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thinkin' about money
Forbes has decided to join U.S. News and World Report in the rating colleges game.
And wow, what a strange methodology they've chosen. They're using Ratemyprofessor as an actual source of data. And adding in how much debt students leave with. And how many graduates rank in Who's Who in America. Seems superficial at best. Mefi commenters agree!
My school, UMass/Amherst (altho I graduated from UMass/Boston, but I spent more time in Amherst), ranks 299. Somewhere vaguely in the middle. Which disturbs me not at all; I know what kind of education I got. All of my other schools (Bentley, Simmons, BU) are lower on the list, and they were all fancy expensive private schools. The other schools that I took a few classes from in the 5-College area (Amherst and surrounds) are all very high on the list, but cost double what my school costs.
And that's what I'm finding horrifying about this whole list. Sort by Cost, and oh my god. About half the list is over $35k! Somewhere I still have my canceled check from my first semester at BU, in 1982. I paid something like $2,250, and thought that was a huge amount. I didn't live on campus, so that was just tuition. So basically about $4,500 a year for tuition. Harvard at the time wasn't much more. So one generation ago, private schools cost about 30% of the median wage. And now they cost over 100% of the median wage. According to this article, the cost to families has increased 439% since 1982.
A little steep, no? How seriously does anyone afford it? We had financial aid in my day — it wasn't the dark ages. If everyone is getting financial aid and scholarships and grants, isn't the listed tuition basically a joke? Something only paid by Princes of Arabia, or something? I don't really believe it. I check this stuff out from time to time because I often think I'm going to get another degree in my spare time. But I don't frankly see how I could afford it, ever. I only managed to pay for grad school by getting a fellowship and working there for the whole time.
I feel sorry for parents of young children. I can't even imagine how that's all going to work in another generation. Scary!
And wow, what a strange methodology they've chosen. They're using Ratemyprofessor as an actual source of data. And adding in how much debt students leave with. And how many graduates rank in Who's Who in America. Seems superficial at best. Mefi commenters agree!
My school, UMass/Amherst (altho I graduated from UMass/Boston, but I spent more time in Amherst), ranks 299. Somewhere vaguely in the middle. Which disturbs me not at all; I know what kind of education I got. All of my other schools (Bentley, Simmons, BU) are lower on the list, and they were all fancy expensive private schools. The other schools that I took a few classes from in the 5-College area (Amherst and surrounds) are all very high on the list, but cost double what my school costs.
And that's what I'm finding horrifying about this whole list. Sort by Cost, and oh my god. About half the list is over $35k! Somewhere I still have my canceled check from my first semester at BU, in 1982. I paid something like $2,250, and thought that was a huge amount. I didn't live on campus, so that was just tuition. So basically about $4,500 a year for tuition. Harvard at the time wasn't much more. So one generation ago, private schools cost about 30% of the median wage. And now they cost over 100% of the median wage. According to this article, the cost to families has increased 439% since 1982.
A little steep, no? How seriously does anyone afford it? We had financial aid in my day — it wasn't the dark ages. If everyone is getting financial aid and scholarships and grants, isn't the listed tuition basically a joke? Something only paid by Princes of Arabia, or something? I don't really believe it. I check this stuff out from time to time because I often think I'm going to get another degree in my spare time. But I don't frankly see how I could afford it, ever. I only managed to pay for grad school by getting a fellowship and working there for the whole time.
I feel sorry for parents of young children. I can't even imagine how that's all going to work in another generation. Scary!
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I got off very lightly, in that I didn't even have to pay for my tuition as students from England and at English universities now do. (The tuition fees in Scotland have been scrapped by the devolved parliament, but only for students who come from Scotland.)
It is seriously terrifying how much university costs these days. My current degree will have cost me upwards of £3000, and it's completely online.
I owe quite a lot to the scholarship system that was in place in the 1920s, which allowed my grandfather (and his two sisters), the clever children of a coachfitter and joiner who was unable to work because of ill-health, to go to private school and then university. I honestly can't see how a family in a similar situation today could hope to educate their children.
My mother had NO tuition fees to pay and got a small student grant, even though her father was by then a successful businessman. The system's completely turned itself inside out within thirty years.
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But yeah, the cost of higher ed is getting seriously ridiculous.
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What people are doing now is taking out gigantic student loans. And some of them are charging up credit cards, too. Scary.
On the other hand, it seems like there are about the same number of colleges even though the population is growing. Sad. I keep hoping that won't mean that everyone and their dog will require a college degree to even look at your job application (since I don't think college is for everyone, though I loved it), but I don't think that's changing.