education.

Oooh.... I'm not comfortable with how you put that last portion. I would at least say it is the obligation of the university to expose the student to wisdom.... if not to impart it. That was the original premise of higher education in the first place. Functional knowledge was the preserve of primary and secondary education.

I agree with you.

However, basic economics should be taught before the completion of high school. Students should have to prove a basic understanding of economics in the form of a standardized test to even graduate, because almost every decision from then on out will be an economic one.

Even understanding economics is not a guarantee that someone will have the ability to make wise financial decisions. It seems knowledge is the cornerstone to wisdom, but wisdom is difficult to teach. This idea is a bit like Plato's Meno.

Taking out maximum amounts for federal loans is a fantastic idea. Park that interest free money in a rewards checking account, pay off the loan 6 months after you are out of school, and pocket all of the interest you earned on the government subsidized loan.

Brilliant idea for parents wanting to pay for their child's education.