Solution #3

The third and final solution to this headache is innovation.

Innovation needs information and incentives to precede it, but it is the most important of the three.  Online courses are the result, and if they are able to offer higher quality services, then the need to go to a 'brick and mortar' building won't be as demanding.

Also, there needs to be an 'in between.'  Some jobs and positions don't need the employee to have a degree in, but a high school education isn't enough.  If courses can fill in that spot and educate the person enough, than that will greatly reduce the debt that a person start his career with.

Free courses are possible, I believe, but not free college.  There are even institutions that have put this in practice already, such as the Saylor Foundation and Khan Academy, so I know this is possible.

There is growing animosity regarding this very problem, and it won't be long before there is a general outcry against this overcharging for education.  There is a movement that stemmed off of the Occupy Wall Street that addresses this very thing.  Eventually it will come to a head, as did healthcare, and some major reforms will have to be established.

Education is not the place to skimp out on.  The United States is supposed to be the leader of the free world, and yet we lag behind in 18th place when we compare against other industrialized nations.  What happened?  I looked at an 1895 Final Exam for EIGHTH GRADE and it was unbelievable what was expected for the 12 and 13 year old's had to know.  Most people don't even graduate college with that knowledge.  Pressure needs to be applied on educational institutions to hold people to high standards and educate them.

If you are interested, the link to the eighth grade final exam is here:

 http://freedom-school.com/aware/1885-8th-grade-exam-answers.html

This is what they were expected to know in eighth grade, and we should at least have this knowledge after we graduate from college.

Are Student Loans a Trap??

Solution #2

The second solution to this crisis is incentives.


Most incentives today are given for people to go out and spend money.  Why don't we give incentives to colleges and professors to save money?  Dr. Richard Vedder is the director for the Center for College Affordability and Productivity.  He said that he was once a department chair, and he gave his staff less work to do, which lowers productivity.  They gave him such a high evaluation that he got a pay raise.  He believed this was ludicrous!  He was rewarded for doing less!  So incentives, then, for conserving and using money wisely should definitely be put in order.

Another thing that universities do is turn away prospective customers.  Universities are awarded for being more selective, but why?  So many highly qualified students are rejected from being educated by some of the most prestigious school, just so they can keep their acceptance percentage low.  I don't think that by accepting those that apply will degrade the education they give, because it doesn't affect the academic part of the deal, but to reject someone just to keep the acceptance percentage low is unacceptable.

The last solution to this national problem is yet to come!

Please, let me know your thoughts on the issue! 

Solution #1

The first solution to the tuition crisis is information.

Colleges and universities should be more open with how they spend the money that they are given.  Maybe the students would rather save $200 each, rather than pay for more tree planting and professional landscapers to make the campus look better.  It may be possible that a student struggling to pay for his math and science classes would rather not that the college spend his money going towards a newer baseball field.  So the moral of the story is, the college should be held accountable for the money that they spend, knowing that the money in their possession is hard earned.

Another thing is that when students graduate from college, there is no consistent measurement on how much they learned over the past 4 or 6 years.  When we graduate high school, most of us have already taken either the SAT or the ACT.  Either one of the two tests evaluates the individual the same way in Maine as they do in Virginia.  It is systematic and consistent, and that is what we need when college gives us our diploma. Was this education worth the thousands of dollars that I now owe?  Did the college prove that it was worth it for me to attend their facility.  That should be another number given to students before they accept, other than the Acceptance Percentage.

This would not only be helpful for high school graduates applying for different universities, but it would be helpful for those who graduated, who not only have a GPA when they leave, but a universal score that can viewed by employers as well.

The last topic of information would be financial information.  How should students save here and there?  Ultimately, it is the student's responsibility to know these things, but the information should definitely be readily available through presentations and lectures.  Those that find the interest and need would greatly appreciate that. 

College Tuition