College Bubble? What are your views?

<p><a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Americas-College-Bubble-Next-prnews-3648512208.html?x=0%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Americas-College-Bubble-Next-prnews-3648512208.html?x=0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>In general, what are your views on this aspect?</p>

<p>That it’s a press release put out by an organization “that is dedicated to preparing Americans for hyperinflation.” :rolleyes:</p>

<p>Growing up in a PIIG-style European country in the 70’s it was not uncommon to get in a taxi and see a prestigious college degree framed next to the cabbie’s taxi permit. Architects, lawyers, and so on. At that time, we knew exactly what caused this - the exact same thing that is causing it in the US today, </p>

<p>It is the reason so many hyphenated Americans push their kids to only go to the two or three fields that (from the old country) were perceived to be ‘solid’. Law and medicine. Pfeh. It works short term, but if you want to see what that will look like, borrow “Player Piano” by Kurt Vonnegut from your local library and read for yourself.</p>

<p>The only consolation is that college in the PIIGies and similar countries was mostly free, which is hardly the case here.</p>

<p>College is DEFINITELY a bubble and a scam designed to soak kids out of thousands of dollars through debt. This article is much better:</p>

<p>[n+1:</a> Bad Education](<a href=“http://nplusonemag.com/bad-education]n+1:”>Bad Education | Online Only | n+1)</p>

<p>asset bubbles are only possible in markets for assets, where people buy something with the idea of reselling it. There is no such possibility with a college degree, hence use of the term “bubble” is misleading, and a red flag for an agenda.</p>

<p>Could a disproportion between cost of loan repayment and issues with post college employment and income lead to massive failure to repay/hardship? Yes. BUT the maximum point for that SHOULD have been when the recession was its worst, in late 2008 early 2009. barring a double dip, it shouldnt be worse in the future. </p>

<p>There HAS been a significant growth in problem loans. Those are disproportionately in loans to students attending for profit colleges. That is the core of the college loan problem, from a societal POV.</p>

<p>I saw that College Conspiracy movie on Youtube and it is laughable. Their logic is very strange. A quick example is that they talk about how nonexistent employment prospects are for people with undergrad and advanced degrees, but assume that people coming right out of high school have no problem finding employment. They use this to explain why students are far better off not going to college.</p>

<p>I agree with Brooklyn - it is absurd to equate the real estate bubble with the problems of funding a college degree. The only reason that this is coming up now is the confluence of rapidly increasing tuition and a massive recession. </p>

<p>Everyone can find an anecdote of some kid who took out $150,000 in loans to earn an obscure degree from a snooty college, and now can’t find a job. Heck, there are smarter kids who took out much smaller loans for more pragmatic degrees, and they still can’t find decent jobs either. These stories lead many of us to question the wisdom of paying so much more for something that seems to have decreased in value. But, this is not some ‘bubble’, nor is it a ‘scam’ or a ‘rip-off’.</p>

<p>For those concerned about the College Conspiracy and the SLABS debt conspiracy, here is a suggestion:
[Aluminum</a> Foil Deflector Beanie](<a href=“http://zapatopi.net/afdb/]Aluminum”>Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie)</p>