I bring this up because the other day I received the following email (edits mine) from my Alma mater:
Did you know that 25% of freshmen students at [University] leave after their first semester, many because they simply cannot afford to stay? You have the power to keep these students in school.
As you think about your year-end preparations, we hope you will remember these [University] students who need your help. It only takes 20% of our generous alumni and friends like you making a tax-deductible gift of $25 to provide a semester of tuition for one student. This, or any donation, would help to ensure that the student returns to school and stays on course to finish their education.
Please make your gift of $25 (or any amount that works for you) by Dec. 31st. No matter the size of your gift, you can help make a difference in the lives of [University] students.
The [University] Annual Fund supports academic programs, undergraduate research opportunities, nationwide student competitions and most importantly, scholarships for those deserving students who will benefit from your gift.
Did you know that 25% of freshmen students at [University] leave after their first semester, many because they simply cannot afford to stay?
And the second:
It only takes 20% of our generous alumni and friends like you making a tax-deductible gift of $25 to provide a semester of tuition for one student.
Now, I am too lazy to actually look up statistics on numbers of alumnus, but I didn't go to a small school (maybe not a huge one, but still). But... 20% of their alumni to pay for one semester of school for one student. That's ridiculous. 25% of new students can't afford to keep going to their school after the first semester and instead of considering that there might be a fault in their prices, the University's first instinct is to ask for more money.
I had a friend during my time there who enjoyed harping on this subject. He would point out the thousands of students going there every semester, paying thousands of dollars for the honor. He would point out how much the University gets from Alumni contributions and from the Government. A thousand people making paying a thousand dollars makes for a million dollars.
Basically, Universities and Colleges are making millions and millions of dollars ever year, and yes there are salaries and upkeep to pay, and buildings to build, but I have a hard time imagining them not turning a huge profit even after all of that.
So we're left with greedy schools who keep raising prices (at a rate well above the rate of inflation or any other measure) instead of considering the needs of their customers (sometimes called students). And then those students need to get huge loans to pay for degrees that are increasingly worthless (excepting those for engineering or the hard sciences).
Not long after I received that email, I came across this article explaining why exactly things are the way they are.
Spoiler: The reason is the government. Does anybody remember that whole housing bubble collapse a few years ago that caused the great recession? Yeah, student loans are pretty much in the same place as those housing loans were then.
A trillion dollars of debt. That's how much debt students have been accrued so far. That's a thousand dollars that aren't being spent on new cars, homes, clothes or any number of things that could help drive the nation's economic growth.
Have you noticed that every private institution that the federal government shoves its way into tends to have costs rise exponentially before imploding? It already happened with the housing market. It is going to happen to the student loan market, and after that it is going to happen to the healthcare market.
When the government doesn't stick to the limited role defined for it in the Constitution things never end well, and our government has really been overstepping itself these last few years (and arguably the last few decades).
That article I linked has two videos that go into more depth.
Thanks for reading! Here's some Animaniacs for your time.
