Good post, tkc. Agree with most everything you said.
On a related note (Higher Ed) -
I'm apparently a bit younger than you, and college cost me about $11 per credit hour when I started.
I took advantage of my parent's offer to let me stay in their basement bedroom rent free, if I attended the nearby University, got a job, and paid my own school costs. I worked the entire duration (full time) and graduated with a good sized chunk of dough in the bank.
Said Univ was one of the handful of our state universities, perfectly good enough, but not one of our top two in "prestige".
Several friends, also afforded similar opportunities by their parents, chose instead to go off to the prestigious schools. Dorm fees, etc. No jobs, or menial part time jobs. Lots of parties and fun. They graduated with "big" school debts that burdened them for some time.
It's all about choices. And to this day I have little patience for those that complain about running up huge debt to attend a highly expensive, prestigious school when they have much cheaper, but adequate choices available.
I heard last night we have something like a trillion bucks in college loan debt now. And increasing at a high rate. My fear is that they're going to "forgive" this debt, once again penalizing the frugal folks that made good choices of individual responsibility and PAID their own money.
We're directly subsidizing higher ed much less now, so the financial burden can be higher than in "our day". All the more reason to make financially sensible choices. I don't shed tears for somebody that takes on a hundred fifty thousand dollars school debt to attend a prestigious school and get a degree that won't provide them a job commensurate with the cost.
But they'll end up forgiving much of such school debts, before all is said and done.
We definitely need to reform a lot of things to make higher ed available to more folks. But throwing unlimited money at colleges ain't the ticket. There's definitely some truth to the statement that it just serves to drive up tuition.
Oh well, back to the sidelines.
D&O
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