This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.

Who Is Stoking The Trillion Dollar Student Debt Bubble?

Tyler Durden's picture




 

When it became apparent that the US taxpayer would likely be on the hook for the discharge of billions in federal aid awarded to students who had attended Corinthian Colleges (the now defunct for-profit institution that was forced to wind down operations in the face of government scrutiny) critics didn’t so much question whether the government should forgive the loans, but rather why the loans were extended in the first place. Allow us to explain. 

There’s a very serious debate raging in America about whether it’s appropriate for the federal government to forgive student loans. Some commentators rightfully assert that when it comes to federal loans made to students who attend public schools — where, even if the education they receive doesn’t exactly prepare them for the jobs market, graduation rates are at least respectable and the admissions process is not riddled with fraud — personal responsibility should be taken into account and borrowers should be expected to pay off their debt. 

The argument changes a bit when the conversation shifts to for-profit schools. In many cases, these institutions employ deceptive recruiting practices including falsified graduation and job placement rates to lure students who, once accepted, are encouraged to lie about their circumstances in order to maximize the amount of government aid they’re eligible to receive. These schools live and die by federal student loans as around 90% of students pay for their ‘education’ with debt. And while the government (i.e. the taxpayer) keeps the doors open, CEOs (in many cases the schools are publicly traded) reap millions in compensation. 

The government has been aware of this arrangement for years and yet the schools were (and still are) allowed to operate. Because students who attend a school that is deemed to have committed fraud can apply to have their federal loans discharged, the Department of Education is taking an enormous risk by extending billions in credit to students who attend schools that the department likely knows will eventually be shut down.

So, as we said above, when it comes to loan forgiveness for students who attend defunct for-profit colleges, the real question is not whether the students deserve to have their debt forgiven (they very well might, insomuch as they have been defrauded, much as one would expect to be reimbursed for a defective product) but rather why the government is acting irresponsibly with taxpayer dollars in the first place. 

Against this backdrop, consider the following from WSJ, who has more on the misappropriation of federal student aid and the role played by accreditors:

Most colleges can’t keep their doors open without an accreditor’s seal of approval, which is needed to get students access to federal loans and grants. But accreditors hardly ever kick out the worst-performing colleges and lack uniform standards for assessing graduation rates and loan defaults.

 

Those problems are blamed by critics for deepening the student-debt crisis as college costs soared during the past decade. Last year alone, the U.S. government sent $16 billion in aid to students at four-year colleges that graduated less than one-third of their students within six years, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal of the latest available federal data.

 

Nearly 350 out of more than 1,500 four-year colleges now accredited by one of six regional commissions have a lower graduation rate or higher student-loan default rate than the average among the colleges that were banished by the same accreditors since 2000, the Journal’s analysis shows.

 

“They told me I could build a future there,” says Rachel Williams, 24 years old, who dropped out of Kentucky State University in Frankfort in 2013 because her family couldn’t afford the college anymore and she was losing faith in it. She amassed about $34,000 in federally backed loans.

 

Kentucky State has a graduation rate of just 18%, and nearly 30% of students who began repaying their loans in fiscal 2011 had defaulted within three years.

 

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges reaffirmed Kentucky State’s accreditation in 2009. A preliminary report by the reviewers made no mention of loan defaults and praised Kentucky State for plans to improve its graduation rate.

One problem may be that the accreditation game suffers from similar conflicts of interest as those which caused ratings agencies like Moody's and S&P to rate subprime-ridden MBS triple-A in the lead-up to the crisis:

Accreditors say their job is to help colleges get better rather than to weed out laggards. Colleges pay for the inspections, which can cost more than $1 million at large institutions.

 

“You’re not there to remove an institution,” says Judith Eaton, president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, a trade group. “You’re there to enhance the operation.”

 

The government has relied on accreditors as watchdogs since the 1950s. 

 

the current accreditation system is drawing more scrutiny as college costs climb farther out of reach for many American families. Outstanding federal student-loan debt has doubled to $1.2 trillion since 2007. In the past decade, the amount of loans and grants awarded annually has jumped more than 50% on an inflation-adjusted basis, reaching $134 billion last year.

 

The $16 billion sent last year to students at colleges that graduated less than a third of their students was nearly 20% of all the loans and grants to students at four-year institutions.

 

The overall graduation rate for four-year colleges is about 59%. About 11% of students at four-year colleges who started repaying their loans in 2011 defaulted by the end of 2013.

 

“It’s a national scandal that we’re pouring huge sums of money into schools with very, very low graduation rates,” says Richard Vedder, an economist at Ohio University and director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, a think tank.

Indeed, the following description of the relationship between accreditors and colleges sounds like it could have been ripped straight from the pages of a book about Wall Street:

Arthur Rothkopf, a former president of Lafayette College, says the relationship between accreditors and schools can be too “cozy.” While he was leading the Pennsylvania college, he was assigned by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education to review the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.

 

Mr. Rothkopf says he was friends with the West Point superintendent at the time, and the two men had stayed in each other’s homes. He is now an adviser to the Education Department and has advocated for breaking the link between accreditation and federal aid.

 

In April, a Journal reporter observed an accreditation review at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green after agreeing not to disclose the content of the discussions. The reviewers were serious and focused, and the atmosphere was collegial.

Western Kentucky delivered souvenir-filled gift baskets to evaluators’ hotel rooms and treated the reviewers to steak dinners. “We didn’t do anything at WKU that I haven’t seen done at other institutions,” said Richard Miller, vice provost at Western Kentucky, where the graduation rate is 50%.

Consider the above, then consider the following from The Heritage Foundation:

Alarmingly, and in a manner that parallels the history of many licensing systems, accreditation now suffers from numerous conflicts of interest. For instance, regional accrediting agencies are financed in part by college and university membership in the associations. Colleges are dues-paying members of accrediting associations that determine their accreditation. Consequently, accreditors are more reluctant to deny accreditation renewal, an action that would result in the loss of dues-paying members of the association. “The desire to maintain collegiality and not to lose paying association members raises conflict of interest issues that make the regional accreditors questionable gatekeepers for eligibility for federal funds.”[21]

 

Moreover, removing a college’s accreditation status could mean that a regional accrediting agency loses students to other parts of the country and, hence, to colleges accredited by other regions. This reality creates further perverse incentives to accredit institutions of questionable quality.

 

Ultimately, these conflicts of interest have created a system whereby accreditation agencies are inclined to protect the interests of existing colleges and universities.

What all of this means is that just as the conflict of interest between ratings agencies and banks' securitization machine ultimately contributed to the unprecedented Main Street-funded bailout of Wall Street, so too is the cozy relationship between accreditors and schools contributing to the $1.2 trillion student debt bubble which, in the end, will burst in spectacular fashion necessitating across-the-board debt forgiveness and a heretofore unimaginable loss for the US taxpayer. 

 

- advertisements -

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:23 | 6214012 Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights's picture

Some folks just don't know the meaning of Odious...

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:29 | 6214034 813kml
813kml's picture

A nation's most valuable asset is its youth so it makes perfect sense to maximize their potential as usury cash cows.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:32 | 6214046 MonetaryApostate
MonetaryApostate's picture

Here is the next big story Tyler... >>>> https://plus.google.com/+GaleInnes/posts/Ye6kkZohqNM

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:59 | 6214141 WarHorse
WarHorse's picture

The only reason tuition is so expensive is because of the "guaranteed student loan".  These institutions have billions in endowments and the US Govt has to subsidize loans?  Fucking ridiculous

 

However, students bear some responsibility ... $250k in tuition to get a degree in Women's Studies .... you reap what you sow

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 12:02 | 6214154 de3de8
de3de8's picture

Just one of the numerous ponzi's masquerading as a business.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 12:17 | 6214193 Creepy A. Cracker
Creepy A. Cracker's picture

The students and their parents are stoking it. 

STOP BORROWING TO GO TO COLLEGE!!!!

Get the gubmint out of the college financing business and tuition will become affordable and loans will dramatically drop. Currently we have a major wealth transfer system designed to take money from parents/students, giving it to leftists "professors" and institutions.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 13:08 | 6214369 SafelyGraze
SafelyGraze's picture

"Who Is Stoking The Trillion Dollar Student Debt Bubble?"

This is a vexing question and you can be assured that we are looking into it.

hugs,
Vice Chancellor for Student Success
Vice Chancellor for Aquatic Development
Vice Chancellor for Domestic Alumni Affairs
Vice Chancellor for International Alumni Affairs 
Vice Chancellor for Racial Diversity 
Vice Chancellor for Gender Diversity
Vice Cnancellor for Compliance
Vice Chancellor for Accreditation
Vice Chancellor for Recruitment
Vice Chancellor for Corporate Relations
Vice Chancellor for Metrics and Rankings
Vice Chancellor for Media Communications
Vice Chancellor for Branding and Image
Vice Chancellor for Intellectual Property
Vice Chancellor for Patent Royalties
Vice Chancellor for Patent Defense
Vice Chancellor for Honorary Doctorates
Vice Chancellor for Environmental Impact
Vice Chancellor for Climate Change 
Vice Chancellor for Child Advocacy
Vice Chancellor for Learning Enrichment
Vice Chancellor for Education! Now!
Vice Chancellor for Adult Services
Vice Chancellor for Community Engagement
Vice Chancellor for Ethics
Vice Chancellor for Leadership
Vice Chancellor for Asset Repurposing
Vice Chancellor for Legislative Outreach
Vice Chancellor for Foreign Exchanges
Vice Chancellor for Vision 2020
Vice Chancellor for Learning Readiness

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 13:43 | 6214496 Creepy A. Cracker
Creepy A. Cracker's picture

Exactly.

Don't forget Vice Chancellor for Gender Reassignment

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 12:23 | 6214213 Slomotrainwreck
Slomotrainwreck's picture

Fake Diplomas for Fake jobs.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 14:18 | 6214636 jiggerjuice
jiggerjuice's picture

I saw Ohio as a tag in here. Interesting fact about Ohio - rated 50/50 for Charter Schools. 

Seems the Franklin Stupiversities of the world set up K-12 as Charters. All you need in Ohio is a "sponsor". Many "management companies" are "sponsors" of Charters in Ohio. Just money funnels... suck out taxpayer funding, charge the "school" management fees, rent, low paid teachers, garbage curriculum... 

Many failures in recent years. The big old education money funnel. Suck it dry, baby. At least the kids are just given garbage educations, instead of garbage educations + debt. Free money for "charter school" management companies. If only I had thought of this sooner. Maybe it's not too late! Anyone want to set one up with me? 

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 12:06 | 6214171 TBT or not TBT
TBT or not TBT's picture

A lot of kids look forward to doing some reaping and sowing in college.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 14:53 | 6214779 Antifaschistische
Antifaschistische's picture

bingo....and why are they picking on graduation rates within 6 years?   That's a total distraction!!  I took longer to get through college because I was working the entire freaking time....that isn't the point.   The point is that even if they do graduate, they never get jobs because of their POS education and the completely false promise that a college education of ANY FLAVOR from ANY STORE is somehow the key to the Amerifreakin Dream!!   The schools sell this BS and the lambs buy it.

Accredited...that's bs.  If a degree program, at any institution can't place 50% of it's students in jobs directly associated with their major field of study then students loans must be prorated accordingly.   If you're placement rate is 10% then .gov backed students loans can only cover 10% of tuition.

This way the school is actually incentivized to help you a) have a relevant education and b) help find you a freakin job and c) not let you into their program to waste everyone's time and money when you don't have a chance!   Pay cash?  come on...you can get a degree in how many shades of green their are...but if .gov pays, then everyone has to step up and be relevant.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 12:02 | 6214157 TBT or not TBT
TBT or not TBT's picture

Youth are an asset that consume cash, sort of like a boat or vacation home, until and when they start paying their own way and then some, which 47% never do.  It isn't PC to say so out loud, but hey, first, tell the truth.   

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:43 | 6214096 ZH Snob
ZH Snob's picture

the idea of a noble school that shuns money is a fable.  all schools are FOR PROFIT.  it is the only way they can survive.  and if it means getting off the backs of highly indebted students, so be it. 

the admissions offices that deal with financial aid are the most important to the school, not the libraries. and they will always get the best funding.  just like investment floors of insurance companies. 

the debt machine has everyone dancing to its music.  that is why it will be so incredibly devastating, both psychologically and financially when it all dries up and turns in on itself.  very few will understand why.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 15:40 | 6215020 Bob
Bob's picture

Perfect description of what happens in all types of healthcare clinics, provider's offices, and hospitals as well. 

They too pay for the Accreditation Reviews that establish their fitness for insurance funds. 

They won't even talk with you about an appointment without first getting your insurance information and confirming your eligibility and coverage/benefits.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:49 | 6214109 junction
junction's picture

Partial solution: remove the accreditation for every college that paid six figure sums to Hag Hillary Clinton to give a speech at the school. 

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:25 | 6214023 lawyer4anarchists
lawyer4anarchists's picture

Well of course debt is the name of the game. But the system itself is rotten to the core. The people simply do not understand how fundamentally lied to they are.  When they are told, they refuse to believe.  The brainwashing is just so deep.  They imagine they are free. Nothing more. http://www.thetruthaboutthelaw.com/they-stole-your-most-important-consti...

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:41 | 6214088 BullyBearish
BullyBearish's picture

Student loans...simply a policy tool to flood the economy with dollars and keep fighting-aged people from burning down a government that offers them no real hope to start their productive lives

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:27 | 6214025 two hoots
two hoots's picture

Not to worry as the Department of Education, a department under the supervison of the President, has this under control.   Congress is diligently overwatching, we are protected.  We have the full faith and credit of our government.  Salute!

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:31 | 6214043 J J Pettigrew
J J Pettigrew's picture

dept of education has a $50 billion plus annual budget.

For the simplicity of math and to make the point, give each state $1 billion a year and

collapse the federal dept of education.

Demand the money be used to reduce the real estate tax burden on residents.  Property values would rise and the federal govt would be out

of the picture...double win.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 12:17 | 6214198 TBT or not TBT
TBT or not TBT's picture

Or better yet collapse the Orwellian department and stop spending that 50 billion.   Education is not something we want central government control of, and he who pays the piper calls the tune.   Let the corrupted, statist educrats lean down their operations or else join the unemployed and underemployed.  

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 12:23 | 6214219 sdmjake
sdmjake's picture

Easy JJ---gotta be careful spewing common sense all over the place.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:27 | 6214030 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

The fiat debt bubble has a problem every summer when kids take summer off.  The debt is much smaller and when student loans aren't handed out businesses suffer.  Obama, Krugman, et al probably want students going full time all year round.  Oh and get a Masters and all that shit too.  

MOAR SCHOOL!

:)

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:32 | 6214047 813kml
813kml's picture

Apple would suffer mightily without student loan money spent on shiny gadgets.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:44 | 6214098 The Steaksmith
The Steaksmith's picture

So would these guys

http://www.bpong.com/store/

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 13:00 | 6214340 Son of Loki
Son of Loki's picture

There's actually plenty of jobs out there ... just not for American citizens.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:27 | 6214031 J J Pettigrew
J J Pettigrew's picture

Essentially, the universities are charging more than the market can bear.  Too much.  So, if they

eventually get their exorbitant overcharge payments, via a susidized federal forgiveness, it will be a giant windfall for the Leftist Faculties, courtesty

of the Federal Government and an underwriting of progressive thought indoctrination.

Why doesnt anyone ask why education is so expensive?  Lecture halls that served 50 years ago still serve the purpose.  Grad students do much of the work

of professors....and except for some areas such as science, the cirriculums do not change.  European history, math, etc are still the same...

So why so expensive?

 

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:33 | 6214053 Philo Beddoe
Philo Beddoe's picture

I bought all of my calculus textbooks from a secondhad store for $10. If I had bought Cal 1-4 at the Uni bookstore it would have run me about $300.  

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:36 | 6214067 813kml
813kml's picture

I bought my Harvard MBA on eBay for fifty bucks.

/ahead of the game

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:40 | 6214085 InflammatoryResponse
InflammatoryResponse's picture

Loser you paid way too much :)

 

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:45 | 6214101 The Steaksmith
The Steaksmith's picture

I sold my Harvard MBA for $49.95

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 12:40 | 6214265 Savyindallas
Savyindallas's picture

They ought to sell all those textbooks in electronic form for about $5 a piece, but colleges and publishing houses have to make a fortune on debt ridden kids. I love how they require the kids to buy the newest Edition for $120 hen last year's edition is hardly different at all- that screws the kids as they can't resell their textbooks after using them for 4 months. It's a racket. Our colleges and Universities suck - just money making rackets that teach a lot of garbage and propaganda.

Evferything in America is a racket for the Banksters and rich fucks to fleece the public and make debt slaves of us all  -healthcare system, education system, prision industrual complex, military, almost all federal agencies. This country has become a criminocrasy  -  run by billionaire gangster criminals.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:38 | 6214059 two hoots
two hoots's picture

Because we have career students willing to use other peoples money to pay for it, therefore price is irrelevant.  Now we have all the voting coNsigners wanting Congress to bail them out.  It's a family sucking affair and they could give a damn about others.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:30 | 6214041 Rainman
Rainman's picture

Obviously, these diploma mills need to be Common Cored by our gubmint masters. This is the problem.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:37 | 6214076 two hoots
two hoots's picture

The flood of online college advertising has the same smell as free electric wheelchairs.   Needs DOJ to look deep into it.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:33 | 6214051 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

Look at any college budget, public or private, in 1950 and look at the percent spent on admin vs teaching/research. Now look at a budget now at the same school and tell me where it goes. College now, is for progressive drones who don't want a government job and admins who have found an easy way to make a seven figure income from screwing young people......

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:33 | 6214052 yogibear
yogibear's picture

The Federal Reserve is all about infinite debt.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:34 | 6214058 Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights's picture

Seriously at this stage can we really continue to call it " Education " I mean look around people, born and bred dopes as far as the eye can see.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:34 | 6214062 HopefulCynical
HopefulCynical's picture

The current higher education system is reponsible for putting the finishing touches on the progressive indoctrination begun in grade school. As a result, the government has no incentive to shut down any college; in fact, I'd bet that the worse a college is at actually educating students, the better it is at filling their heads with leftist bullshit.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:38 | 6214073 I Write Code
I Write Code's picture

A *lot* of the debt is with these "for-profit" schools which involve varying degrees of fraud, right up to inventing students who apply for the federal money, receive it, and then vanish, leaving only a "default" - and the college in possession of the money!  Given the size of the problem, this amounts to HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS STOLEN FROM THE TREASURY.  Enough to make even Goldman Sachs jealous.  Which is probably why Michael Milken got into "edumacation" when he got out of prison ... or was it before he went to prison?

But then the money should be recovered FROM THE SCHOOLS, not the students!

The whole thing stinks.

But do not associate this problem with average students and traditional schools, at least not nearly to the same extent.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:41 | 6214089 Bearwagon
Bearwagon's picture

You know what?! Just default! ;)

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:41 | 6214090 The Steaksmith
The Steaksmith's picture

Pay raises for all Division 1-A head football coaches! /s

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:44 | 6214097 jazz571027
jazz571027's picture

The loan amount of DEBT (NOT MONEY) was created by the student's signature on their Promissory Note - which was taken to the Federal Reserve window who waved their magic wand and created the DEBT.

No dollars, cash, coin, was involved.

All of us should stop paying DEBT and watch the chaos....

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:45 | 6214100 foodstampbarry
foodstampbarry's picture

What a racket. Endless supply of money regardless of cost, courtesy of the taxpayer.

It's the ultimate, I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine.

 

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:46 | 6214103 TuPhat
TuPhat's picture

Tylers,  When someone gets a refund for a defective product that refund comes from the manufacturer not from another company that loaned the purchaser money.  I expect more from ZH articles.  Using false arguments such as this should be beneath ZH and your readers deserve better.  I quit reading articles when I get to such blatant misuse of facts.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 12:42 | 6214284 Mike Honcho
Mike Honcho's picture

Cmon kemosabe.  The store sells a tv that has a factory warranty.  Is that supposed to encompass every scenario under the sun?  The gov doesnt warranty the education.  If you go to a shit school that is a false front, well you signed the document for the money.  Sue the school.  If you buy a used car and its a lemon then dies a week later, guess what, bank note remains.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 11:48 | 6214106 PGR88
PGR88's picture

Its the Community Reinvestment Act, Fannie/Freddie, and the Housing bubble, all over again!

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 12:10 | 6214182 Pasadena Phil
Pasadena Phil's picture

Send the bill for all those defaults to the colleges and universities that graduated them. Harvard could probably eat them all with their eye-popping endowment fund.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 12:20 | 6214206 q99x2
q99x2's picture

UCLA has only a 3.5% or less default. 

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 12:53 | 6214327 crisrose
crisrose's picture

Latest for UCLA is 2.2%   Default rate at University of Phoenix is 19%.

Time to admit that defaulters are, by and large, people who are not college material:  Waffle House waiters and cooks (and their parents) refusing to face reality.

 

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 12:25 | 6214225 Solarman
Solarman's picture

The point of student debt is simple; it is a backdoor tax on the young. They don't make enough to move the fed tax needle so they impose an interest tax upon them.  I think the Feds generate over 120b in revenue from this sham.

The same goes for ACA.  It is another tax upon the young, and these taxes are brutally regressive, and totally endorsed by Democrats.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 12:39 | 6214274 Able Ape
Able Ape's picture

Most community colleges would die for a 18% graduation rate; yes, it's that pathetic...

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 12:42 | 6214285 Amy G. Dala
Amy G. Dala's picture

The cows have left the barn, so what is the point on closing doors?  The debt has been issued and guaranteed.  The resort-like facilities have already been built with bonds.  The tenured faculty and burgeoning administration have contractual agreements to life-long pensions and healthcare. 

Show me the college board who eliminates admin positions instead of adding them.

No mention in this piece about the ticking time bomb known as "pre-paid tuition."  If it comes to deciding between tenured faculty retirement and health care, and "pre-paid tuition" agreements, guess who will win.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 12:43 | 6214291 libertysghost
libertysghost's picture

"Some commentators rightfully assert that when it comes to federal loans made to students who attend public schools — where, even if the education they receive doesn’t exactly prepare them for the jobs market, graduation rates are at least respectable and the admissions process is not riddled with fraud — personal responsibility should be taken into account and borrowers should be expected to pay off their debt. "

 

"Some commentors" are wrong...it is riddled with fraud.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 13:07 | 6214366 BeaverCream
BeaverCream's picture

Not to mention these schools use their students as basically indentured labor, the teachers all have "student assistants" that in a lot of cases write their lesson plans and grade all their scantron tests.  I would say half of the people working at a college/university are students that don't get an actual paycheck for their work. 

Also more and more schools are using "adjunct professors" that are basically part time people with a master's degree (sometimes not even that) that come in to teach night classes, etc. I'm sure they're paid a very small amount compared to a full time doctorate.

Look, it's a complete scam, they don't really teach you anything, good luck getting a job with your fucking piece of paper.

Graduate highschool, find a trade, learn a skill most people don't have, start life debt free, you'll be miles ahead of your peers in 20 years.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 13:29 | 6214437 SmilinJoeFizzion
SmilinJoeFizzion's picture

Do forget most of these professors have also been teaching for 20-30 years in that college town. They own 2-4 properties and rent these shitholes back to students for a nice little profit.  

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 13:50 | 6214523 BeaverCream
BeaverCream's picture

Large universities like the University of Michigan basically own the entire town in which their located in some way.  These are really weird places to live, almost like some sort of transient hippy commune or something except there's a lot of money flying around.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 15:13 | 6214889 Falling Down
Falling Down's picture

Drive into a McCollege town these days, and what do you see? Massive stadiums and arenas.

Bread & Circuses

 

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 13:53 | 6214537 libertysghost
libertysghost's picture

And if the "American Dream" is a fraud...then why single out .Gov .Edu's as soooo different?  They are part and parcel in the admissions and recruitment materials (the "promises") of every state higher education institution...no exceptions.  And the "fraud" extends all the way back to early grade school when the conditioning that "you have to go (and get in debt...not mentioned of course) to college to 'make it' and 'achieve your dreams'" begins.  Am I wrong?  It's a ginat fraud perpetrated on the last two or three generations in total.  You can find examples of success within those larger groups, but the for the great great majority it was/is a fraud perpetrated upon them by the entire society (and the higher "ed" institutions included across the board).

 

I borrowed this quote from a comment yesterday on ZH...never thought it would come in so handy and sooo soon:

 

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” -- Upton Sinclair 

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 18:20 | 6214540 Able Ape
Able Ape's picture

...

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 14:47 | 6214760 SilverFish
SilverFish's picture

1. Get as much cash as possible out of as many student loans you can get.

2. Spend cash on gold and silver.

3. Hide.

 

Best thing you can do with it.

Fri, 06/19/2015 - 15:31 | 6214814 Radical Marijuana
Radical Marijuana's picture

The whole system is so thoroughly based upon governments enforcing frauds that the basic language that we tend to continue to use has become no longer relevant nor useful. The article above does that in the ways that it uses the word "taxpayer."

The language used in that kind of article is perennially misleading whenever it refers to "taxpayers."

The ONLY thing that "taxpayers" do inside of the long-established MADNESS of the Money As Debt system is appear to underwrite the creation of the public "money" supply out of nothing as debts. Furthermore, that appearance of underwriting the MAD "money" becomes more of merely a sham, and less of a reality, every day, due to the runaway nature of that overall MAD debt slavery system driving numbers which become debt insanities.

The Student Loan issues are merely the most morally obnoxious of all the ways that the government enforces the frauds by privately controlled banks, that are legally allowed to counterfeit the public "money" supply. However, looked at in the bigger picture, all the Student Loans combined are trivial, since the amounts of "money" made out of nothing to gamble with have become orders of magnitude bigger than all of the same "money" that flesh and blood people use to live with.

Historically, it was relatively more correct to say that the "taxpayers" were backing up the fiat "money" made out of nothing as debts by privately controlled banks, due to being forced to pay their taxes using that kind of "legal tender." Once upon a time, long ago, when the runaway debt slavery systems had not yet generated numbers which were debt insanities, then the "taxpayers" were more actually underwriting the issuance of the public "money" supply as government enforced frauds by privately controlled banks. However, since 1971, in the USA, the issuance of the public "money" supply was no longer connected to anything in the material world, and therefore, that MAD "money" was able to launch off on a nearly perfect match to an exponential function, in which context the Student Loans were always a relatively trivial aspect in absolute magnitude, although still symbolically significant.

Anyway, the point is that it is now relatively RIDICULOUS to assert that the "taxpayers" will "pay" for anything inside of the overall runaway MAD "money" system. The background problem is that the parameters of the MAD "money" system have become amplified to such astronomically amplified sizes that it is no longer possible to fully comprehend that, except as abstract numbers, which make no physical sense, because those numbers exist in a virtual world of electronic frauds, backed by the threat of force from atomic bombs, so that those numbers are now RIDICULOUSLY beyond the physical realities of the flesh and blood people, and even beyond the physical realities of the legal fictions of corporations being included into that.

Most discussions of "taxpayers" paying the bills have become based upon nostalgic nonsense, that still presumes that somehow the political economy makes physical sense, and is based upon production. However, the actual existing situation is that the political economy is now almost totally dominated by government enforced frauds by privately controlled banks, so that there are RIDICULOUS ratios in the real relationships between the MAD "money" versus the rest of the physical world. Of course, that applies to Student Loans too. The production of destruction always controlled production, and the social successfulness of enforcing frauds, so much, for so long, has resulted in the existing political economy no longer having any sane relationships to "production" due to the ways that production of destruction controlled that, in ways that were as deliberately denied and ignored as possible.

The basic way to understand "taxpayers" inside of the runaway MAD Money As Debt systems is that they have behaved like incompetent political idiots, or Zombie Sheeple, so much, for so long, that they have gradually become more and more irrelevant to the world of political economy, wherein there are globalized systems of electronic monkey money frauds, backed by the threat of force from apes with atomic bombs. That what actually EXISTS, and those are the reasons why American "taxpayers" no longer actually pay for much of anything anymore, other than through morbid psychological and political habits continuing to sustain the appearance that they are underwriting the issuance of the public "money" supply out of nothing as debts, by theoretically being obliged to pay their taxes using that form of legal tender.

As usual with the comments that I pass the time amusing myself with by posting on Zero Hedge, there is no practical point to my discussing those social facts regarding the MADNESS of the established monetary systems, because the vast majority of people will continue to want to believe in the bullshit about that MAD "money" system, rather than think through the degree to which that system has become psychotic runaway criminal insanity, since it was always based upon the successful application of the methods of organized crime through the political processes, in order that the biggest gangsters, the banksters, could capture control over the powers of government, and thereby achieve their astonishing privilege of being able to make the public "money" supply out of nothing as debts, while governments continued to enforce that frauds.

That is the real context in which Student Loans exist. That "money" did not exist until the students "borrowed." Thus, they entered into the long-established debt slavery systems, which had already become debt insanities before they were born, and even during their life time that debt insanity had still been doubling down! Meanwhile, the vast majority of "taxpayers" continued to behave like incompetent political idiots, or Zombie Sheeple, being fleeced to exhaustion, while they were set up to be slaughtered. That is the political economy that young people are entering into when they take "Student Loans." Therefore, those "Loans" are actually just another, relatively minor, and insignificant wrinkle in the overall globalized systems of MADNESS, wherein the American Dollar was the most MAD.

Tragically, there are no good reasons to believe that enough of the "taxpayers" will ever bother to understand what has been really happening. They would have to suffer through severe cognitive dissonance to comprehend that money is actually measurement backed by murder, and that they were backing that up, but only through themselves acting like incompetent political idiots. There is almost nothing but a core of organized crime, surrounded by layers of controlled opposition, both of which use the same bullshit language when they think and communicate. That is what the article above was doing with respect to how it was referring to "taxpayers," when the actual ratios of runaway MADNESS have become such that everything that those "taxpayers" actually do has become something roughly like 1 in 100, while those runaway debt insanities are driving it towards becoming 1 in 1,000.

While it amusingly ironic, to a macabre sense of humour, that the Student Loans are one of the biggest assets in the books of the Federal Government of the USA, while, those assets are being cherry picked away, so that the Federal Government will be left more with the uncollectable junk:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-10/taxpayers-lose-billions-student-loan-refinancing

Taxpayers To Lose Billions On Student Loan Refinancing

All of that is RIDICULOUSLY TRIVIAL, in the overall bigger picture, except for being symbolic ... However, almost nobody wants to understand that, but rather, greatly prefers to continue to believe in bullshit. In order to attempt to put Student Loans into the overall EXISTING social situation, one has to try to comprehend the world where the debt controls are backed by the death controls, BUT, those have become electronic frauds, backed by atomic bombs. Since the electronics and atomic power are many orders of magnitude greater than anything that previously existed in human history, the established systems of ENFORCED FRAUDS ARE ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE BIGGER!

By and large, to try to comprehend the EXISTING MADNESS one has to attempt to understand human beings and civilizations are manifestations of general energy systems, which were always based upon backing up lies with violence, where those lies became electronic, and the violence to back that up became atomic, in ways that the overwhelming vast majority of people do not understand, because they have been conditioned for generation after generation to feel like they do not want to understand. Moreover, even the banksters that originally made and maintained the previous systems of paper frauds, backed by gunpowder force, no longer fully comprehend the systems of electronic frauds, backed by atomic bombs, that they have been able to construct ...

MEANWHILE, we are stuck using old-fashioned language, to refer to "taxpayers," when the actually EXISTING realities have been that those "taxpayers" were reduced to being thralls inside of the DEBT SLAVERY systems a long time ago, which DEBT SLAVERY systems have been growing an exponential rate, to the point where the numbers are DEBT INSANITIES, which are mathematically impossible for the "taxpayers" to ever actually pay off, especially since, inside of the MAD Money As Debt systems, if there was no more debts, then there would be no more public "money" supply!

IF one is serious about the overall situation, then it becomes clear that Student Loans are merely symbolic examples of DEBT SLAVERY that has dominated the lives of ALL "taxpayers" at an exponential rate for more than a Century ... In that context, the only theoretically possible resolutions of the problems are revolutionary changes in the ways that we perceive those political problems. The existing systems are the result of organized crime, inside of which context, Student Loans are necessarily merely more of the same fundamentally fraudulent financial accounting systems. OF COURSE, since the foundations are rotten, everything else built on that foundation is rotten. OF COURSE, the same patterns of organized crime repeat fractally, so that the governmental regulation of accrediting institutions that "teach" is similarly a farce, comparable to the governmental regulation of "markets."

IT IS RIDICULOUS TO USE LANGUAGE LIKE:

... why the government is acting irresponsibly with taxpayer dollars in the first place.

I REPEAT, for more than a Century, getting worse at an exponential rate, the "taxpayers" have been enslaved to a monetary system whereby governments enforced frauds by privately controlled banks. In that context, "taxpayers" have actually been doing nothing more than what I already outlined above!

As to what most probably will happen next, I quote:

Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars

"… Energy is recognized as the key to all activity on earth. Natural science is the study of the sources and control of natural energy, and social science, theoretically expressed as economics, is the study of the sources and control of social energy. Both are bookkeeping systems: mathematics. Therefore, mathematics is the primary energy science. And the bookkeeper can be king if the public can be kept ignorant of the methodology of the bookkeeping. … In this structure, credit, presented as a pure element called “currency,” has the appearance of capital, but is in effect negative capital. Hence, it has the appearance of service, but is in fact, indebtedness or debt. … if balanced in no other way, will be balanced by the negation of population (war, genocide)… They must eventually resort to war to balance the account, because war ultimately is merely the act of destroying the creditor … War is therefore the balancing of the system by killing the true creditors (the public …)"

CONSERVATION OF ENERGY,

AND INCREASING ENTROPY:

BASIC THERMODYNAMICS, &

ALSO INFORMATION THEORY.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy

Entropy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy#Entropy_in_quantum_mechanics

6.6 Entropy in quantum mechanics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy#Information_theory

6.7 Information theory

I call attention to the fact that those mathematical definitions of entropy “S” have an ARBITRARY MINUS SIGN inserted, so that the measurements of power and information will result in positive numbers, rather than negative numbers.

Mathematics is a language that endeavours to be more rigorously stylized, in order to become more sublimely useful. Mathematics is the language of the bookkeeping of both energy and money. In that context, consider the MAGNITUDE of the ERROR in the philosophy of science which resulted from INSERTING A MINUS SIGN INTO THE ENTROPY EQUATIONS OF THERMODYNAMICS AND INFORMATION THEORY!

Some basic background, within which to understand the significance of that ERROR, are that human beings have two primarily media through which energy/information flows. The first is the biological, the DNA and proteins. The second is the neural networks. The former is often simplified by referring to the genes, while the later is simplified by referring to the memes.

Human beings are biological beings which are able to build brains that can operate languages, including mathematics, as the most abstract of those languages, but still a human language nonetheless. Some of the basics of that are that human beings build mental models of their world, including mental models of themselves within their mental models of the world.

Money is measurement backed by murder, because the meaning of the symbols depends upon behaviour. The debt controls depend upon the death controls. That operates within the overall situation that all private property exists as claims backed by coercions. There is no private property outside of some system of public violence. The overall trajectory of that human history was that the privatization of God led to the privatization of the environment.

What follows from looking at individual human beings and civilizations as general energy systems is that human realities are always organized lies operating robberies. However, in order to understand that better, one must engage in a radical critique of the concept of entropy, in order to perceive how the meaning of that concept was inverted during the development of the history of science.

Human beings have the genetic ability to develop a brain that can learn a language. The basic ways that tends to be done are through various DUALITIES, which are as ancient as human language itself. However, most of the progress in science has been based upon profound paradigm shifts which replaced better UNITARY MECHANISMS for the previously mistaken false fundamental dichotomies, which were presumed within human languages based on DUALITIES.

For instance, in thermodynamics, heat became understood as the average kinetic energy of molecules and atoms. After developing that unitary mechanism, then the duality between hot and cold was no longer a valid fundamental dichotomy, because cold did not exist the way that hot existed. Cold was an absence of heat. Heat was a form of energy. The perception of cold was due to the relative absence of heat, but cold did not exist in itself, the way that heat existed as a form of energy. The language of hot and cold was the kind of duality that people presumed upon due to common sense being encoded into natural languages. Hence, people talk about hot and cold as if they are equal opposites. However, that is WRONG.

The same ideas apply to understanding light as a form of energy. The unitary mechanism with respect to light is that all colours are different frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. Colours exist as forms of energy. White light is due to perceiving all the colours together. Natural languages, based upon encoding common sense, can become quite confusing mixtures to discuss, however, the basics are that black or darkness does not exist, only colours exist, the same as cold does not exist, but only heat exists. Pure black would be no light whatsoever. Pure white would be all colours at once. The unitary mechanism understanding of light, as a form of energy, electromagnetic radiation, transcends the previous dualities that were presumed by natural languages.

Deeper scientific understand of the speed of light, due to light being a form of energy, has resulted in the special theory of relativity. That has resulted in transforming the common sense presumptions regarding time and space, to transform those into unitary mechanisms, which are pretty well the total opposite to the previous presumptions, that time and space were independent absolutes. It is quite difficult to approach better understanding of the principle of the conservation of energy, because doing so tends to asymptotically approach transcending all of the dualities that we use to think through. That becomes even more imperative when we attempt to interpret the meaning of the mathematics found in quantum mechanics, etc., which is RELEVANT because what now EXISTS are globalized systems of electronic frauds, backed by atomic bombs, into which systems are injected Student Loans, as more "money" as debt, created out of nothing by tapping on the keyboards of computers inside of privileged privately controlled banking institutions that are legally allowed to thereby counterfeit the public "money" supply, and moreover, that fraud will continue to enforced by governments.

It is RELEVANT to attempt to understand that all Student Loans are issued inside of the overall MAD Money As Debt systems. Moreover, to attempt to understand that requires deeper understanding of how and why human civilizations necessarily operate according to the principles and methods of organized crime. To approach a deeper understanding of how and why governments have become the biggest forms of organized crime, controlled by the best organized gangs of criminals, I assert that post-modernizing science is re-converging with ancient mysticism, from where it originally started, long, long ago. However, in order to better reconcile science with mysticism, one has to correct some of the profound ERRORS which were made in the history of the philosophy of science, such as when the concept of entropy had its meaning REVERSED, by inserting a minus sign into the entropy equations.

The Student Loan issues are symbolic of how the biggest bullies' bullshit world view dominates the natural languages that we are taught to use, as well as the philosophy of science that we are taught to presume is correct. We are taught to believe in bullshit, based upon the dualities of false fundamental dichotomies and the related impossible ideals. Therefore, we are taught that it is government versus organized crime, while the realities are that governments must be the biggest form of organized crime, controlled by the best organized gangs of criminals, which currently happen to be the international bankers, aka banksters, that originally made and maintained the MAD Money As Debt systems, inside of which are issued Student Loans.

The theoretical imperative importance of that change in world view can be understood better after one considers that the special theory of relatively enabled harnessing atomic energy, while quantum mechanics enabled electronics to be developed. Those abilities are trillions of times BIGGER than anything that previously existed in known human history, however, those abilities have been channeled through Neolithic Civilizations’ social pyramids systems, based on being able to back up lies with violence, to become globalized systems of electronic monkey money, backed by apes with atomic bombs. That is, the ENFORCED FRAUDS which are the foundation of our political economy, which operate inside of our human ecology, have applied progress in science and technology to become much better at being dishonest and backing that up with bigger violence.

As soon as we relatively SUBTRACT human beings from their environment, then across those defined boundaries they must TAKE ENERGY in order to live. To the degree that we name human beings, and assign them properties, then they necessarily become organized systems of lies operating robberies. When one perceives individual human beings, and human civilizations, as entropic pumps of energy flow, then that is based on SUBTRACTION and ROBBERY, as the fundamental realities, which condition everything else that is perceived upon that basis.

Human civilizations developed due to the history of warfare. The oldest book on the Art of War starts by saying that “success in war depends on deceits,” and ends by saying that “spies are the most important soldiers.” The history of warfare selected for the surviving War Kings to create the powers of sovereign states, such as the power to tax, and the power to kill to back up the power to tax, as allegedly justified through the rule of law. That was always the real context in which "taxpayers" existed, and therefore, why it was possible for the Fraud Kings, the banksters, to use the same methods of organized crime, applied through the political processes, to achieve the supreme form of organized crime, which is legalized counterfeiting of the public "money" supply, in ways whereby all "taxpayers" are forced to accept that fraud.

When one applies some of the basic concepts of general energy systems to human systems, then one discovers that human societies operate as fractal patterns of the principles and methods of organized crime. Social systems are controlled by their most labile components, which are the most dishonest and violent people, while the human path of least resistance is the path of least morality. Warfare was organized crime on larger scales. After the War Kings made the sovereign states, the best organized gangs of criminals were able to apply the methods of organized crime to the political processes, in order to capture control over governments, and thereby effectively privatize those powers of governments. That is the context in which Student Loans are symbolically significant forms of the fractal patterns of organized crime reverberating: As Above, So Below, & As Within, So Without.

ORIGINALLY, the power to tax, and to kill to back up the power to tax, enabled the creation of “money” made out of nothing as debts, by privately controlled banks, which systems of ENFORCED FRAUDS everyone else had to live within. There were developed entire royal courts of Frauds Kings. Each central bank was the national Fraud King, while the King of Kings of Fraud was the Bank of International Settlements. Those presided over other banks issuing the credits, that was the “money” made out of nothing as debts, which “paid” for strip-mining the planet’s natural resources, which was all BIGGER AND BETTER SYSTEMS OF ORGANIZED LIES OPERATING ROBBERIES, which developed at an exponential rate throughout the history of Neolithic Civilizations. At the present time, we are wondering whether those social pyramids systems will be able to adapt to survive running into the real limits to exponential growth, which are showing up as diminishing returns, impacting first and foremost within the financial systems based on ENFORCED FRAUDS.

We are living in a Bizarro Mirror World, or Wonderland Matrix, where everything appears proportionately backwards and distorted, and therefore, mostly appears to be absurd, because governments are the biggest form of organized crime, controlled by the best organized gangs of criminals, the banksters, BUT, the vast majority of people do not want to understand that. There are no fundamental dichotomies between countries, corporations, or churches, versus organized crime. Rather, what happens is that the biggest and best organized gangs of criminals are able to have their social stories, as the biggest bullies’ bullshit, almost totally dominate society, in ways whereby the vast majority of people end up brainwashed to believe in that bullshit. Student Loans are "money" made out of nothing used to "pay" for being brainwashed to believe in bullshit, which continues to empower those who have the power to make that "money" out of nothing. Since education is the way that society reproduces itself, and our society is a social pyramid system based upon backing up lies with violence, that is what "education" inside of that system mostly amounts to, in the sense that the next crop of willfully blind professional liars and immaculate hypocrites are being selected and trained how to continue to operate inside of those established systems.

The two most dominate State Religions at the present time are the monetary system, and national security. Both are based on the maximum possible frauds and deceits. Within that context, the controlled opposition groups developed to become co-opted to operate within the same basic bullshit world view, based on false fundamental dichotomies, and their related impossible ideals, which actually make the opposite happen in the real world.

The common natural languages, based up dualities, are found throughout all of the various old-fashioned religions and ideologies. The history of the philosophy of science was often due to a series of compromises with those old-fashioned religions and ideologies. The philosophy of science, like all other social enterprises, ended up being dominated by the biggest bullies’ bullshit world view. There were many important ways that happened. One of the most important and abstract ways were the insertions of an arbitrary minus sign into the entropy equations of thermodynamics and information theory.

Paradoxically, inside of a society dominated by the biggest bullies’ bullshit world view, everything gets inverted and perverted, on level after level, as one travels through infinite tunnels of deceits. Metaphorically, one may ask: “How far down the rabbit hole does Alice go?” of “How far up the tornado does Dorothy go?” There are extremely profound problems which developed as natural selection was internalized as human intelligence. After life exists, then the evolutionary ecologies which develop depend upon the death controls. That applied to how human beings and civilizations developed their forms of artificial selection, which emerged out of the history of natural selection pressures acting through human beings.

As I said, the history of successful warfare based on deceits then morphed to become successful finance based on frauds. However, due to the overwhelming history of that having already happened, articles like the one above continue to default to using language that refers to "taxpayers" in ways which actually amount to nothing more than nostalgic nonsense. Student Loans are symbolically significant enforced frauds. However, overall those are relatively trivial inside of the bigger picture of globalized electronic frauds backed by atomic bombs. If one is serious about the problems presented by Student Loans perpetuating the established systems of debt slavery, then one should appreciate the degree to which the bigger picture is already debt insanities, headed towards provoking death insanities, because the debt controls were always backed by the death controls, and so, when the debt insanity situations drive themselves through toward psychotic breakdowns, those threaten to provoke death insanities are the real result, because the "taxpayers" can NEVER PAY OFF SUCH DEBTS!

The only way to be more realistic about these issues is to change perceptual paradigms, towards developing radically different ways to comprehend the death control systems that back up the debt control systems. There are NO good solutions within the established systems. The foundations are totally rotten, to the degree that no adequate "reforms" are possible. Rather, we are already committed to the runaway debt insanities driving death insanities, and that is the real context in which those real problems are going to be resolved. One way or another, sooner or later, the FACTS about what "taxpayers" have enabled to be done in their name, and still are doing, are going to be somewhat driven to manifest through the deepening piles of bullshit regarding what "taxpayers" were incorrectly presumed to be, according to the biggest bullies', or the banksters' bullshit world views.

"Taxpayers" were originally what made MAD Money As Debt have value, because of the ways that governments forced them to pay taxes using that form of "money." However, the exponential growth of that MAD money, including it becoming globalized electronic frauds, means that now not only are all the flesh and blood "taxpayers" relatively trivial, but also even all the corporate "taxpayers" are also insignificant compared to the amounts of "money" made out of nothing to be used to gamble with. Indeed, Student Loans can be seen as relatively trivial ways that "money" was made out of nothing to speculate upon the future ... However, I REPEAT, all the Student Loans combined are trivial compared to the overall amounts of "money" made out of nothing being used to gamble with by the banksters.

While "taxpayers" originally made that possible to happen, step by step, a long time ago ... for generation after generation that debt slavery system has been developing at an exponential rate, to the point where all the human "taxpayers" are no longer actually significant inside of globalized systems of electronic frauds, backed by atomic bombs. Therefore, it is towards electronics, and atomic energy, that we should turn, if we want to understand how Student Loans are examples of frauds enforced inside of systems that have been built on ASTRONOMICALLY AMPLIFIED ENFORCED FRAUDS!

Sat, 06/20/2015 - 12:11 | 6217363 Ranting Troglodyte
Ranting Troglodyte's picture

My son will be a senior in high school in the fall.  Hence, I have visited nine colleges/universities thus far, with probably another half dozen or so to follow.  All the terrible, horrible, unbelievable stories you've heard about higher education are assuredly true.

Let's start with the cost of sending your precious flower to these progressive indoctrination centers.  The least expensive, by far, of any of the schools we've seen to this point, is the University of Wyoming (go Cowboys).  It was $29K a year (I am out of state).  The rest of the schools started in the low $40s, with the private schools topping out (thus far) at about $67K (Washington University in St. Louis...but you get a free bus pass). 

Now what do you get for the cost of a decent house in large swaths of the country?  Well, so far we are nine for nine on rock climbing walls.  I swear to Christ, every school has had one.  The "rec center" (yes, I'm dating myself) at the University of Colorado would cost like $2 or 300 a month to join if it was an LA Fitness  type of place.  It had two or three basketball courts in one gym, with the western wall being floor to ceiling windows which showed the Front Range.  An indoor ice skating rink.  Lazy river pools.  Every piece of equipment imaginable. 

The food...just wow.  Suffice to say, a long way from the cafeteria we ate in at Clemson in the 80s.  Oh, and Starbucks must make an average of $1000 a year off of every student in college in America.

Of course all the political correct bullshit is everywhere.  One of my favorites was the placard on the kiosk admonishing you for insensitive texting.  One of the examples was two males who referred to each other as "pussies".

My kid happens to be a pretty gifted distance runner, so we've been meeting with some coaches as well.  Of course D 3 schools don't pay athletes, so that kind of sucks.  We had a chance meeting with the Purdue head coach (nice guy, BTW), and he explained that he had 12.6 scholarships for the approximately 55 guys on his team.  The women, because of Title IX, and the overall badness of males in general I suppose, happen to be allotted 18.6.  The football team gets 88 full rides to hand out.  It helps to fill stadiums, I guess.

Overall, I fear so much for the future because of the psychopaths in charge, that college isn't that big of a worry for me.  I'm blessed with a wonderful kid, who has been raised well, is going to study engineering,  and he'll turn out just fine.  I'll come up with I have to so some more Marxist professors can get tenure, and he gets to swim in a sea of co-eds for four years as a varsity athlete.  It's kind of hard not to be jealous.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!