$262,545

[Darrell KSR]

That's the estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years at my old law school today. I'm about to throw up. More than a quarter-million dollars for 3 years.

Tuition, fees, and living expenses alone for next year are $70,596.

Junior college-transitioning into a solid four year public institution, pursuing a degree that can get you a good paying job with room to grow, while living at home, never looked so good.

[Darrell KSR]

By the way--yes, that's a private school. Tuition alone is almost $50k per year. But it's not limited to private schools these days.

LSU is the primary public law school in the state (mine was Tulane). For in-state residents, tuition is right at $20k, with estimated living expenses there $21k. For out-of-state tuition, it is $38k per year.

Estimated debt-financed cost of a 3-year education, for an in-state resident there, is more than $160,000. For out-of-state resident, it is $246,000.

Those numbers are staggering.

[CitizenBBN]

Staggering, and absurd.

First, Mike Rowe (dirty jobs fame) is dead on, and has taken some heat for it, but not everyone should look to go to college. This nation needs a return of trade schools that can teach skills to get jobs and make a living that don't require going in debt till you're 60. That includes both blue and white collar jobs.

The problem is the tech colleges are charging a butt load as well. A guy who worked for me went to one of the ITT type places, he's paying of tens of thousands in debt.

Second, and this sounds harsh, we need to stop underwriting student loans. The idea was to help kids get to college, a GREAT idea, but what it has done is the same thing federally paid medical care has done in the medical industry: drive up costs as never before seen due to having Uncle Sam there to write the checks. It eliminates competition for those students based on cost b/c the schools are willing to debt finance it with government underwriting. Which means they don't have to keep costs down, be lean and efficient.

Like health care, government involvement is eliminating "cost" as a decision variable for the purchase. You show me an industry where the price of the good isn't a factor to those deciding what to buy and I"ll show you an industry with runaway high prices.

Of course what is happening is that both are reaching a tipping point, where the costs are now so high more of it is being put back on the purchaser, and now you see them balking. In health care not so much b/c the entire system is so devoid of competitive options (other than just hope you don't get sick) that it's hard to get substitution, but we're starting to see rumblings of it in education. That's where Mike Rowe comes in.

We desperately need a well educated citizenry, but I'm absolutely convinced that has little to do with going to college. In fact, once you see the story Im' about to post of interviews at Harvard, I think we can safely say a college education for many in inversely related to the gaining of knowledge and common sense and could actually make you less intelligent.

The better option is smaller, more focused educational tracks. Yes it's good to have some basis in history, art, literature, but historically it never was for everyone, it was a luxury, and education by and large focused on useful skills like math, reading, etc. Trade schools could be set up not just for welding but also for lots of white collar areas that could lead to good careers and even eventually more higher education.

I can't imagine what my school charges today, I'm sure it's ghastly. I nearly didn't go then b/c when you ran the NPV it was questionable, now I'm sure it's an even more questionable investment depending on circumstances. Yes your lifetime earnings might be higher, but folks would be amazed just how much $1 invested today is worth versus that same dollar being received in 40 years.