Does Higher Ed Make Inequality Worse?

Thought about resurrecting the UVa thread but then thought this is a different enough direction to warrant its own thread. The Chronicle of Higher Education has a not-behind-the-paywall forum in which several experts discuss higher ed's (potential) role in exacerbating inequality. Pretty interesting stuff:

http://chronicle.com/article/Has-Higher-Education-Become-an/132619/

 

With this line of thinking, people are going to start considering an education to be a right.

 

Education is a right, up to 12th grade.

 

That's socialism. No kids need no book learnin' and Planned Parenthood don't need to be teaching kids about the sex.

 

It certainly leads to income inequality, Professor 1 Percent!

 

You know, sometimes, I'm willing to actually mock myself, and my perception here.

Was the blue font really necessary?

 

I won't argue that college tuition hasn't gotten too high, but in my view the problem is not access. Among the assertions in these essays is that there is too much merit-based aid and not enough need-based aid. In working toward funding my children's education, we've pored thought fastweb, scholarships.com and multiple 2,000-page scholarship books, and the overwhelming majority of the scholarships we came across was need-based. Plus, "need" is what the loans are for.

I'm not wild about the debt, but it has to be viewed as an investment. If the average college student graduates with $23,000 in student loan debt, to me that's a victory. It's a car payment. If the statistics about lifetime income of those with degrees vs. those with high school diplomas are to believed (an extra $1 million for a college graduate), that $23,000 is a fantastic investment. Where else can you find anything likely to give a 4,000 percent return on investment?

 

Speaking of scholarships, I was retroactively awarded one this past academic year in grad school for "comittment to women's equality," which in my case is no one applied or qualified for the scholarship,.

 

WTF?

 

Just a wisecrack about your rich-and-famous lifestyle. No offense intended.

 

Ah, OK. Was going to ponder the post on my way to Aldi!

 

Hell if you're an Indian in some states, you already get a free education. It just depends on who you are. Truly, the only ones who don't catch a break on the cost are those among the middle class.