On College Bubbles

Who doesn't like bubbles?

Whether a kid or an adult, we all find joy and happiness when blowing bubbles with chewing gum, or simply creating hundreds of bubbles with a plastic wand.  Creating economic bubbles can too be fun (and profitable) -- for awhile.  Unlike bubble gum, however, the "pops" of economic bubbles hurt, and hurt badly.

The Financial Bubble

By almost any measure, the higher education sector of our economy realized significant growth in the past 20 years. This remarkable growth primarily resulted from society encouraging everyone to attend college, and then having those students pay increasingly high levels of tuition by assuming records amount of debt.  In the spirit of wanting to help students, improve society, and progress as a nation, has this model worked?  On the surface, and in the short-term, the returns seem favorable.  But on closer examination, are we really better off?  Has there been a cost?  Will there be a greater cost in the future?  How do you weigh the benefits of attending and usually graduating from college against the financial and other costs associated with the decision?  Is attending college, especially immediately after high school, the best solution for everyone?  Under what circumstances is it / is it not a smart decision?  Do students fully understand the debt burden most will assume when leaving college?  Do colleges have the responsibility to better inform and prepare them for future loan payments?  Considering the levels of student debt and increasing student loan default rates, will a crash similar to the recent housing crisis occur?  If so, when will it occur, and what will be the effect?

Before answering those questions, please consider the following information.

• Only 50 of the nearly 600 public four-year institutions actually graduate a majority of full-time students within 4 years. Overall, 20% of full-time students earn their degree within four years, while only 53% graduate within 6 years.  Of course many of those who don't graduate still carry debt.
• Student debt is at an all-time high of $1.4 trillion, held by 44 million borrowers averaging about $37,000 in outstanding debt.  One in four student borrowers are currently in default on their debt, while over half of them either default or fail to pay their debt principal down within 7 years.
• The debt numbers are only getting worse: In 2004, 1% of college graduates had debt over $50,000. In 2012, the number jumped to 10% of graduates holding debt over $50,000. I'm quite certain that percentage is much higher today, as current graduates now average over $37,000 in debt.

• These student debt numbers are bad enough when considering them in a vacuum, but let's not forget the all-time records of automobile debt ($1.4 trillion) and credit card debt ($1 trillion) that many of them also carry.

- Click here to read an article arguing that the current college model as a bit of a scam that takes advantage of far too many students while drenching them in debt.

- Click here for an article accusing colleges of price gouging and comparing the current college model with predatory lenders.

- Click here to learn what a 2009 graduate learned while paying off her student loans.

- Click here to watch Dirty Jobs' Mike Rowe discuss "College vs. Job Training," advocating for more high school graduates to consider trade schools.

Now that we've briefly examined the financial cost of attending college, let's take a quick look at the actual college experience.

The Intellectual Diversity Bubble

I've always considered college an opportunity to 1) learn a skill to benefit future employment; and 2) share ideas in a setting that welcomes and respectfully challenges beliefs and opinions.  Based on your knowledge and experiences, how are our colleges and universities performing on those two fronts?

While the university culture claims to celebrate diversity, how well is intellectual diversity promoted and respected?  What has been your experience with students, faculty, and administrators on campus?  Is the current climate trending towards a more free flow of ideas, or towards the suppression of them?  What specific thoughts or expressions should be suppressed, if any?  Who decides what speech should and should not be tolerated on campus or in the classroom?  Does it matter if the school is public or private?  How would you respond to a claim that the current behavior of current intolerant thought police on certain campuses is tantamount to bullying?

Do students, or does anyone, have a right to not be offended?  If so, what is the standard for determining when the speech rises to such a level of hate speech?  Has disagreement in some circles resulted in not only the attempt, but the result in quashing certain ideas?  Is it best to respectfully debate such ideas, shout it down through protests, or simply prohibit it?  If certain views are are actually suppressed on campus, what are the consequences?  When assessing the consequences, be sure to consider the long-term effects on the targeted individuals, on the groups being protected, on the greater campus culture, and on society in general.

- Click here for a NYT article describing certain alumni perspectives on current student protests, to include shrinking donations in many cases.

- Click here for a short description of how one college has changed over the past 50 years.

- Click here to learn about enrollment decline and resulting budget cuts at the University of Missouri.  The drop in enrollment is significant, with the 2015 freshman class totaling 6191 students, and the 2016 freshman class at 4772 students.  Many attribute this reduction to the protests that took place in September 2015.  Click here for the Wikipedia entry.

- Click here to read a letter written by a female Trump voter who studies at a small college in Iowa (unfortunately, this letter has been taken down by the college student newspaper).