In 18 Years, A College Degree Could Cost About $500,000 (buzzfeed.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: People worried about college affordability today can at least take this to heart: it could get much, much worse. Tuition has been rising by about 6% annually, according to investment management company Vanguard. At this rate, when babies born today are turning 18, a year of higher education at a private school -- including tuition, fees, and room and board -- will cost more than $120,000, Vanguard said. Public colleges could average out to $54,000 a year. That means without financial aid, the sticker price of a four-year college degree for children born today could reach half a million dollars at private schools, and a quarter million at public ones. That's for a family with one kid; those with more could be facing a bill that reaches seven figures.

Comments

Re:That kind of pricing makes no sense.

[Anonymous Coward]

but the typical student isn't taking a lump sum of $500,000 and paying off the education immediately at 18 years old. He/she is going into debt with loans, and doesn't have half a million to spend on either education or a stock portfolio at that age.

Re:Ridiculous Extrapolation

[toonces33]

Federal loans are a small part of it. Many educational loans are private loans. And guess what - you can't discharge them in bankruptcy, so the lenders have very little incentive to not throw money at you.

Some of it was caused by Mom&Dad being able to take out cheap home equity loans on their homes. The crash in 2008 kind of brought some of that to an end.

A lot of schools have gotten into "amenity wars". To attract students, they build ever fancier dorms and facilities. And yes, it does attract, but at a cost. As long as there is no pushback from the potential students that the costs are too high, schools will continue to act like this.

And finally, not every student pays sticker price. Many pay far less than that - it depends on family income.

Re:Yeah, the bubble will pop long before that

[Anonymous Coward]

The German student needs to perform well academically to get their free ride college education. Those that do not do well at book learning or are just general fuckups are forcibly steered to the trades.

I'm ALL for standardized testing in America where it has true consequences for the student. But oddly enough, people like you who point out free education in Germany never mention that part...

Yes, but they don't tell you...

[bobbied]

That a gallon of milk will run you about $20 and a tank of gas is $500...

BTW, College tuition is only really going wacko because the government stepped in and made student loans so easy to get. I know of folks a decade ago who were borrowing money to go to school taking the maximum allowed while living at home. They blew all the extra money on lavish vacations and other junk and are now, faced with a mountain of unnecessary debt for college degrees of minimal value. Criminal justice and business administration just doesn't pay that well. Making college money easy to get makes tuition go up, but it doesn't always make people better educated.

Citation needed

[rsilvergun]

538 says you're wrong.

Re:Yeah, the bubble will pop long before that

[cayenne8]

Have higher entrance requirements,

If you do that, you will automatically be branded a racist for daring such heritical talk.

Doing anything in the US these days, based solely on merit of ones abilities, especially with regards to upper education...is racist and/or sexist in nature.