Originally Posted by
Crown
I'm probably in the same boat as you. From a very early age, I was taught that college was the only option. Not AN option, but the only option. Every school I went to, public and private, taught us that college was the path to success and anything less was failure. My high school was particularly bad; even the military was not a viable option after high school; they got in trouble for banning recruiters.
It's no wonder that tuition is out of control and professors are making well into the 200K territory; it's simple supply and demand. 40-50 years ago, college was still a reach for a lot of families. Loans were difficult to get. Today, with student loans backed by Uncle Sam, anyone can qualify and debt becomes so common. Universities know this and take full advantage. It's disgusting. All under the guise of having a piece of paper that says you're more educated than others who don't have that piece of paper.
My wife has a friend in her early 40's who is going for her doctorate in "something." She's a career student. 5 degrees. Has never made more than 30,000 a year. What a joke our education system is.
Hold on. Why are we blaming colleges for merely offering a service. Colleges haven't been cutting state budgets which help offset the cost of tuition. Colleges aren't sitting in boardrooms demanding their most competitive hires have bachelor or masters degree. Colleges aren't sitting at kitchen tables telling kids they need to attend. There are certainly problems at University in this country (like making millions off the backs of "student-athletes" for virtually nothing), but most problems are the result of bad policy and capitalism.