College Tuition, the Free Market, and Government

[Lootifer]

I guess it depends on what the "incentive" is for attending college (as seen by young people or their parents). Ostensibly, the reason to attend college in the minds of young people or their parents is that the young person is more likely to get a better (read higher paying job) going to college than not.

So, my questions are:

(1) Does money matter as much as being happy?
(2) When you have to pay off college loans, does money matter all that much anyway?
(3) Related to #2, if college tuition prices continue to increase, will your post-college job provide enough money to pay off student loans? I'm waiting for this to start getting more air time from the press. "College student gets $35,000 a year job and can't pay off monthly loans."

Yeh one of my major pet peeves is people who shouldnt go to college ending up doing some useless bumfuck degree just because of this perception, I haven't thought enough about a solution to have a crack at it though... I mean it boils down to incentivising the general increase in education in our society, yet at the same time not punishing those who work just as hard (and even sometimes create just as much/more value to society) but don't choose to increase their education in an academic sense (ie trades etc).

Anywhoo...
(1) In todays society, yes. Do I see this as a major issue with todays society? Yes again
(2) and (3) We have a similar system, and we sometimes see headlines like that. Ideally your job would enable you to pay off your debt very easily (ie you create much more value than you initially consumed) but because of warped perceptions and poor decisions this seldom happens... Again I dont really know of a good solution other than what I have already covered (incentivising substitutes equally).

[BigBallinStalin]

Again I dont really know of a good solution other than what I have already covered (incentivising substitutes equally).

With low certainty, it could do what you suggest.

With high certainty, the government can equally incentivize substitutes by not interfering at all. But that would be heart-wrenching. Politicians would lose votes, some kids won't go to college sooner in order to get a degree without having any idea what kind of degree they want or what the market supplies, and and and (help me here, what else do you naughty progressives say in this situation? )

[Lootifer]

lol.

[Symmetry]

Again I dont really know of a good solution other than what I have already covered (incentivising substitutes equally).

With low certainty, it could do what you suggest.

With high certainty, the government can equally incentivize substitutes by not interfering at all. But that would be heart-wrenching. Politicians would lose votes, some kids won't go to college sooner in order to get a degree without having any idea what kind of degree they want or what the market supplies, and and and (help me here, what else do you naughty progressives say in this situation? )

I don't really know what a progressive is anymore, apart from a weird American label attached to those on the left, but I can only repeat that there are options in other countries.

Just go abroad. Tuition fees for Ghent University in Belgium are around 600 Euros. SUNY Albany is around $5000. Ghent is a much nicer city than Albany.

Plus they have better food. And a lower drinking age.

[Woodruff]

Again I dont really know of a good solution other than what I have already covered (incentivising substitutes equally).

With low certainty, it could do what you suggest.

With high certainty, the government can equally incentivize substitutes by not interfering at all. But that would be heart-wrenching. Politicians would lose votes, some kids won't go to college sooner in order to get a degree without having any idea what kind of degree they want or what the market supplies, and and and (help me here, what else do you naughty progressives say in this situation? )

I don't really know what a progressive is anymore, apart from a weird American label attached to those on the left, but I can only repeat that there are options in other countries.

Just go abroad. Tuition fees for Ghent University in Belgium are around 600 Euros. SUNY Albany is around $5000. Ghent is a much nicer city than Albany.

Plus they have better food. And a lower drinking age.

This is extremely interesting to me. I must admit that I never considered going abroad, pretty much just presuming that the costs would be similar (or even higher). I may have to start looking into this for my cadets. Thanks.

[Symmetry]

Again I dont really know of a good solution other than what I have already covered (incentivising substitutes equally).

With low certainty, it could do what you suggest.

With high certainty, the government can equally incentivize substitutes by not interfering at all. But that would be heart-wrenching. Politicians would lose votes, some kids won't go to college sooner in order to get a degree without having any idea what kind of degree they want or what the market supplies, and and and (help me here, what else do you naughty progressives say in this situation? )

I don't really know what a progressive is anymore, apart from a weird American label attached to those on the left, but I can only repeat that there are options in other countries.

Just go abroad. Tuition fees for Ghent University in Belgium are around 600 Euros. SUNY Albany is around $5000. Ghent is a much nicer city than Albany.

Plus they have better food. And a lower drinking age.

This is extremely interesting to me. I must admit that I never considered going abroad, pretty much just presuming that the costs would be similar (or even higher). I may have to start looking into this for my cadets. Thanks.

It's not an option that many people in the UK look at either. Do look into it. Even if it's just to suggest they apply to a few places. For an American student particularly it's a great option- many American families save up for college tuition already, and the costs are so much lower.

I mainly know EU universities, but the costs are just so much lower and flying back and forth just costs nothing compared to the savings on fees. Plus they'll likely pick up a language if they're interested. Most major European unis offer free language training, but in most major cities you can get around with English anyway.

So yeah, get a good degree, spend time abroad, learn a language, don't end up with horrible debt...

Worth an application or two.

[BigBallinStalin]

Again I dont really know of a good solution other than what I have already covered (incentivising substitutes equally).

With low certainty, it could do what you suggest.

With high certainty, the government can equally incentivize substitutes by not interfering at all. But that would be heart-wrenching. Politicians would lose votes, some kids won't go to college sooner in order to get a degree without having any idea what kind of degree they want or what the market supplies, and and and (help me here, what else do you naughty progressives say in this situation? )

I don't really know what a progressive is anymore, apart from a weird American label attached to those on the left, but I can only repeat that there are options in other countries.

Just go abroad. Tuition fees for Ghent University in Belgium are around 600 Euros. SUNY Albany is around $5000. Ghent is a much nicer city than Albany.

Plus they have better food. And a lower drinking age.

Progressivism:
http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2009/08/progressivism--.html

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/08/what-is-progressivism-1.html

I've never said that it applies exclusively to well-meaning lefties. It encompasses many on the American right.

[PLAYER57832]

I also think that is the answer.

If I step back from the anarhco-capitalist ledge, I do think the federal government should help with student loans (at least for public institutions). However, I think the colleges and universities are taking advantage.

Well, by the Federal Govt increasing the amount of people who can get loans would increase demand. An increase in demand would mean an increase in prices. I think the backlash to this is more students are enrolling into Community Colleges, which are cheaper. Some students enroll into CC to increase their chances of getting a scholarship to a "better" University or to increase the amount of the scholarship.

A lot of states don't even have a true Community College system and the quality of what IS available varies a lot.

Here in PA, it costs almot $500 a UNIT for an UNDERGRADUATE class. That is over twice what I paid in yearly fees for at the California State University AND the University of California. Higher education is not well funded at all, at ANY level. Community Colleges in Ca are much lower cost, but also are much more geared toward either more "practical" skills (even a lot of just plain community interest stuff like vegetable gardening) and filling in for high school deficits. (though some offer a quality 2 year education, allowing someone to get the basics out of the way more cheaply before specializing in their field).