At a board meeting of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board on Wednesday, Higher Education Commissioner Raymund Paredes said that $10,000 bachelor's degrees — books included — as proposed by Gov. Rick Perry are "entirely feasible."I think so, too. There is no reason why a kid should graduate from college at 22 with debt levels equal to a mortgage. But we have been trained to think this is acceptable, and with an endless supply of guaranteed student loan funding college admins have no reason to rein in costs.
$10,000 is indeed entirely feasible for most programs I think. For a bachelor's degree in accounting, or business administration, or English, or IT, or math... there is no reason to have unique, custom-crafted programs to teach this stuff. It's not theoretical and doesn't require expensive lab time. You either learn it or you don't.
Kindle-ize the textbooks, offer the courses online, reduce the fun/blow-off/"culturally-enriching" classes that have nothing to do with the student's chosen career field, and there's no reason a 4-year degree can't be $10k. (My theater class was fun, and it's great that my alma mater has an artificial tubing river, but these things don't matter a hill of beans if you're studying to be an accountant.)
3 comments:
How do you expect American kids to be able to compete globally unless they have a 88,000 square foot fitness center/smoothie bar?
For a while I have been considering either getting my masters in history or business, OR getting certified to become a personal trainer. Either of these will cost fractions of what it cost me to be my B.A. since I plan on doing them online.
Why not...oh wait can you say unions and liberal agenda training...education of the kids has not been a top objective of the education establishment for generations.
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