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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy college became so expensive
by Joe Pinsker
The story of the rising cost of college in America is often told through numbers, with references to runaway tuition prices and the ever-growing pile of outstanding student debt.
The personal toll these trends have taken is hard to convey, but the anthropologist Caitlin Zaloom does so in her new book, Indebted: How Families Make College Work at Any Cost, which documents how the price of a college education has forced many middle-class families to rearrange their priorities, finances, and lives.
In Indebted, Zaloom, a professor at New York University, draws on some 160 interviews she did with families who are taking on debt to pay for college, mixing in history of education policy and analysis of the financial morass students and their loved ones must navigateincluding a close reading of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, form and the concept of family it promotes.
I recently spoke with Zaloom about what this system of paying for college is doing to familiesas well as what might make higher education less financially fraught. The conversation that follows has been edited and condensed.
Joe Pinsker: In the past few decades, whats changed in how families pay for college?
Caitlin Zaloom: College used to be a lot cheaper for families, because there was more funding from the government. If you think about the biggest educational systems, like the University of California system or the City University of New York system, these universities were free or practically free for decades. That was in part because of a belief that higher education was essential for the national project of upward mobility, and for having an educated citizenry.
So middle-class families didnt always have to pay for college with debt. The shift began in the 1980s, in terms of a changing political philosophy. President Ronald Reagans budget director, David Stockman, said in 1981, If people want to go to college bad enough, then there is opportunity and responsibility on their part to finance their way through the best way they can. When those who argued that college is a private benefit framed it like that, it became logical to say that education should be paid for by the people that it benefits. And so in the 1990s, the vast expansion of loans for higher education began.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/why-college-became-so-expensive/ar-AAGKjy9?li=BBnbfcN
I attended night classes back in the 80's at my local community college. In 1981 the Republicans controlled both branches of the legislature and the governor's office. That year they doubled the cost of tuition at all public colleges and universities in Washington State.
My state has not elected a Republican governor since then.
gopiscrap
(23,757 posts)and my last year tuition for those days prices became outrageous. I was lucky enough to only have 3 classes left to complete.
iscooterliberally
(2,860 posts)Her father died as a direct result of the Vietnam war when she was still a child. She started out on a government aid program. I don't know what it was called, but they cut her off and she could not afford to continue. This would have been right in the middle of the Reagan administration. What a bunch of bastards they were.
exboyfil
(17,862 posts)His father had passed away and he was on Social Security. They changed the rules. Fortunately he was far enough along to finish.
iscooterliberally
(2,860 posts)My wife was only in her first year. She wanted to be an architect so she got cut off and could not recover from that. When I say 'our standard of living', I don't just mean she and I, but every American citizen in general. Reagan was the beginning of the end, and I don't understand why so many people can't see that.
Skittles
(153,150 posts)that ended because of Reagan
I detested Reagan, and it sickened me how many people fell for his act - he made greed and ignorance fashionable
moondust
(19,972 posts)of paying administrators yuuuge salaries, bonuses, and raises.
uponit7771
(90,335 posts)The title of this OP article should be "HOW college became so expensive" because she's not even discussing the WHY of it. Why are colleges so expensive? Bloated administrative costs are out of control, while salaries for the teaching professionals have been squeezed down to the nubbies. Adjunct professors can't even live on the tiny salaries being paid (no benefits of course), and full tenure isn't even possible on most campuses these days.
Meanwhile parents and families can barely afford to educate their kids, or they have to choose which lucky kid gets college while the others stay home. Education is out of reach for way too many families now.
DemocracyMouse
(2,275 posts)Professors and deans once ran the colleges. That's when it was a noble, almost spiritual profession. Now it's a McEducation. Hollow promises, starving professors, broken families of adjuncts. Administrators with MBA's, not Phds., running the asylum.
I hope Warren has a plan for this too!
Freddie
(9,263 posts)Demanding a bachelors degree for jobs that dont require one.
LisaM
(27,803 posts)Companies do not want to expend resources on training new workers, big part of the problem.
kimbutgar
(21,131 posts)Charging students more. Reagan didnt like those protests on on the UC campuses and zhiked the fees so you had to get loans.
I was lucky to go though the California State system paying for my tuition and books myself working part time jobs. But in the 80s it all changed. Reagan was the worst thing that ever happened to the working class and unions.
Bradshaw3
(7,513 posts)I worked at a large state university for many years. The state funding level went from more than 50 percent of the university budget in the 1980s to less than 20 percent in 20 years. Of course states were getting less money from the federal government and it was tax cutting time during Reagan's years and after, something the states did too. So paying for college went to mom and dad and the students and loans.
raccoon
(31,110 posts)elocs
(22,567 posts)and he died my second month into college at the local university. Since I was the dependent of a 100% disabled vet I went to college on the GI bill and lived at home because my mother collected the SS for me. I went to school for 5 years until I graduated and had to borrow $600 my last semester.
When I was in college I considered I had won the lottery because in the 2nd draft lottery my number was in the upper 350s so I would never be drafted to go to Vietnam.
Aside from the fact that I never worked a job that required a college degree it all worked out well for me.
NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)UC-Berkeley and UCLA are $13,900 for in state tuition for a world-class education. The problem is that room, board, books and other fees are another $25,000 or more. Many UC schools only guarantee housing for 1-2 years, though, and housing in Los Angeles and around Berkeley isn't known for being cheap, either.
There are around 280,000 students in total in the UC system, including grad & higher level students. Let's say you wipe out that $13,900 tuition - that is $3.9 billion in lost revenue right there.
For the Cal State Universities, it's $5,700 for a full-time student and almost 480,000 students. That's $2.7 billion in tuition per year.
That leaves out additional tuition for out of state and international students - UCLA is around $40,000 for out of state students, but for calculation purposes, I only used $13,900 for all students.
$6.6 billion for California. Not including community colleges and any public colleges outside of the UC and CSU systems.
mnhtnbb
(31,384 posts)for one trimester (three of them in the academic year).
Ronald Reagan's signature was on my bachelor's degree. Son of a bitch was definitely responsible for seriously fu*king up the UC system in part because he was taking revenge on students for protests during the Vietnam war.
Then in 1978 the property tax rebellion in California--Prop 13--put a lid on property taxes by rolling them back to 1976 and putting a cap on the amount they could be raised (2%) in any year also made it virtually impossible to change because of the requirement for a 2/3 majority in both legislative houses for future increases of ANY tax rates, including income taxes, also was applied to municipal governments.
Then began the budget cutting. When you cut budgets--and you can't turn to taxes--you have to raise revenue some other way.
Prior to Prop 13, California had a world class public education system of K-12. Afterwards, it all started downhill. No other option existed other than to raise tuition levels for the UC system. The effect has been to increase the number of out of state and international students-- thus reducing the number of spots available for instate and transfer students from community colleges-- because they pay higher tuition (almost $40,000/year for UCLA and Berkeley).
NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)and graduated in the mid 1980s - I remember how the public education in California was considered the best
ChubbyStar
(3,191 posts)I never did care for them before then, but after that, I really abhorred them. They were selfish and greedy and now they are dead. Good riddance!
mnhtnbb
(31,384 posts)My mom had a framed photo of Reagan hanging in her kitchen for years.
Both my parents were die hard Republicans. My brother is one. I was the black sheep in the family.
My parents died in 2000 and 2002. I wonder if they would have supported Trump. My brother does.
ChubbyStar
(3,191 posts)I'm positive they would have supported tRump. I am glad I am not dealing with their shit anymore.
former9thward
(31,986 posts)ChubbyStar
(3,191 posts)They were horrible abusive parents and I am free to say anything I want to about them. You can get lost now.
former9thward
(31,986 posts)Try again...
ChubbyStar
(3,191 posts)Response to ChubbyStar (Reply #35)
Post removed
Johnny2X2X
(19,051 posts)We aren't going to get total debt forgiveness, nor would most Americans want that. But how about the government subsidizes all loan costs and interest. You only pay back the principal. Say you borrow $25,000, you pay back every penny with no interest or fees. If you've already paid back a bunch of interest and fees that goes towards your principal.
treestar
(82,383 posts)We all benefit from an educated population.
Who benefits from having an uneducated population?
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,328 posts)GOP takes school money to give to their campaign donors. GOP loves poorly educated voters because they are easily distracted and manipulated.
uponit7771
(90,335 posts)hunter
(38,311 posts)Now people are borrowing money to attend colleges and universities that are managed like Disneyland.
Classrooms are cheap. Educators, from preschool to doctoral programs, tend to work cheap.
But now colleges and universities are competing for the students who have the greatest student loan potential and parents with deep pockets.
Attractive bling is expensive.
I graduated from a world class university without any debt. It wasn't because my parents had money, it wasn't because education was funded by the state. It's because education was cheap.
Really, how much does a lecture hall and an English professor cost?
My science labs cost a little more, but not much. As a lowly undergraduate I often had to fight for computer time (which was beastly expensive then, and more than I could simply buy) but that's what made me the charming and sometimes devious person I became.
former9thward
(31,986 posts)Have you been to college campuses lately? They look like Disneyland. Maybe that is why they are so expensive.
MichMan
(11,912 posts)When enrollment starts plummeting, that is when you will see costs of tuition etc go down.
Imagine what the costs will be if someone else besides students/parents are paying for it?
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,681 posts)while refusing to pay their adjunct faculty enough to live on.
former9thward
(31,986 posts)Especially football.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,681 posts)while the university president (Minnesota) makes $625,250 and a tenured professor makes $126,211. Adjunct faculty members can make almost $40,000 a year if they can work full-time. Why is some jock worth almost 30 times as much as a professor with a Ph.D?
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)MichMan
(11,912 posts)kwolf68
(7,365 posts)The gift that keeps on giving.
MichMan
(11,912 posts)If the reference is regarding his time as California Governor, he left that office in 1975, 44 years ago.
Joe941
(2,848 posts)not_the_one
(2,227 posts)ended 2 years ago, when I retired.
Every year's calculation of the total student expense budget (tuition and assorted fees, books/e-books, supplies, rent at school supplied residence halls, utilities, food, required medical insurance bought through the school, travel, etc) had an automatic increase in tuition each year of 4%. Other components did go up, but it was not in the formula each year, as was the tuition increase.
Schools use that to project their budgets. They count on it. Then they assume it. Once they assume it, they are free to spend it, so they HAVE to get it.
In the 18 years I worked there, the student yearly budget went from 25,000 to over 70,000. Budgets of students who had children which required all related expenses as budget increases, became astronomical.
Higher education is a business. Students are $$$.
Bantamfancier
(366 posts)Before that, student loans could be discharged in bankruptcy.
The truth of the matter was college was cheap and loans were damn near impossible to get.
Then they said there were too many kids abusing the system so government loans were made exempt.
In 1984 they added private student loans to the list of loans exempt from bankruptcy.
That opened the floodgates of easy to get loans and paved the way for the wave of for profit schools to make billions.
I graduated in 1976. With no debt. Could work over the summer and make enough to pay for 3 quarters of tuition at tOSU.
Now it costs 30k for the same year.
eppur_se_muova
(36,260 posts)https://billmoyers.com/content/the-powell-memo-a-call-to-arms-for-corporations/
https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2013/10/02/a-machiavellian-guide-to-destroying-public-universities-in-12-easy-steps/
The document itself:
https://dy00k1db5oznd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Lewis-Powell-Memo.pdf
The Powell Memo is reposted occasionally on DU, by others as well as myself.
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