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[QUOTE="Fat tire 13, post: 3389861, member: 6171"]
Lots of this is the system itself.

Colleges can charge what they do because the Federal government subsidizes loans.  Then colleges spend money to compete for students.  Tuition goes up more than inflation almost every year.

There are 45 million ex-students with $1.6 trillion of debt at the moment.  The average is $33K and the median is $17K.  That implies there are a material amount of people who have 6 figure debt.

With this COVID situation, you are seeing cartel like behavior with the universities.  If one breaks and reduces the cost, the others will be forced to follow.  Many smaller universities can't afford a year of no income, or a permanent repricing of tuition.  It makes sense.  It is not like any school would ever budget for a year of no school.

My prediction is if there is ever an event that breaks the system permanently, this might be it.  You will see many schools shut down, and people will question if college is necessary.

I agree with CTO that a liberal arts education is very important for our society.  We just need to do it in a way that doesn't place such a financial burden on the student (and parents by default).

Hopefully this is a moment that causes colleges to serve the students in a way that is more efficient.  If some schools shut down, it is not the end of the world.  If colleges had to manage their income/expenses like other businesses, it would result in improvements.  The challenge is do get through this transition in a way that isn't too damaging to industry itself.
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