US Colleges a SCAM?

• Sayoko wrote on 2011-10-10 20:22
  [video=youtube;VpZtX32sKVE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpZtX32sKVE&feature=pyv&ad=6739540474&kw=wall%20st[/video]
  Less jobs and increasing college costs ><
  The lobbyists and college adminstrators are up to something...
  
  Gov't issued student loans only make cost of tutition go up too. Colleges won't be afraid to raise prices.
• Yoorah wrote on 2011-10-10 20:30
  The jobless rate for people with degrees is currently 4%, while the national average is 9%. That has to count for something, no? :P
  
  So while I wouldn't call it a scam, they are definitely milking people out of their money in unethical ways. :(
• Cucurbita wrote on 2011-10-10 20:30
  Ehh, I wouldn't go that far.
• Sayoko wrote on 2011-10-10 20:39

  Quote from Yoorah;615034:

  The jobless rate for people with degrees is currently 4%, while the national average is 9%. That has to count for something, no? :P
  
  So while I wouldn't call it a scam, they are definitely milking people out of their money in unethical ways. :(

  
  
  Emphasis on US college prices though...
• Yoorah wrote on 2011-10-10 20:49
  Yeah, I'm watching more of it and now it's talking about government-forced price fixing to keep costs rising. wtf O.o Doesn't sound right, I wonder if they took it out of context...
  
  Oh and some of it is pretty dumb, like that ranting old guy. Makes the video look stupid. >.>
• EndlessDreams wrote on 2011-10-10 20:49
  Calling it a scam is a bit extreme.
  Health Care professionals all require college degrees.
  
  I think that those private universities are kind of overrated though.
• paladin wrote on 2011-10-10 20:58
  Makes me question if I should just go to a basic level college instead of some rich richy
• Cucurbita wrote on 2011-10-10 21:06

  Quote from paladin;615076:

  Makes me question if I should just go to a basic level college instead of some rich richy

  
  
  Why not ._.
  
  Private schools are a waste of money. State schools are funded pretty well by the government so you can get a pretty good education out of them still and pay half the costs.
  
  Some people even opt to commute from home to a local community college for 2 years and transfer to a state university to save money. Its not actually a bad deal.
  
  Unless, of course, you really see yourself having the potential to become the best of the best and feel private school is a necessity to hone those abilities. Probably not going to be the case most of the time.
• Cynic wrote on 2011-10-10 21:08
  Saying it's a scam is a bit drastic, but they do love taking your money in any way they can. A lot of places do it, though, so I'm not too sure why I'm surprised.
  
  Like Cucur said, it's much easier to get a 2-year degree + a transfer degree at a community college (financial aid is wonderful, so long as you're willing to go fulltime). Most of them will help you pay for University as-well, or at-least ease the transition.
• Claudia wrote on 2011-10-10 21:41
  Yeah, I decided that i'm going to a public state college/university. I'd rather only pay at most $12k/yr for education as opposed to $54k/yr (BU, lol.), and more, for about the same education. I'm not going to be an ubergenius or anything, i'm just a typical person.
  
  After all, as my bio teacher told us, we have 3 bio teachers - one went to Yale, the other went to a private college, and the other went to a UMass. Guess what? They all have the same job, and the one who went to UMass even teaches AP!
  
  So IMO, in general paying upwards of 50k/yr for private colleges (unless you want to go into certain fields) is a waste, but college as a whole isn't. Some people think degrees are useless, but if the minimum requirement for a job is experience + a Bachelor's...what do you do? You don't get the job.
• Yoorah wrote on 2011-10-10 22:10
  Just finished watching the whole thing! It's interesting, but as usual with this type of material: Take it with a grain of salt. They're telling people to accumulate gold? >_> Gold itself is a huge bubble, but I digress. xd
• paladin wrote on 2011-10-10 22:14
  Thats why after sophmere year
  I threw the ideas of big privates out of the window
  Chances are its either a state college(rugthers) which ive had likely 10 or 15% of my teachers come out of
  One of them even runs one of the best ap chem courses in the county
  So am really considering a small one
  If a teacher who comes out of a small state univesity can teach students to get 5s on a ap exam and do it while being underfunded why cant the a teacher from say a ivy league do the same
  Everybody tells me
  All that matters is that you have the physical degree
  Donest matter what school its from
• TA wrote on 2011-10-10 22:35
  I've watched a bit over half way so far. Gonna have to go for a bit now, so I'll have to finish the rest later. But it seems pretty accurate what they're saying. We really are teaching people to regurgitate information and not think for themselves. It's just a really crappy system.
  
  I think people, on a learning perspective, would be just as well off by having the material all online to read and learn on their own then applying it in practical purposes. And that, would be free. Instead, we're paying ridiculous amounts to do the same thing except paying for books and teachers, to teach ourselves. It's ridiculous, really. And all we're learning is what's written.
  
  I don't know that I'd say it's a scam, but I'd definitely say it's much less useful than it used to be, and it's in serious need of some reform for sure.
  
  

  Quote from Yoorah;615142:

  They're telling people to accumulate gold? >_> Gold itself is a huge bubble, but I digress. xd

  
  
  Gold isn't a bubble, in the sense of the term. All countries back their economy in gold. As world, and country, economies collapse, gold prices rise. Gold prices have constantly risen for quite a long time now, very drastically. All precious metals have, but gold especially.
  
  I don't suspect this trend will cease any time soon.
  
  I suppose it is a bubble in the sense that no country in the world has enough gold to back their economies, and eventually we're going to have to face that. But countries aren't like individuals, so it can't really be considered a bubble. I do think though that eventually we're going to have to do away with money backed by gold since it serves no purpose.
• Zid wrote on 2011-10-10 23:12
  I wouldn't go so far to call it a scam either, but the ratio of increased price of tuition to a subjectively increase in quality of education is still ridiculous.
  
  And then the extra fees that I need to pay for things I don't need, or else I wouldn't be able to pay for the tuition. Like parking lot fees when I don't even use it.
  
  Or for inefficient teaching, for that matter. Professors that only tell you to read the text and do their exams, and nothing else...
• Cucurbita wrote on 2011-10-10 23:15

  Quote from TA;615166:

  material all online to read and learn on their own then applying it in practical purposes. And that, would be free.

  
  
  This. Please.