Nearly all men and women of Generation-Y are familiar with the statistics revealing that individuals with college degrees earn an average of $1 million more in their lifetime than individuals with only a high school diploma. Our society places a gargantuan exclamation point on the importance of higher education. Unfortunately, for those unable to attend a university, our society predicts nothing but doom and gloom. If one followed traditional views on the necessity of education, it would seem that poverty is simply inescapable for those without a college degree.
However, the multi-billion dollar college industry is far more complex than high GPAs and the pretentiousness of Greek life. Hordes of young Americans clamoring for a space atop the financial totem pole remain unaware of who exactly is profiting from what has become one of the most lucrative industries in the world. Universities, it seems, have become a business before intuitions of learning.
It is indisputable that proper education is crucial, but the world’s most successful entrepreneurs like Richard Branson, Larry Ellison and Mark Zuckerberg openly admit that excelling in school, while oftentimes correlated with excelling in business, might not always be the cause. There are certain professions such as the medical field and engineering that require a high degree of education; we are not proposing that doctors forgo their education here.
Nonetheless to write off anyone who did not complete college would be preposterous. The belief that higher education is the primary factor attributed to financial success has been reiterated incessantly over the course of the past 30 years that an entire generation has lost the drive to consider other alternatives. Without understanding the economics at work and the relationships between the government and universities across the nation, many are unable to identify this glorified institution for the scam it may truly be.
Education has historically been a pivotal factor in the separation of social hierarchy. Americans view the college educated as success-bound elite, while simultaneously viewing those unfortunate enough to attend college as undesirables that lack intelligence. There are myriad examples to the contrary.
Woodrow Wilson was quoted as saying, “We want one class of persons to have a liberal education and we want another class of persons, a very much larger class of necessity in every society, to forego the privilege of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific manual tasks.”
It is particularly based from this mindset that the association between education and wealth began.
Society influences norms on the essential nature of a college education by depicting a diploma as a necessary commodity to maintain a competitive edge over their peers. Currently, according to nationwide surveys conducted by the US government, 70% of high school graduates in the United States enroll in a college or university.
With such a high enrollment rate how does a college degree give anyone a marked advantage over the rest of the population? Back in the ’60s, less than 50% of Americans were enrolled in college. In this era, having a university degree was considered a true achievement that allowed individuals to stand out from the rest of the field. In 2012, overcrowded campuses and skyrocketing unemployment rates leave many questioning if institutions of higher learning are truly worth the hundreds of thousands of dollars they demand.
We hold education to be mandatory and believe college should be a necessity for all individuals. While they no longer guarantee success, university standards instill great discipline and a sense of responsibility into individuals. However, the conspiracy behind colleges and universities is all too unsettling. Since 1978, the cost of college tuition in the United States has gone up by over 900 percent.
The inflation of college tuition has continued to grow exponentially during the last decade. During times of great economic decline—particularly The Great Recession, almost all goods and services witnessed a steady decline in price temporarily. One would think that costs associated with college would have followed, but instead it was the only service in America that continued to rise in price during the crisis.
Despite unemployment reaching it’s highest point at close to 10%, current students are almost brainwashed into believing that the tremendous amount of debt in obtaining a degree will surely lead to the road to riches. Americans have experienced a 50% decline in their standard of living since 1970 due to the Federal Reserve’s dangerous and self-destructive monetary policies.
College has become extremely and unnecessarily expensive, forcing many students to go the route of committing to hefty student loans. Prestigious colleges–including NYU and USC–have set tuition prices from $40,000-$50,000 per year. Tuition costs have absolutely skyrocketed as the quality of education has plummeted at some institutions. In fact, two-thirds of college students have amassed student loans. However, in the 1970′s students when college tuition was considerably less, students were able to afford tuition with getting into any debt.
This injustice has been furthered by the US government’s willingness to provide cheap and easily accessible student loans to large numbers of students regardless of whether they seemed financially capable of paying them back. The US government is responsible for issuing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of student loans and has monopolized that industry. These loans have been adding up quickly. In fact, these loans have resulted in Americans accumulating well over $900 billion in student loan debt. That figure is higher than the total amount of credit card debt in the United States.
Provided that we live in a world fueled by materialistic gratification, it is rather surprising the costs associated with education would reach higher numbers than credit card debt. Shouldn’t the government make sure that tuition is stabilized and that loans come with aggressively low interest rates?
In addition to the unimaginably high tuition costs, current college student have to deal with living expenses including housing, textbooks and eating expenses. Boarding in dorm rooms at Ivy League universities may run a student an estimated $13,000 per semester. Not even meal plans provide alleviation from the high costs of being in college.
University meal plans typically offer mediocre quality foods for inflated prices. If boarding and meal expenses weren’t costly enough to nearly bankrupt you, the unimaginable cost of textbooks surely will. Publishing agreements between professors and colleges result in textbooks that cost upwards of $300 for books with no resale value and hardly any relevance within the classroom.
A whopping one-third of all college graduates end up receiving jobs that don’t even require college degrees. So after being buried in debt, 33% of college students acquire positions that technically didn’t even require them to endure college and compound such high debts.
U.S. college students spend 24% of their time sleeping, 51% of their time socializing and 7% of their time studying.
Not only is that statistic gut wrenching, but according to Arum and Roska, 70% of college graduates also admit that their university’s curriculum left them unprepared for the professional and entrepreneurial worlds. This is not to say that attending university is a poor choice, but we are simply advising that you be prudent in choosing an institution that will adequately prepare you for the future.
To paint a complete picture of how much of a scam college can be, let’s do some simple math here. The seemingly typical Providence College in Rhode Island is a perfect example. Although a highly accredited academic institution, costs are much lower than Ivy League schools like Harvard University or Columbia University. This is what a typical cost structure would resemble – This list forgoes costs for wardrobe, alcohol, social exploits, and that new drug addiction you probably picked up during your freshman year.
Tuition:
$24,000 (per semester)
= $192,000 (for all four years of higher education)
Room and Board: $3,000 (per semester) = $24,000 (for all four years of higher education)
Meal Plans : $2,000 (per semester) =$16,000 (for all four years of higher education)
Course Fees & Text Books: $500 (per semester) =$4,000 (for all four years of higher education)
Room and Board: $3,000 (per semester) = $24,000 (for all four years of higher education)
Meal Plans : $2,000 (per semester) =$16,000 (for all four years of higher education)
Course Fees & Text Books: $500 (per semester) =$4,000 (for all four years of higher education)
According to our calculations, $200,000 has been spent without students taking one step into the real world. Despite the ungodly costs for a piece of paper validating their competence, the average salary for an undergraduate is anywhere between $40,000-$60,000 varying on the states. This means the return on their investment won’t come until after roughly 5 years of paying off the loan.
According to very extensive research detailed in a new book entitled “Academically Adrift”, 45 percent of U.S. college students exhibit “no significant gains in learning” after two years in college.
This is an optimal scenario, of course, as most graduating students will be incapable of using the entirety of their income to pay their loan. Thus, they get drawn into a 30-year payment plan; that’s one-third of the average human’s life span. Unfortunately, approximately 14 % of all students graduating with student loan debt end up defaulting within 3 years of their first student loan payment. This likely ties into the fact that the unemployment rate for college graduates younger than 25 years old was 9.3 % in 2010. If these statistics don’t scare you, we don’t know what will.
The value of a diploma is glorified far beyond it’s potential worth in your future; unless you are attending a Ivy League school or an Ivy equivalent, it is unlikely that you will be shuttled to the success you anticipate. Even if you are lucky enough to attend a top-tier university it seems your success is not guaranteed.
In 2011, The Huffington Post featured the story of Kyle Daley – a highly qualified UCLA graduate who had been unemployed for 19 months at the time….
I spent my time at UCLA preparing for the outside world. I had internships in congressional offices, political action committees, non-profits and even as a personal intern to a successful venture capitalist. These weren’t the run-of-the-mill office internships; I worked in marketing, press relations, research and analysis. Additionally, the mayor and city council of my hometown appointed me to serve on two citywide governing bodies, the planning commission and the open government commission. I used to think that given my experience, finding work after graduation would be easy.
At this point, however, looking for a job is my job. I recently counted the number of job applications I have sent out over the past year — it amounts to several hundred. I have tried to find part-time work at local stores or restaurants, only to be turned away. Apparently, having a college degree implies that I might bail out quickly when a better opportunity comes along.
The only way to change this corrupt market is to enlighten those around you. Take action—form a group and stand up against the injustice and inequality of the education system. It is your duty to disseminate the information obtained in this article to incite change that will benefit the upcoming generations of collegians. The easiest way to stand against this conspiracy is to share this article.
