There is much discussion these days about why people are turned off by college. Perhaps it is cost, debt, and uncertain job prospects. While agreeing with the essential criticism of the business known as higher education, hopefully in this period of deeper analysis of both conventional routes and alternative pathways to a career, the baby – the benefits of a well-earned degree — will not be thrown out with the bath water, the shenanigans with which colleges are engaged.
College bills, for example, are analogous to those received by cable subscribers, a potpourri of different items designed to blur the vision by the time the big number at the bottom appears.
Like the cable company, or the streamers, or the hotel or the airplane, once a business believes they have you as a customer, add-ons of individually small numbers are inevitable. Colleges follow this playbook. Moreover, like their explicitly for-profit counterparts, they use absurdly precise numbers to suggest there is an actual financial justification for a line item. There is not. Pull back the curtain and you will see somebody plugging in a number for the purpose of supporting an overall financial goal, itself typically extracted from the air or a little read strategic plan.
Below is a minor, but indicative, real world example for one semester at a relatively inexpensive public institution.
Excluded is absurdly expensive health insurance, as it can be waived if the student is on their parent’s policy. Note that the student must take action to get this budget item removed as the college uses the negative option approach – you pay unless you act. Also excluded is room and board. Living somewhere and eating periodically are going to cost money no matter what the related academic situation.
Academic Excellence Fee: $262.50 Apparently academic excellence is not something which comes with tuition; you have the bill for your meal but must pay extra for the utensils.
Comprehensive Fee: $1,484.25 You tell me. Is it for the green grass in the quad, the stone architecture, the banned beer hall. The checkwriter has no idea.
Student Activity Fee: $109.00 At least this is clear. If you the student find that classes, homework, and all the drudgery of studying are not conducive to your mental health, you can hit the gym and work up a sweat alongside the tenured professor who is paying zero for the pleasure, and who last week was a no-show for your advisory meeting.
Tuition: $3,535.00 Presumably this covers something akin to educating the student about an array of subjects, many of which will cease to be in their mind once they graduate and pick up their diploma. Yes, the student pays extra to have a gown and walk.
The expense breakdown at the average college will include more line items and larger numbers.
The above commentary nonetheless remains on point.