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The Next Bubble?
07-10-2013, 03:29 AM
I was volunteering for the VA Educational section when I was out of work in 2009-2010. One of the looming problems the counselors told me that veterans going to school were going to for profit schools when the schools were saying that jobs will be available for them when they graduate. So, after accumulating maybe 20, 40, maybe even 60K of debt when they get out, are we looking at the next generation of U.S. college graduates who are going have to wait 10, 15 or even 20 years before they climb themselves out of the hole? And what about those that do not finish their degree?
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This is a trend that's been known for a while, yeah, not just for veterans but for all college students. It's one of the reasons Occupy Wall Street happened the way it did. I know personally, for instance, that a bachelor's in History isn't the most employable degree in the world, but at the same time I'm looking at being seriously, genuinely grateful for any full-time work, let alone some that pays (gasp!) seventy-five-cents an hour over minimum wage.
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And the only difference between "full-time" and "part time" is one measly hour a day. But that one less hour of employing someone means that benefits like medical, dental, and retirement plans, can be drastically reduced.
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Yeah, the College Bubble has been going for a long time. It's one of the reasons why I went to a state school -- the tuition is about a quarter of what you pay for even small-name private uni's, much less someplace like Yale or Harvard or MIT.
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The higher education bubble has been inflating for quite a while. I suspect that the easy access to college loans coupled with no incentives to keep colleges from hiking college fees both in state and private schools is pretty much the main driver along with the expansion of the administrative side of schools. Take a look at the compensation rates for college administrative staff versus teaching staff as well as all the fees they tack for supporting assorted programs (diversity, sports, student "aid", etc). In fact the administrative bloat issue also affects public K-12 schools...
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Very much so.
Result?
Step 1: Gov't assistance goes up! We must provide an education for the disadvantaged!
Step 2: Gov't giving away free money! Get more of it! Tuition rates go up.
Step 3: GOTO Step 1.
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Quote:Step 1: Gov't assistance goes up! We must provide an education for the disadvantaged!
Step 2: Gov't giving away free money! Get more of it! Tuition rates go up.
Step 3: GOTO Step 1.
Cool story bro.
California spends much less per student and per citizen than it did 50 years ago. In-state tuition was free back then, and there were good scholarships for the poor. I know several people in my parents' generation who went to school entirely on CalGrants. That's simply not possible today.
Compensation for college administrators is ridiculous, though. The last UC President made $800,000 annually (not sure what Napolitano will make). The highest paid employee in the entire state is the football coach at UC Berkeley, who got something like $2,100,000. This, like executive compensation in the U.S. private sector, is inexcusably high. But it's dwarfed by the lack of investment by the government, which has been reducing university budgets for years while available grant money for pure research and humanities is also decreasing. Administrators are a big drain, but not big enough to be the major cause of student fees increasing, if you look at the numbers.
My recipe for fixing this, back when I was a student lobbyist, was to ask for more funding and more oversight -- both which are badly needed. There are other win-win things that could be done, like online journals. Online classes could be interesting, but I'm not yet sure.
Quote:20, 40, maybe even 60K of debt when they get out
60k$ of debt isn't all that high these days. A bit of postgraduate work will typically put you over now. I'm glad I finally found a good job that will help me take care of my astounding level of college debt.
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Quote: The highest paid employee in the entire state is the football coach at UC Berkeley, who got something like $2,100,000.
...
*picks up jaw*
A college football coach making more than, to borrow a situation I am intimately familiar with, the president and CEO of a multi-billion-dollar-a-year insurance brokerage?
Somebody really, Really, REALLY, fracking REALLY likes them their footsballs.
(ETA: Not merely 'more than'. We're talking fifteen times as much.)
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ECSNorway Wrote:Quote: The highest paid employee in the entire state is the football coach at UC Berkeley, who got something like $2,100,000.
...
*picks up jaw*
A college football coach making more than, to borrow a situation I am intimately familiar with, the president and CEO of a multi-billion-dollar-a-year insurance brokerage?
Somebody really, Really, REALLY, fracking REALLY likes them their footsballs.
(ETA: Not merely 'more than'. We're talking fifteen times as much.)
And five times as much as the President of the United States, http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/98-53.pdf]according to the US Senate
If I was a Californian, I'd be demanding salary reviews for every person employed by a state-funded college or university.
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Quote:robkelk wrote:
Quote:ECSNorway wrote:
Quote: The highest paid employee in the entire state is the football coach at UC Berkeley, who got something like $2,100,000.
...
*picks up jaw*
A college football coach making more than, to borrow a situation I am intimately familiar with, the president and CEO of a multi-billion-dollar-a-year insurance brokerage?
Somebody really, Really, REALLY, fracking REALLY likes them their footsballs.
(ETA: Not merely 'more than'. We're talking fifteen times as much.)
And five times as much as the President of the United States, according to the US Senate
If I was a Californian, I'd be demanding salary reviews for every person employed by a state-funded college or university.
Bah, Chicken feed! Nick Saban of UAB a measely 5.62 million smackers.!
To everyone living outside the ole' Confederacy and especially to those outside the U.S. You have to remember this Southern truism:
Football..especially southern college football is religion.
The Sunday games are church services.
Bear Bryant is Saint Peter. If anyone doubts me, go see his shrine in UAB Tuscaloosa!
Nick Saban is Saint Paul here in Alabama.
And I dare anyone to challenge the folks around here! 
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ordnance11 Wrote:To everyone living outside the ole' Confederacy and especially to those outside the U.S. You have to remember this Southern truism:
Football..especially southern college football is religion.
The Sunday games are church services.
Bear Bryant is Saint Peter. If anyone doubts me, go see his shrine in UAB Tuscaloosa!
Nick Saban is Saint Paul here in Alabama.
And I dare anyone to challenge the folks around here! In that case, the teams can pass the collection plate rather than being paid taxpayer money... right?
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them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
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robkelk Wrote:ordnance11 Wrote:To everyone living outside the ole' Confederacy and especially to those outside the U.S. You have to remember this Southern truism:
Football..especially southern college football is religion.
The Sunday games are church services.
Bear Bryant is Saint Peter. If anyone doubts me, go see his shrine in UAB Tuscaloosa!
Nick Saban is Saint Paul here in Alabama.
And I dare anyone to challenge the folks around here! In that case, the teams can pass the collection plate rather than being paid taxpayer money... right?
But if they did that, how would the preacher - God's humble servant - afford his Mercedes Benz, and the alimony from three divorces?
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Quote:Dartz wrote:
Quote:robkelk wrote:
Quote:ordnance11 wrote:
To everyone living outside the ole' Confederacy and especially to those outside the U.S. You have to remember this Southern truism:
Football..especially southern college football is religion.
The Sunday games are church services.
Bear Bryant is Saint Peter. If anyone doubts me, go see his shrine in UAB Tuscaloosa!
Nick Saban is Saint Paul here in Alabama.
And I dare anyone to challenge the folks around here!
In that case, the teams can pass the collection plate rather than being paid taxpayer money... right?
But if they did that, how would the preacher - God's humble servant - afford his Mercedes Benz, and the alimony from three divorces?
The same way the rest of us do -- drive a Toyota, and don't piss off your wife enough that she divorces you.
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Just remember, it's not just the coaches that make the big bucks (though they will arguably earn the biggest salaries). I honestly wish they'd quit trying to harpoon the teaching methods over at University of Texas and take a much harder look at how much the administration is making.
Another thing I really wish they'd consider is looking at how much money they pour into the sports program and make some wise and judicious cuts. I don't mean cutting programs entirely - just in finding ways of making it work more efficiently. (Hell, I know that Notre Dame uses genuine gold flake on their football helmets!)
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