No Stupid Questions

Because THOSE schools are expensive.

- IN STATE VS OUT OF STATE -

I went to a SUNY (State university) about 18 yrs ago and it was $3,000/semester. Today it’s $3,500/semester, so it didn’t go up by much. I stayed in state so it was lower for me. If you are not from the state it was $10,000/ semester (still on the lower end). Compare that to other people in other schools taking the same major as me. It was about 20,000/ semester for in state. We all ended up at the same jobs, I just didn’t carry the debt.

For the US, staying in state helps a lot. Unfortunately I think the grand idea of moving away and dorming is pushed onto kids by the media. Another comparison, my wife, who also went to school in the same state as me, went to at a CUNY (City University) and it was $1,800/semester. It was a pretty great school and campus, but not a school you’d see in the movies or tv shows. We both chose to stay within our means and not put a burden on ourselves or our families. Today we are very successful with no debt.

- SCHOOLS AS BRAND -

One more thing that drives price, is that schools are also brands now, and you are paying for that. There is peer pressure to get into schools with better awareness. Same reason a kid would rather wear apparel from nike vs walmart. My niece just started college this year and was brainwashed into picking a school she couldn’t afford. They took out a loan and the school end up being horrible for her. She dropped out during the last semester and I was told all the money spent this year was a wash. She’s now going to end up going to the school her family originally recommended to her. There are plenty of schools in the states that are good and wont cost an arm and a leg.

- CLASS FLUFF -

For the sake of keeping kids in school they pack in so many additional unneeded electives. I think I had to take 11 within my first 2yrs and each of my classes was 3hrs long. Some days I would have 9hrs of class. That is not including the down time in between those clases, so I could be there around 11-12hrs on a single day. If you want to keep a part time job to help pay for college, then that may mean you have to take additional winter and summer classes. In a lot of places this isn’t covered during the regular months so you have to pay for more. This fluff is one of the ways they keep bachelors and masters programs to run for as long as they do and at the prices they do. Some of these schools do run expedited programs where if you have previous electives that transfer over, you can do your degree in half of the time.

side effects of Boomer economic policies and their ignorance regarding the changes they caused

Same reason everything in the US is expensive: we have largely unregulated, runaway capitalism which pervades every facet of life. Everything from housing to academia to health care is for profit -- not only profit, but for obscene year-over-year increases in profit. Those at the top regularly make money hand over fist even selling basic necessities, and if they don't continue taking more and more, they're seen as failures and replaced by one who will.

The cherry on top is that, for the most parts, the citizens no longer have any real power to change any of it.

Around the same time that health care becomes affordable in the US (major hypothetical, of course), it probably means a wind change has occurred such that university costs would also be coming down. But it would be a systematic change.

This is a private school so they don't get much in the way of direct government funding. State-funded schools are considerably cheaper. I went to Wright State University in Ohio. Right now it's about $13k/yr in tuition. This is still rather expensive on a global scale.

Why do private schools charge that much? Because people (like you) will pay that much. What about the University of Chicago makes it so that you are willing pay for it? What do you or your son hope to get out of it that a school in your home country (I'm assuming Canada) can't give him? To compare to Wright State, even for out-of-country students the tuition is less than half of Chicago's tuition. Is the benefit of going to Chicago worth that much more? If it is, then that is exactly what you're paying for.

All the schools rip off the rich to subsidize the middle class. You're essentially subsidizing a bunch of students who are paying close to nothing.m, because you can afford $70k tuition.

As another example, Harvard is free for anyone whose family makes less than $85k per year. Not just the tuition ($56k per year), but also the housing (worth $13k), food ($8k), health insurance ($1600), books, and a modest living stipend designed to cover things like a computer, commuting/travel, other expenses.

And those who make up to $150k per year are capped at 10% of their income to pay for all that. In the end, the average cost of Harvard for the typical student is about $15,000 per year including housing and food.

In other words, attending Harvard is cheaper than not attending school for anyone whose families make less than $150k, which is basically 75% of the nation. So if you're actually paying full tuition, you're probably pretty rich.

learning is just a sidehustle to the sports franchise they run?

because america is the land of profit over humans. its just that simple.

its ingrained in the entire country. if some rando at the top isnt profiting, it must be killed. its the problem with healthcare. its the problem with government (congress). its the reason we are entrenched in a 2-party hellscape.

My parents paid for me to attend a private university in the late 80's, for which I'm both extremely fortunate and grateful.

I wanted to do the same for my children, but there was no way. I pay half, my parents pay half, and my kids have very small loans.

I was experiencing significant disappointment that I wasn't able to pay for my kids' education the way my parents paid for mine.

At one point I used an inflation calculator to get an idea of how much my education cost in today's dollars, and it turns out that when it's corrected for inflation, I'm paying what my parents paid. My kids' education is more than twice as expensive as mine was if you correct for inflation.

Because people are still paying it. That's how you set the price of things. If people are paying 70k why would you sell it cheaper?

Because Reagan defunded public secondary education. And then instead of fixing that in the late 90s/early 00s, they made school loans non expungable and federally guaranteed, so schools didn't need to keep their prices low and competitive anymore.

It always goes back to Reagan...

Because there's nothing more American than getting ripped off.

Corporate greed.

US universities engage in price discrimination between different students.

For public schools, there is different tuition between in state and out of state students. There are also some state government programs based on merit and financial considerations.

For well endowed private schools, the universities will provide scholarships based on a variety of reasons. For students from rich families, those families are generally paying full price and there generally is the implication of additional donations.

Tuition is also higher for international students.

Administrative bloat. At my university, if my lab lands a grant, 60% goes to the university and only 40% is used for actual research. There's a long chain of people whose jobs are to answer emails, and they all need to be paid.

The politicians of the US took massive payouts from the banking industry in exchange for commodifying anything and everything that people need. Back in ~~2008~~ 2005, Biden himself took a $250,000 bribe from MBNA to make it illegal to escape student loans even in bankruptcy.

There's probably more at play, but the govt is willing to back companies offering loans to cover higher and higher tuition costs, so said companies haven't got to worry if the loans default or don't return the full amount - it's about setting an exorbitant "graduate tax" to keep a permanent stream of guaranteed income for as long as possible.

Higher loans means more repayments, and more money for universities, so they both raise tuition higher and higher to meet the limits of students. as long as banks or govt don't ever ask for their loans back (which they won't because it'll collapse the whole system and possibly the economy with it) the price can inflate at much at it likes.

the same is at play in the UK, only we have "tuition caps" that every university course sets their prices to because there is simply no benefit to charging less, and no downside to charging more. Everyone can get a loan, no one is denied, and the government backs this process because it is essentially being held at ransom.

I know I turned it into a rant about UK education but the financial systems feel very similar. There's simply too much money held up in a make believe cycle of IOUs that would immediately collapse a huge chunk of the American system if anyone willingly let it pop.

The only problem with this is that eventually it might just pop on its own, and no one will be ready.

Depends on the school but yes it's ridiculous. For a while it seemed like everyone was encouraged to attend college but now it seems like trade schools are coming back in a big way. I think people realise they aren't going to get anything useful for the time and money they put in for the jobs they want

If we can reason and communicate effectively then we're much harder to exploit.

Education is priced above the balance of supply and demand because in wider scope it's more profitable to deny access.

Denial of access to education is a very good way to leave many people with violence as their only practical means of change.

A lot of folks are overlooking one of the largest factors, unlimited student loans for whatever.

As long as people have access to an ever increasing amount of money to use for tuition, it is in those institutions' interests to rise their prices to extract as much as possible.

Whereas other countries tend to subsidize their education at source, that is to say, by funding the schools directly which somehwat obviates the price gouging aspect.