Why College is SO Expensive

Everybody complains about college being expensive, but do they know the factors causing it? Watch this #short to find out.

[oseansoldier]

Those two art history and Shakespeare classes I had to take for me GE requirements are REALLY helping me as a mechanical engineer.

[jovenc]

Don't forget Federal loans that allow the colleges to charge whatever they want because they know the students will get loans.

[CowCommando]

Ah yes, the myth of needing a "well rounded education." It _can_ help, but it usually doesn't. They're fine as an option, but shouldn't be required.

[justicedunham]

Most bachelor’s programs could be completed in 2 years if GEs weren’t required. Meaning with an average tuition of over $15, 000 for public schools, plus another $10, 000 for housing, most students could save over $50, 000 in education costs as well as enter the workforce earlier.

So if the average graduate had around $25, 000, then the majority of students would graduate debt free as well.

[ScottiPimpin]

Had to take Geology, Geology Lab, & California Geology for a Finance Degree

[spaceracer]

Add to that college lowering admission standards to allow students who aren't qualified to take these required classes to PAY to take remedial classes covering material they SHOULD have learned in junior high ....
...it's almost as if easy access to federal student loans has caused universities to see uneducated minors as indoctrinated cash cows instead of customers requiring a beneficial service....

[JeffinTD]

Well, offering huge college loans that can’t be discharged in bankruptcy let the average kid go to an expensive college- so naturally the average college is expensive. They will continue to be so as long as people are able and willing to pay.

[courtneyvanpatten]

The GE requirements were such a waste of time it was painful

[ContentEnjoyer-gmky]

The self awareness in the Jen Bot killed me. Sarah really is a genius.

[wudntulikeno]

I was going to school for electrical engineering. I was required to waste two years on garbage like humanities, history, english composition, spanish, new student experience, and public speech.

[Dashin]

Worked at a college for a while (worst job I ever had). 70% of the budget was staff (a small portion being professors), and the unions had a stranglehold over administration. They didn't give a shit about the students, they were more concerned about increasing the pay of already wildly overpaid and underworked staff and being as difficult to work with and mean as possible.

The college was deeply in the red and the unions still forced insane raises, which in turn ups tuition and gets them to beg for more money from daddy government!

We should really allow colleges to fail. It would stop them being so cavalier about money and budgeting.

[Zeero]

This is why I took those courses at a community college in the summer semesters. Much cheaper and still counts. Those who weren't able to get into their college of choice has a much better shot after doing all their general courses at a cheap community college and then transferring into their desired college, and they probably paid less.

[tuongpham]

My biggest gripe about college is that they force you to waste 2 years of your time and money taking GE classes. The excuse they always give is to make the students more well rounded. Which is absolute bull crap cuz 99% of the students forget that shit anyway.

[jameskingsbery]

I think expensive amenities and armies of non-teaching administrators are a bigger problem than having history majors take a stats class.

[hobsdigree]

My fiancée went back to school, and I saw firsthand the amount of wasteful classes her college made her take. She went for dental hygiene, but had multiple classes on diversity that she had to take. I could maybe understand if it was only one, but several classes that each costed thousands of dollars to take that repeated the same propaganda over and over was the biggest waste of time and money. The thing is, there is zero accountability for the colleges and universities. There are useful degrees, but the amount of useless classes that don't relate to the field of study is criminal.

[tsrocks]

Tons of dumb activities too. I got a scholarship and went to a university for a year. So many times they erected bouncy houses, gave out coloring sheets and cookies. And we’re forced to pay the fees for activities like that if we go or not. Sure it’s kinda fun but it’s pretty childish and won’t help at all with a future career.

[everyisnutz]

a big part of the problem is people being of adult age and not knowing what a loan is. Colleges charge more because there are enough people that just don't actually care about the price... it literally never enters the equation. There's enough dumb floating around that it's worth it to jack up prices because it doesn't alter the path of enough people to matter.

[Zeero]

In fairness, historically, universities have always sought to make their students well-rounded, meaning that not only did they have to be competent within their specialized fields, but they also were expected to be familiar with civilized culture and be morally upright. This shouldn't be surprising since the first universities were fundamentally religious institutions. The problem is that these days, what is considered to be morally upright in universities has not been widely adopted across civilization, hence why colleges tend to have a more activist bent, and the intellectuals tend to be more interested in destroying civilization than constructing it.

Apart from the antagonistic activism on the more recent end of modernity, industrialization was also at work to stress a more pragmatic purpose for colleges. Liberal arts were still important, but this could largely be attributed to the fact that a graduate would often end up working for someone with a lot of clients that cared for that sort of thing. Pragmatism is even more stressed these days due to even more technological developments that demanded more specialization, and the arts just became less important, and then we decided that what was usually taught in high schools should be taught in colleges, so we can make college education look better and desirable (and also avoid politically hot topics in public schools), driving the demand for college and eventually tuition costs. That's how we got general studies. It's literally high school from a few decades ago, but without homecoming and prom.

[jesselasalle]

Literally my reasoning right here. I'd go to college if they ONLY taught me the class I applied for, and none of the other classes.

[EchosTackyTiki]

I'm so glad that as a US government employee I've taken The Queer Experience and Creative Poetry. They make it so much easier to catch criminals and stop terrorists.