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The College Scam
College professors and activists groups are urging students to protest Gov. Corbett's proposed cuts to the state college system, while they ignore that great scam of all. Why shouldn't they? They are part of it.
My print column is up.
My print column is up.
posted by Spencerblog at
10:22 AM
2 Comments:
Gil Spencer hit the nail on the head about the value of a college education vs. the cost of tuition.
Gil could have mentioned how 4 year college educations have been progressively dumbed down to accommodate the growing number of students not prepared by their high school educations for the rigorous demands of many college curriculums, making the value of a college degree even more suspect.
There is a better way to go about this.
A new brochure from Delaware County Community College compares four-year tuition costs at Widener, Penn State Brandywine and Temple with the cost of attending DCCC two years followed by two years at one of the other three schools.
The savings are amazing and this direction offers a more realistic pacing and introduction to the demands of higher education. In addition, DCCC provides opportunities to learn real, marketable skills that can provide the money needed to continue further if that is the choice.
What annoys is that Rose Tree Media school district will spend about $8.9 million this year on the debt they have financed and re-financed at least 3 times over for the last 20 years. The annual cost of this debt works out to $2,300 every year for every student in the school district, from kindergarten through 12th grade.
The cost of a year’s tuition at DCCC is listed as $2,328.
In other words, every year RTM spends as much money on interest payments to Wall Street bond brokers that could instead be sending every high-school graduate to college or trade school tuition free. The waste is amazing when you think of it this way.
Which benefits a student more, a $5 million swimming pool or full scholarships to every student in the district?
Even more shocking is that over the course of 13 years, K thru 12, the school district spends more than $28,000 in bond payments for every Penn Crest graduate.
DCCC lists the tuition cost for 2 years at the community college followed by 2 years at Temple as $28,324.
Which investment in a child’s future would pay off more; interest payments on the district’s debt or free tuition to college or trade school?
It is shocking that some candidates for school board and some in administration think the district’s debt load is no big deal. They say that carrying this debt year after year is sustainable. They don’t want to cut back on any of the extravagance this debt finances. They think piling all of this debt on the backs of taxpayers is OK.
But, their thinking is backwards and the people this backwardness really hurts are the students who could be attending college on that money instead of it lining the pockets of the bankers and municipal bond salesmen.
Excellent point de vue que je partage en tout points.
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