NATION: Avoid Student Loans / Bring College Costs Down - Part I

*****UPDATE: August 19, 2013 - I emailed the letter below to our local Tribune newspaper on 8/19/2013; let's see if they print it! They did on August 23rd, 2013, and here it is (click).

Degree Innovation

 “In a letter-to-the-editor in June 2013, I begged our local Cal Poly leaders to find a way to reduce the costs of higher education to make it affordable to more students (and reduce student loan debt). 

Well, highly rated Georgia Tech beat our highly rated Cal Poly to the punch, offering a 2-year Master’s Degree in Computer Science in their Massive Open Online Coursework (MOOC) program. The cost of this degree? Just $6,600 vs. the $45,000 that Georgia Tech normally charges, as reported in the Tribune on August 18, 2013.  

Georgia Tech’s program is expected to attract up to 10,000 students from around the world. It will help address the nation’s growing shortage of qualified workers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields. Anyone with a broadband connection will have access to some of the finest computer science instruction in the world. MOOCs are expected to become one of the most significant catalysts of innovation in higher education.  

Cal Poly, its still not too late to follow Georgia Tech’s move and be an innovator in affordable higher education in California. What do you say - is anybody listening?”

*****UPDATE: AUGUST 19, 2013 - Finally! Somebody is listening to my blog (yeah, right!). Highly rated Georgia Tech is planning a Master's Degree program in Computer Science that will cost only $6,600, instead of their regular tuition amount of $45,000! Congrats to Georgia Tech for responding to the needs of their students. They expect as many as 10,000 (!) students to enroll in this program.

Here's a quote from Georgia Tech's website about this new program:

“Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have quickly become one of the most significant catalysts of innovation in higher education. As parents know all too well, America urgently needs new ideas about how to make higher education accessible and affordable. This new collaboration between Georgia Tech, AT&T and Udacity, and the application of the MOOC concept to advanced-degree programs, will further the national debate—pushing from conversations about technology to new models of instruction and new linkages between higher education and employers.”

Cal Poly, what do you think? Want to give it a try?

*****UPDATE: MAY 30, 2013 - Update to the update: I did eventually find the article in the Tribune, just with a different title. However, for convenience, I am still leaving the scanned article in this blog below. Read on!

Unfortunately, the main problem is not student loan interest rates (as Obama suggests in this article at ABC news), but that education is so expensive that students are saddled with so much debt that they cannot pay back.

Tribune newspaper here in SLO on Thursday 5/30/2013 had an article in the paper titled "Poor expected to get hit harder by college costs" on page A4. I went online at SanLuisObispo.com to put in my comments, but could NOT find this article. Instead, I submitted a letter to the editor that is repeated below. Hopefully, this makes it into the Tribune newspaper tomorrow - we will see. In the meantime, I have reproduced my letter below for you to read.

My letter to the editor ran in the Sunday June 9, 2013 edition of the Tribune newspaper; thanks to the Tribune for running it: 

The rising cost of a college education has reached crisis levels for most families. In my opinion, the problem is created by upward pressure on tuition fees caused by decreased funding from the states, as well as the ease of obtaining student loans. The primary solution is for our institutions of higher learning to find ways to lower the cost of books and tuition.

This problem hits low income families the hardest, often resulting in paying as much as half of the family's income towards college costs. Taking on student loans may not be a wise option, as it leaves students with massive debt that cannot be dismissed in bankruptcy, and often stays with them for many decades. Right now, attending a quality community college such as Cuesta can reduce the cost of a 4 year college degree dramatically, but it is not a complete solution to the rising costs of education. 

I am begging Cal Poly to be leaders in reducing the costs of college education through low cost digital textbooks, online courses for undergrad lower division courses using part-time and/or volunteer retired instructors from our highly educated SLO community, and low cost co-op style housing. Anybody listening? Tim Waag, San Luis Obispo

Since the article from the Tribune (May 30, 2013, page A4) is not yet online, I have scanned it and put it in below (click to enlarge):

*****UPDATE: MAY 29, 2013 - Student Loan debt continues to reach all time highs. If you are in student loan hell, read this article from Consumer Reports: Managing Your Student Loan Debt. Consumer Reports Money Advisor (May 2013) reports on a Ms. McGrath, who at 55 years old still has graduate school student loans, and has had them for more than half of her life! Many students carry this debt longer than they ever thought possible.

Students! Do whatever you can to avoid getting into student loan debt in the first place! Go to community college; work more; borrow from parents, relatives or friends; go to the school that offers the most scholarship money and the lowest total cost - even if that school is not good as another one that you got in to. In the end, the debt will be difficult to service after graduation, and will prevent you from buying a decent car or a starter home, or go on any kind of nice vacation.

Wise up! There is currently no downward pressure on student tuition and book costs, largely due to the easy availability of loans. Heed this morning, or pay the consequences.

*****UPDATE: NOVEMBER 30, 2012 - Student loan debt across our great nation rose 4.6% recently, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal "Federal Student Lending Swells". Since just 2007, student loan debt has swelled by a whopping 56%. The bottom line is that it has become too easy for students to borrow money, saddling them with massive debt when the graduate, or even worse, if they FAIL to graduate. A full 93% of student loans are currently issued directly by the federal government, which ask little or nothing about a borrower's ability to repay the loan.

Potential student loan qualification requirements might include looking at the following factors BEFORE issuing a student loan: * current debt level, * credit score, * academic history including GPA, * expected graduation date, * expected graduation major, * job prospects after graduation.

RECOMMENDATIONS: First, students and parents should TOGETHER assess their education strategy, and think carefully about the impact an student loans will have on both of their future financial lives. Second, lenders should be screening potential lenders for their ability to repay the loan; it is in the best interest of BOTH the borrower and the lender that this is done. Lending to a student who cannot repay does the student no favors, as the debt quickly snowballs when repayment is not made, and the fines, late fees and interest stack up rapidly. Remember, student debt is difficult or impossible to discharge in bankruptcy.

****UPDATE: OCTOBER 27, 2012 - Easy-to-get Federal and Private student loans not only drive up the cost to attend college (think about it!), they are also at the forefront of an epidemic even worse than students graduating with huge debt: parent co-signers of student loans are increasing on the hook for payment. I found a good article ("Peril for Older Parents: Student Loans They Co-Signed") about this today.

Empty nest parents are under increasing financial stress, as their older children move home when they can't find a decent paying job, or any job at all! Trying to help their kids, they co-signed for student loans that they never dreamed their children would never be able to pay back. The stats are frightening: at the beginning of 2012, 2,200,000 (2.2 Million) Americans over 60 years of age were on the hook for $43,000,000,000 (that's $43 Billion with a "B") in student loan debt, up from a mere $17,000,000,000 (uh, $17 Billion) in 2007.

I personally have a relative in that situation, and it is ugly - believe me. Neither the parent nor the child can pay back the loan, and so have defaulted. The result is that fines and penalties have pushed up the amount owed into six figures (that's more than $100,000 - one hundred thousand dollars). The numbers are staggering, and a tragic anchor placed around the college students neck, as well as their co-signer parent.

RECOMMENDATION: Avoid student debt like the plague, students! Go to an affordable Junior College for 2 years if necessary, then go to an affordable 4 year school. REFUSE to take on any loans, and get used to juggling a PAYING job and school at the same time. When you graduate debt-free, you'll be glad that you did. Please pay attention to this - thanks! Once again - shame on colleges that are not FIGHTING to reduce the cost of a college education at their schools.

*****UPDATE: JULY 14, 2012 -  Despite modest cutbacks to professors and staff at CSU and UC, newly appointed University Presidents are getting substantial raises. Though not significant from an overall budget perspective, the raises are rife with symbolism. At college, symbolism matters. Newly appointed college presidents are being paid significantly higher salarys than their predecessors. Just 1 example: At CSU, newly appointed President Dianne Harrison is receiving a new salary of $324,500 - an increaase of $54,185 more than her predecessor. President Harrison will also be getting a house rent-free, moving expenses, and a $12,000 yer year car allowance. It all fits within CSU's compensation guidelines, but doesn't anyone out there know that we are in a fiscal crisis in California? We were brought up to believe that every penny counts ("a penny saved is a penny earned") and that if we are EVER to get out of this fiscal insanity, everyone has to pitch in, including our education leaders. Disappointing move, CSU. Try thinking again (or thinking at all).

*****UPDATE JULY 8, 2012: The Tribune noted on their front page article, Politicians rush to tax us more for higher education, that Gov. Brown would hold down UC and Cal State Tuition costs, if we only voted for his tax increase in November 2012. Some folks (Calif. Republican legislators) see it as a crass move to use students for their own political needs. Others (students, UC administrators) see it as a motivating force go vote in November to support the measure. Clever political move by Brown to get what he wants, by holding UC and Cal State tuition increases over our heads like a guillotine. There is nothing here that holds down the actual costs of higher education. Period.

An article in the Wall Street Journal on June 28, 2012 entitled "How About a 3 Year BA?" baited me into comment. Reducing the cost of college should not be about a 4 or 5 year to 3 year cram-down. Many of us have learned that in education, cramming is, at best, a temporary injection of knowledge. Rather, we should be looking at ways to REDUCE the expense of college through savings efficiency, not a get-it-done-quick cramdown, as proposed by the WSJ article above.

Take the popular subject of Calculus: as a person with a BS and MS in Math, I know a little about this subject. Since Newton and Leibniz, Calc has not changed much in the last 500 or 600 years, not to mention in the 35 years (1977) since I first took the subject. I still have my Calc books from UCLA, and I bet they would have been perfectly suitable for use in teaching my oldest son in the his Calculus class at UCDavis. Yet, new and more expensive textbooks keep coming out, burdening college students with this significant growing cost. How about online Calculus texts at a fraction of the price, plus save a few trees (not to mention sore backs from hauling the swollen, bulging texts around campus). Do we really need a professor with a Ph.D. in Math to teach such a course at all? How about the math TA (no doubt a budding Math Ph.D. themself), who should be fully prepared by now to teach a baby Calc class to the Freshman and Sophmores. In fact, why meet in a class at all, except for exams? Would an online lecture with classmates signed in via video or audio conferencing work for such a basic, introductory class? Could the school charge less for such a class, and pass the savings on to the students? I could go on, but you get the point: as far as I can tell, this is not happening anywhere, and CERTAINLY not at UCDavis and UCSanta Barbara, where my sons attend.

*****Simple background facts and reality checks to back up my motivation for this post.

BACKGROUND FACT 1: Back when we went to college at UCLA (1977 - 1982), I was abled to work my way through college, as did many other students. In other words, I could go to school full time AND work enough hours (including summer and school breaks) to pay every penny of my living expenses and college expenses. That included: food, apartment, utility bills, car with insurance, tuition, fees, etc.

BACKGROUND FACT 2: Since my oldest son started attending UCDavis in 2008, his tuition fees have DOUBLED! They went from approximately $7,500 to just under $15,000 in a mere 4 years. Though he held many jobs while attending UCDavis, they payed poorly or not at all. Most were unpaid or lightly paid internships, and there was no way they could pay for the same items as I did at UCLA. In my estimation, today you would need a job that paid in the $25 to $30 per hour range, while working full time on all breaks, and about 25 hours per week during the school week, in order to accomplish the same feat as I did at UCLA. These jobs for college students simply do NOT exist.

BACKGROUND FACT 3: My oldest son graduated from UCDavis EXACTLY 30 years after my wife and I graduated from UCLA (1982 vs. 2012). In that 30 year time period, I was SHOCKED to find out that college academic life had not materially changed in ANY way since we attended. Still the same huge lecture halls. Still the same structure: Professor lectured, students took notes, and TAs taught a weekly study/homework session. You still had to buy massively overpriced text books - except that the text books swelled in size, weight, number of color photos and illustrations - and COST! Compare the computers in every students hands, vs. (in our day) a huge mainframe and text terminals in a computer room back in our day. Surely this vast new technology lead to equally vast efficiencies in student education? Nope.  As far as I can tell, the only academic efficiency from the vast computer power of the typical college laptop PC was online registration, online research, and a more time-efficient typewriter.

REALITY CHECK 1: The powers-that-be would never allow these or any other described efficiencies to take place. Those powers being the faculty, staff and administrators of our fine educational institutions, as well as the politicians that depend on their unions for political donations. Why? In my opinion, because preservation of self (pay, perks and pensions) outweighs the needs of the students. The status quo serves this group best, to the detriment of our students.

REALITY CHECK 2: There are many other factors, of course, driving the cost of higher education ever higher. They include: lack of university price competition, at least here in California, where there are few alternatives to UC and Cal State Schools, increase in the costs of maintaining costly recreation centers and facilities for the students (which did not exist when we went to school), an ever-expanding pool of need-based grants and scholarships which help the school's bottom line more than the student's, faculty research taking away from class time (this has always been a factor in higher education costs - most Science profs at UCLA when I went there spoke barely discernible English), tenure and excessive pay and benefit packages for life, and the apparent willingness of foolish parents and students to go into massive debt to pay for it all.

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