[iDC] Fwd: <edu-factory> Top Ten Universities for Student Debt in the U.S.

[George Siemens]

Much of the conversation on tuition fees is focused on the financial impact
on students (duh). But, as this article details (
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/feature/the_prestige_racket.php)
the perception of cost and quality requires universities that wish to
be
seen as elite systems to increase tuition.

Not all cost increase in education is driven by need - a good portion is
driven by ego.

George

On Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 6:08 AM, Heidelberg, Chris <Chris.Heidelberg at ssa.gov
> wrote:

>  Jeremy:
>
>
>
> I am so glad that you posted this to the list serve because I came across
> similar data when I was working on my dissertation several years back
> because I was looking at technology as a way to save money and initially I
> found that the for-profits were doing quite well, but when I dug a little
> deeper I found that “real universities” were making even more real money and
> most of it appeared to be based on getting students to get loans. Now we
> know the truth when some financial aid folks at some of the big schools were
> actually charged with colluding with the banks to make money off of students
> loans. There were real convictions and real resignations. I found out even
> more by looking at some of my wife’s data because her research for her
> dissertation deals with a loan-based system versus a grant based one. This
> article really makes some good points. Naturally, Kaplan does have an axe to
> grind too being a for profit entity and arguably the most profitable arm of
> The Washington Post Company. This is a problem with media consolidation and
> convergence technology: the for profit media is now getting into the for
> profit education game. If you do not like how the mainstream media, cable
> and telecoms treat customer, you will really not be happy if they export
> their business model in nicer package to higher education.
>
>
>
> Here is something to consider, has anyone looked at the endowments of these
> schools cited. You may notice that some of the schools at the top also have
> some of the biggest endowments. I haven’t checked the latest data but I
> believe that the University of Texas has the biggest or one of the biggest
> endowments in the world. Great job on this one Jeremy! The banksters have
> really succeeded in transforming our education system into one where
> students start off in debt that is extremely difficult to pay back.
>
>
>
> Chris A. Heidelberg, Ph.D.
>
>
>
> *
> *
>
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