Here is an article on the coming bubble that is preparing to burst. We might have survived the housing bubble, but will we survive the “college bubble.” Here are the facts:
- Educational cost at the college level have skyrocketed.
- Most people believe that they need a college education to get a decent job (although this is becoming less true).
- College has two parts: training/instruction and “the college experience”. Both are worth something, but it is hard to argue that they are worth what people are now having to pay. (This last part is opinion and not fact, but I am confident that I am right and that more people are coming to agree with me.)
- The need for greater piles of money to fund college education has led us (as a people) to increasingly turn a number of our children into debt slaves. They leave college with debts that, given the degree they have received and they job that it will lead to, can never be paid off.
- Debts that can or will never be paid off are called “bad debts” and eventually companies have to “write them off” (i.e., cancel them).
- Colleges are holding an incredible amount of bad debts…and they are starting to understand this. (FYI, if you are thinking that this is going to mean a boom for online colleges, think again. They are holding a higher levels of bad debt than other colleges because students at online schools tend to drop out more often and tend to not pay up.)
- Ergo, the gig is almost up.
Here is an article in the local paper about a community college that was going to a two-tiered system that gave preference to people who could actually pay. The story is so scrambled that it is hard to make sense of it. Here is what is going on: Colleges are fund strapped; they are going to offer courses for more money (i.e., raise rates on some classes); the “rich” will be able to afford these classes; all heck is breaking loose because college is supposed to be a place of equality and uniformity….but it already is not. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Big changes are coming:
Article
