Considering
where I believe we are headed in this effort, there’s a foundation
that probably needs to be set up right now. (We’re actually headed
to a massively complicated fork in the road, and I have zero idea
how complicated we’ll be willing to make this essay, but still…
good foundations for solid a building…)
The
costs of a college tuition are beyond true description or worthy
adjectives.
How
can I say such a thing? Easy. Horrendous and ridiculous are two
words that might seem like decent starting points, but they both
fall short of completing the job. Startling and astounding could
be options. Scary being used in combination with a few others
would approach pretty darn accurate. But again. They fall short.
They
all fall short.
More
precisely as a concept, when you are talking about $40,000 to
$60,000 as the start of the annual charges a student beginning
right now could expect to see, the brain freezes. The brain just
stops.
And
that range isn’t accurate. Some are higher. Some are lower. The
figure also doesn’t take into account a list of associated costs
that are part of the deal. But I firmly believe most of us could
agree as that range creates a fair estimate of a starting point.
$40,000
to $60,000 per year.
That
arrives, at a standard run of say four years to degree completion,
of something in the area of $200,000.
Keep
in mind those associated items I mentioned a few sentences ago.
For perspective on them, that total likely does not include books.
It might not include travel to and from campus. (Trying to decide
whether or not to head home for Thanksgiving or spring break?
The hit to the savings account can make the decision an easy one.)
Might not include the dorm or apartment or anything involved in
a place to live. Plus, you know, a student might want to eat.
College
for me was at a time of roughly $15,000 per year. I’m not kidding
in saying that’s a rough number. In addition to those potential
additions I’ve mentioned, I attended summer school. Could have
been lower this year, higher that. (Hey, there were highway tolls
involved in the drives each way for me, but little airline travel.
I do recall one horrendous bus journey.) And there were loans
and scholarships and work study and… again, an estimate.
So,
now let’s say for a bachelor’s degree it takes about four to five
years of study. For a master’s, two years is a good run. Setting
a doctorate at four years wouldn’t be outrageous. All of these
time frames could vary, especially when considering the actual
areas of study. But, we are in acceptable territory placing them
at those lengths. That means for a student pursuing significant
stages of education, we could have a person that earns two bachelor’s
(we’ll say by electing to focus on a double-major), a master’s
and a doctorate, and all four degrees would take about eleven
years.
Now…
a bank account… you saved for college and managed to create a
place with $250,000 in it.
Go
back thirty to thirty-five or so years and earn those degrees
over eleven years. It’s not outrageous to argue that after tuition
(that $15,000, and we can even toss in most of those associated
expenses), that bank account would still have enough in it to
purchase a good car, put down first and last months’ rent on an
apartment, and have a remaining balance for food in the fridge
and turning on the electricity.
Four
degrees, a car and a place to live with a bit in the bank. Not
a bad start.
Today?
You’d probably get through the first four years of the process
before the bills began to stack up unpaid. Less that forty percent
of the timetable for study completed. No car. No moving into an
apartment after all was done.
We
are not in a world of standard cost of living increases and adjustments.
I
want this idea swimming in your head as we set off, because tuition
cost alone truly is a monstrous hurdle to consider when it comes
to college education. There is a very justifiable reason to point
at the costs involved in earning a degree and lose the ability
to speak. There are reasons students today have debt levels unheard
of by students of previous generations… even when those in previous
generations graduated with loans that needed to be paid.
(And
all of that in place, our journey has arrived at that complicated
fork in the road.)
If
you want to streamline the headache, there are two ways to view
the costs of college.
(Writer’s
note on this concept (and the liberties taken in following it):
I know there are lots of underlying scenarios when it comes to
how anyone pays bills. This is especially true when it comes to
things like heading off to a university campus. Parents and family
get involved. Scholarships and student loans and work-study jobs
and more get involved. Staying at home and commuting to school
instead of dorm life get involved. Virtually anything and everything
becomes finds a place on the ledger or at least consideration
as an option. I’m not disputing that we could create, quite literally,
dozens of viewpoints and thousands of spreadsheets. I’m just trying
to simplify things. Consider that we can come to a single fork
in the road, two paths resulting, and all still recognize tangents
break off along the way.)
The
first is that we have choices. No student has to go to the most
expensive university and rack up the highest of college costs.
And as a slightly different way of expressing the thought, let’s
buy a car.
Right
now, reading this in 2020, you could head out with $25,000 and
buy a car. A new car. A really good new car that you could happily
own and operate for years. Completely buy it. Pay for the car,
taxes, registration and so on. Insure it for a month or more as
well.
Search
engine time. Toyota Corolla cost? $19,600 as I write this. Subaru
Impreza? $18,695. Both of those cars are placed at the car-for-them-an-you-could-see
200,000 mile mark. Just two examples.
For
that $25,000, however, you could not buy an Aston Martin DBS Superleggera.
Those run more than $300,000. But do you need the DBS Superleggera?
(Do you really need it? And, do you even in your wildest dreams
believe you’ll reach half the lifetime miles of a Corolla or Impreza?)
Bring
that around to selecting a college. There are reasons students
attend local schools. There are reasons students start at one
school and transfer around the two-year mark. There are reasons
not everyone attends Superleggera University, so to speak.
Those
of us driving a $25,000 car of education can be quite happy and
satisfied with that choice.
The
second is that most people judge the end result costs of education
as outrageous. It’s outrageous to a level that efforts should
be made to erase student loans—or at least dramatically adjust
them—so people don’t come out of school with thousands upon hundreds
of thousands in loans and assorted debts before a penny of post-graduate
career earnings have even been deposited.
With
these two ideas in place (to select a school wisely and that school
costs are outrageous)… and again, let’s face facts, there are
an amazing number of details and thoughts not included or explored
in what I did cover… I have a problem.
I
tend to shade toward the first group. And that’s why I shifted
to mentioning the purchase of a car, because in many ways it works
as a significantly better example than trying to compare education
costs and schools. It doesn’t play out as smoothly with the thoughts
of a college. There are reasons certain places rank higher or
lower in ratings of quality. And, there are plenty of reasons
we aren’t going to explore as to why some colleges are stronger
in developing career opportunities. But…
I
don’t necessarily believe you have to go to—by whatever rankings
we could attempt to apply—the best of the best college in order
to become the best of the best possible you that you can be.
Let
me place this idea here: Is a college degree necessary for success?
Do you need a college degree to make money, start a business,
or in any way be considered successful professionally? I’m going
to say no. It’s not a requirement. And that brings us to a really
interesting debate item. Two, actually:
First
– It isn’t a given that where the degree is from matters. Do
you know what they call the person that graduated last in their
class from medical school? Doctor. And that joke applies to
every appropriately certified/accredited medical school.
Second
– LOTS of people create amazing stories without attending a
single day of classes on a college campus.
Those
points arrive here: A college degree is a tool and not a necessity.
I’m
not against education… pursuing it at the highest of levels, taking
steps to make it more available to everyone, and all sorts of
other positive and proactive considerations in support of attending
college along with furthering education all the way into advanced
degrees. I absolutely would tell my children and grandchildren
and relatives and friends to do what they can to take courses
at colleges, and to pursue a degree.
But
I also believe that there are all sorts of faults and problems
in this wiping-out-the-student-loan-debt approach to things. And
my opinions begin with the idea that in many cases: (1) The taking
on of debt is often driven by choice and motivation (what school
a person selects to attend, working a job or not while taking
classes, finding scholarships or forms of financial aid that are
based on awards and not loans, etc.), and, (2) the debt of a college
education is not a requirement when it comes to being a successful
person making strong and significant contributions to society.
To
me, it cannot be approached as some sort of obvious need, with
broad definitions built on generalities and not specifics. There
needs to be questions about why tuitions have risen so dramatically
and unchecked, regardless of an institution’s status as private
or public. There needs to be considerations given to different
alternatives for paying back the costs/loans. (Perhaps government-sponsored
loans with no interest attached… maybe some type of service/internship
requirement where a person would get paid for their work, while
also earning service time credits that convert into dollar-equivalents
for student loan repayment… I don’t know, just brainstorming here
without a sweep it clean regardless action.)
Ultimately,
I’m trying to arrive at this…
Student
loan debt is not a soundbite. It is not an issue for campaign
promises. It does not automatically qualify a person to claim
woe-is-me hardships. Want to forgive a person that went for the
$25,000 car education? I’m listening. Want to forgive a person
for stomping their foot, wanting it now tantrum, Superleggera
education spending? No. Not happening. Choices and actions have
costs.
And
yet, after all the debate, it is a scenario creating real, extraordinary
hardships for many. And in plenty of cases, those hardships are
changing lives by setting up simply ridiculous hurdles or weighty
anchors.
Treat
it with the serious considerations it deserves. Don’t just generically
create sweeping changes that will be poorly designed or cast aside
after election day votes are cast. And understand that it shouldn’t
be a gift without consequences or thought.