Asked by studioj
College costs have risen ahead of inflation for the past 30 years and today the annual cost to attend a US school (out of state/private) hovers at $35 - $50K+ per year. Anyone who has looked at these costs immediately learns that after the college hits you with a $40K bill to educate junior this year they talk about the lavish amounts of money they have to offer based on their determination of need and merit. Many college endowments have swollen to the 10s of billions of $$. Clearly colleges are overcharging for the service they provide and then use their own determination to decide how to redistribute the money you pay. There are no checks and balances in the system to stop this fleecing. It's no different than an entrepreneur with a monopoly gouging consumers and then taking the huge profits and setting up scholarships that she/he thinks are worthy... and this is happening at 1000s of schools. What can/should consumers do to stop this form of social engineering by the academic elite? Just to clarify. My question is not about the (obviously) absurd cost of a college education. My question is what can consumers do to begin to counteract what has become a means of social engineering in our culture by the academic elite. They decide who is worthy to afford an education. They decide what diversity mix is "right" etc. There is no social counterbalance as there should be in a democractic society. Schools fleece consumers for huge sums and are accountable only to themselves. There is no alternative to higher education. So what's the answer?