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A college degree is a lousy investment

That is pretty accurate. Just like the American dream was that you should own a home, which the government made incredibly easy to do. The other aspect of the American dream was that you should go to college, which the government also made incredibly easy to do. Both the institutions and the people that attended them were catered to. The people attending have no business being in school, most likely will never finish school, but here is essentially easy money to attend school now all they need is a school to go to. Along comes schools that have no standards, cost a ridiculous amount of money, problem solved. Student gets to go to college, college gets to make lots of money.
 
Just like the housing bubble, it can be traced back to the government's loosey goosey lending standards. It wasn't that long ago that you could loan your way through the University of Phoenix on government-backed cash moneys.

Oh that's absolutely true. Apparently all Americans are entitled to a house and a college degree.

That being said where did all this sunken money go? I feel like in the scheme of things universities/colleges have a lot to answer for.
 
You go to any college campus and there's likely some form of major construction/renovation going on
 
Just like the housing bubble, it can be traced back to the government's loosey goosey lending standards. It wasn't that long ago that you could loan your way through the University of Phoenix on government-backed cash moneys.
Yep...gov't increasing the demand artificially, via loose lending (more people eligible for college education).

The main difference between housing/student loans is you have the option of foreclosing as opposed to simply paying off debt, but the cycles are virtually the same.

Like Skydiving said, if nothing changes, banks will package student debt like CDOs. Pretty disturbing.
 
The government does seem to realize the problem this time around as they've stopped some lending to for-profit schools, but it is hard to politically justify restricting access to student loans
 
You go to any college campus and there's likely some form of major construction/renovation going on
Kind of like wealth destruction in the housing market, with people taking home equity loans and "investing" in granite countertops, hardwood floors, etc. to "increase the value".
 
Slightly different because schools actually get, collect and spend the cash. They don't owe anyone anything from a tuition perspective. Although if they are financing projects and the loan pool dries up then they'll be in trouble.

The government/lending institutions end up being the ones screwed. And I guess students who default and get awful credit.
 
You go to any college campus and there's likely some form of major construction/renovation going on

Yep. That "sunken money" goes to the private sector.
 
Wake at 54

Other interesting ones:
WashU at 91
Emory at 145
UNC at 214

Wake does surprisingly well for itself. Without any real engineering programs, I think the credit for that has to go to Calloway. Buckets is pulling our numbers up.

Really surprised to see UNC so low, but I guess they do have a bunch of chuckle-heads weighing the average down. NC State is above them at 155, I suspect their engineering program helps on that front.

Another surprise was Davidson at 454.
 
Wake does surprisingly well for itself. Without any real engineering programs, I think the credit for that has to go to Calloway. Buckets is pulling our numbers up.

Really surprised to see UNC so low, but I guess they do have a bunch of chuckle-heads weighing the average down. NC State is above them at 155, I suspect their engineering program helps on that front.

Another surprise was Davidson at 454.

I'm not too surprised that a regional private school has a relatively poor return on investment. Paying for most of the same things school-wise but much less name-value.
 
I'm not too surprised that a regional private school has a relatively poor return on investment. Paying for most of the same things school-wise but much less name-value.

Yeah. I guess I'm biased because most of the Davidson grads I know are doing relatively well for themselves.
 
Most of us aren't getting financial aid, lets be real. I found sorting by annual ROI (without aid) to give a better picture for my personal situation
 
Wait, I'm entirely wrong. There are a number of regional private schools that are crushing Davidson on those rankings. Now I'm surprised too.
 
What are Davidson's most popular majors?

Probably just limited to liberal arts stuff. They're only a college, so they don't have a full fledged business school. That would explain a lot. The only person whose major I know was a Poli Sci major, and now she's working for Deloitte.

GF just informed they also have a new policy to make sure every student that needs financial aid (without loans!) can get it. That should help their ROI in the future, at least.
 
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