Will our children's children even go away to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked with someone who used to be in the finance department of a SLAC. What they would do each year is estimate the cost increases for the next 12 months, divide it out by the number of students, and raise rates by that much. According to my former coworker, there was zero attempt at any cost cutting like you have in a typical business; they passed everything on to the students. With that type of attitude, I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that tuition, fees, room, books, etc are getting up to 60k a year.

More not fewer people are trying to get into college these days and can afford whatever it costs.

[Anonymous]

Half of the value I got out of college was living with a diverse set of people from all over the country and the world. They really forced me to challenge some of my assumptions. I'd hate to lose that for my kid.

I'm also not so sure that it will be so easy to get around the problem of identifying test takers. This is particularly true for students taking those on-line courses abroad. China has consulting firms that basically falsify a student's grades and hire TOEFL test takers for them in order to get them into US universities. Bribing a proctor in a low income country will be very easy, and probably not that much harder in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Half of the value I got out of college was living with a diverse set of people from all over the country and the world. They really forced me to challenge some of my assumptions. I'd hate to lose that for my kid.

I'm also not so sure that it will be so easy to get around the problem of identifying test takers. This is particularly true for students taking those on-line courses abroad. China has consulting firms that basically falsify a student's grades and hire TOEFL test takers for them in order to get them into US universities. Bribing a proctor in a low income country will be very easy, and probably not that much harder in the US.

If what you describe was pervasive in China, you'd expect that the students who game to the US would struggle once they got here, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Chinese students do very well on average. So well in fact that some schools are applying quotas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Half of the value I got out of college was living with a diverse set of people from all over the country and the world. They really forced me to challenge some of my assumptions. I'd hate to lose that for my kid.

I'm also not so sure that it will be so easy to get around the problem of identifying test takers. This is particularly true for students taking those on-line courses abroad. China has consulting firms that basically falsify a student's grades and hire TOEFL test takers for them in order to get them into US universities. Bribing a proctor in a low income country will be very easy, and probably not that much harder in the US.

If what you describe was pervasive in China, you'd expect that the students who game to the US would struggle once they got here, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Chinese students do very well on average. So well in fact that some schools are applying quotas.

Those quotas are for admission, obviously, which speaks to possibly falsified test scores. The admissions quotas have nothing to do with how well the kids succeed once they start coursework.

I'm not sure I'd call them quotas per se, but that's a different debate.

[Anonymous]

Why should Universities cut costs? They are not for profit, and people seem to be willing to pay whatever they charge. People do not look for the lowest cost University. They actually look for the highest price. It is like luxury cars or clothes. The higher you make the price, the more desirable it is. If people wanted walmart educations, you would see cost cutting. It is not what the market wants (even if they say they want it... it is not what they do). There are thousands of universities in the US. There is plenty of competition. It is no where near a monopoly (like gas, cable, cell phones, and so much in our modern life). If people really wanted low cost educations, there would be low cost educations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why should Universities cut costs? They are not for profit, and people seem to be willing to pay whatever they charge. People do not look for the lowest cost University. They actually look for the highest price. It is like luxury cars or clothes. The higher you make the price, the more desirable it is. If people wanted walmart educations, you would see cost cutting. It is not what the market wants (even if they say they want it... it is not what they do). There are thousands of universities in the US. There is plenty of competition. It is no where near a monopoly (like gas, cable, cell phones, and so much in our modern life). If people really wanted low cost educations, there would be low cost educations.

Why hello, fellow economist!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Half of the value I got out of college was living with a diverse set of people from all over the country and the world. They really forced me to challenge some of my assumptions. I'd hate to lose that for my kid.

I'm also not so sure that it will be so easy to get around the problem of identifying test takers. This is particularly true for students taking those on-line courses abroad. China has consulting firms that basically falsify a student's grades and hire TOEFL test takers for them in order to get them into US universities. Bribing a proctor in a low income country will be very easy, and probably not that much harder in the US.

If what you describe was pervasive in China, you'd expect that the students who game to the US would struggle once they got here, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Chinese students do very well on average. So well in fact that some schools are applying quotas.

Those quotas are for admission, obviously, which speaks to possibly falsified test scores. The admissions quotas have nothing to do with how well the kids succeed once they start coursework.

I'm not sure I'd call them quotas per se, but that's a different debate.

My sense if that Chinese students tend to do VERY well academically in U.S. colleges - to the point that American students grip about "curve busters" - am I wrong?

[Anonymous]

Grip? Most of the curve busters are not coming from overseas, so yes, you're wrong.

[Anonymous]

PS, I wish this racist Tiger Mom would get a new hobby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Grip? Most of the curve busters are not coming from overseas, so yes, you're wrong.

Exactly! I graduated in 2005, and what the Chinese students excelled at most was copying and pasting like nobody's business. Ask them to do anything that required creativity or an original thought and they were totally lost.

[Anonymous]

I think it will be seen someday like sending your child away to an over priced boarding school. $60,000 a year to spend too much time binge drinking and hooking up. It seems like this is a waste of money and delays growing up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brick & mortar colleges & universities have endured for a long, long time in this country. I wouldn't write them off just yet.

Horse-drawn carriages endured for a long time, too.

College has already changed dramatically from when I went (mid-1980s). Today, lectures are simulcast in Boston and Singapore -- the students collaborate on projects online. As PP noted, students are assigned lectures to watch before they go to class, and class time is devoted to discussion.

Today's kids see no reason to be in the same room with other people in order to interact. Why should college persist in using that model?

I disagree. Recent masters degree grad with course requirements that were both face to face and online. The face to face classes were significantly more challenging and rewarding, even when taught by the same professors and "attended" by the same students. I was glad that we were allowed so few online classes in order to graduate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grip? Most of the curve busters are not coming from overseas, so yes, you're wrong.

Exactly! I graduated in 2005, and what the Chinese students excelled at most was copying and pasting like nobody's business. Ask them to do anything that required creativity or an original thought and they were totally lost.

Agree. Asians, in general, are not very good at analysis. Their focus seems to be on rote learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grip? Most of the curve busters are not coming from overseas, so yes, you're wrong.

Exactly! I graduated in 2005, and what the Chinese students excelled at most was copying and pasting like nobody's business. Ask them to do anything that required creativity or an original thought and they were totally lost.

Agree. Asians, in general, are not very good at analysis. Their focus seems to be on rote learning.

shitloads of indians at mckinsey....if there is any company out there that excels at 'analysis' and solving 'open-ended' problems its them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grip? Most of the curve busters are not coming from overseas, so yes, you're wrong.

Exactly! I graduated in 2005, and what the Chinese students excelled at most was copying and pasting like nobody's business. Ask them to do anything that required creativity or an original thought and they were totally lost.

Agree. Asians, in general, are not very good at analysis. Their focus seems to be on rote learning.

shitloads of indians at mckinsey....if there is any company out there that excels at 'analysis' and solving 'open-ended' problems its them.

I'm guessing the bigot was using Asian interchangeably with Chinese or maybe East Asian. Though India is in Asia, the indigenous population is Caucasian.