Have you ever considered why college costs have gone up so much, Valentine? It seems the more the federal government spends on higher education, the less affordable it becomes.

I suspect that the constantly rising costs of college has nothing to do with the true cost of education. These are the true reasons, I suspect….

1. Institutions have continually had to broaden their mission, to comply with demands from parents and students. These are demands that would not have been made had those same parents and students been exposed to their true cost. Counseling, Athletics, Political Activism, Placement Assistance, etc. all cost money. Federal education assistance shields parents and students from these costs. Some of these demands are written into law in the form of mandates.

2. A large part of many Professors’ time is spent in research. Some of this research has a great deal of value. It is what makes some programs in some of our Universities the envy of the world. I suspect that bulk of it is worthless, especially in the aptly named liberal arts. But either way, it is not education yet is presented to the public as such.

3. Graduate students and low ranking, untenured professors do most of the real teaching in modern US undergraduate education. They are paid little and work hard. Yet even they do not put nearly as many hours into teaching as a good high school teacher does. This is because they have to study for higher degrees and/or take other jobs to make ends meet, or do research projects of their own.

4. In the US, young people often feel they are entitled to their parents’ lifestyle and status regardless of how smart they are and regardless of their own life choices. Until exposed to the real world, students often believe that a bachelor’s degree is a sure ticket to this. They don’t really believe, deep down, that they will have to work as hard as their parents did. The end result of this is that a lot of people end up in college when they are either not ready for it or are better suited for work not requiring a college degree. Colleges use up a lot of resources trying to help these people.

All in all, I think that the ever increasing amount of money going to higher education over the last few decades has done more harm than good. Perhaps drastic cuts to public funding of higher education would force both students and institutions to make more wise decisions. We tend to make better choices when we, rather than society as a whole, must pay the cost when we are wrong. We tend to value what we work for more than we value what we are just given.

Obama is nowhere near as cagy as Clinton was. Hes more likely to whin and push for even more extream stuff, undercutting his public support.

course the surviving dems in congress will also be the most highly biased toward the left (every other votnig block is voting republican).

should be colorfull.