July 29, 2007
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College Cost
Public Universities are adjusting their cost taking into account the degree that is being pursued.
For example, a business degree will cost more than a literature degree because the person with a business degree has the potential to make more money. Here is the link: Link
Do you think a person should have to pay more for their degree if their career path has the potential to pay more?
Comments (103)
not really.
only if the cost for teaching supplies and things is different (ie. english majors versus the computers and technology needed for engineering.)
No. I think it should be based on teachers’ salaries, books, equipment and the like. That’s just insanity – a way for universities to get more money. What if the business major decides to open a non-profit?
…I suppose my point is that people change their mind later. The business graduate could later change their mind and work in a different field altogether. :sigh: Why does it seem like everyone is just trying to get another piece of pie.
…and this is a PUBLIC university. What if it’s a lower income student who is scraping money together to go to college to make something of himself? Now he has to decide to go into literature to make it affordable?
Grr. This makes me annoyed.
I don’t think so – how would you really be able to judge that?
no
Considering that a good many people end up spending a significant portion of their working life in careers not “covered” by their degrees (especially if they get tired of the corporate rat race and open their own business / creative endeavor), it doesn’t make sense to base the cost of their degree on what a job in their field might make. Not only that, but you’re talking about *potential* earnings — nothing is realized and nothing is guaranteed.
I totally agree with California_Gal.
no.
All college costs are outrageous. Have you priced those college text books? Books that sometimes the professor doesn’t even use, but you have to have it for the course!
Things change, careers change, students change majors at school, they sometimes even pursue a different career rather than the one they got a degree in.
So my answer is NO. Colleges/Universities are just liberal money grabbing machines.
No. Your degree doesnt guarentee what your going to make. And some degrees that offer a high salary dont have many job openings, so then what is that person going to do?
No, just because you pursue a certain degree doesn’t mean you’ll go down the path that degree trained you for, and even if you it do certainly doesn’t guarantee you a certain salary.
No, but that is the odd sort of thinking you will see around centers of higher learning.
I know you used the word potential, it just seems unfair that someone should have to pay more for his degree because he could’ve “potentially” made more but has a salary of $50,000, where his classmate does some post-grad and earns $175,000 a year. Graduate studies are probably going to make a bigger difference in salary and those students sure pay enough for it, they don’t need an undergrad tuition hike.
“Books that sometimes the professor doesn’t even use, but you have to have it for the course! ”
posted 7/29/2007 9:38 AM lead_mare (message)
I have to say, that’s happened to me every semester of university or college and it’s incredibly annoying.
No. In this day and age, the majority of employers are looking for people with Associate’s to do entry level work. It’s as if Associate’s has replaced the HS Diploma. Most colleges have raised their tuitions regardless of the degree program you’re in. Central Michigan University just raised their tuition by 21%, highest in the state. Why? Where is the money going? It’s certainly not going to remodel the college. It’s lining the banking vault of the president and board members.
That sucks!
After awhile, people aren’t going to be able to afford college, even with a Pell Grant helping them. So in essence, paying more for an in demand degree will only help destroy the economy.
No. I think colleges are one area that need to justify their tuition and back up their justification for shaking down their respective students…
No. I think colleges are one area that need to justify their tuition and back up their justification for shaking down their respective students…
No. It should be based on what it costs a school to provide the education. However, I do see the potential sense in basing it on what the education is worth. A higher paying degree is worth more and therefore could sensibly cost more. Tough call there, but I hope it will be based on the cost of providing the education.
No… we have 3 kids in college and there just isn’t enough money for everything. My daughter works 40 hours a week all summer at $6/hr and still can’t make enough to cover expenses. From my point of view, costs are way too high already.
No.
Just because it has the potential doesn’t mean it actually will.
The person probably won’t have any money anyway if they’re paying their loans forever…
No, but they should be able to pay less for it if their career doesn’t have the potential to pay off the college costs in a reasonable amount of time.
No, because then you’ll just have a bunch of art majors running around. And who likes art majors?
That’s the way it works in the real world. Doctors make more because they charge more because they had to go to medical school. Lawyers make more because they had to go to law school. Anyone that makes tons of money charges a lot because of their “knowledge” from continued education. And I hardly think it’s fair for say, a teacher who makes little money in a very underappreciated but very much needed job to pay as much as a business executive who can make a lot more with even less schooling. Take a look at some of the presidents and CEOs of fortune 500 companies – many of them had no post-secondary education because they learned from their families. And their families hadn’t finished high school and came to the country not knowing English and took what they learned from working to start their own business and become millionaires.
Nope…. that flawed idea is why, to my knowledge, there are so many law grads in hock for tens and hundreds of dollars they won’t be paying back for a long time, with job prospects not much better than those of a lit grad.
Potential doesn’t mean you WILL make more… To be honest the more I go to college the more I see how stupid it all is.
No…College costs are already way too high….
This could limit a person’s potential to what their social and /or economic status is… besides, having the degree doesnt necessarily guarantee will be using it, or making the money that someone else thinks they should make…
no but i don’t mind that idea.
Does that mean music and theatre degrees will be free from now on?
NO god please NOOOOOO!!
i’m a pharmacy major
That would make “persuing a business degree” less appealing because you never know how much money you can make afterwards.
sounds pretty fair to me. They also should take into account how much it costs to educate the student. For example, if an field of study requires a lot of sosphicated equipment and technology, it should cost more to offset those costs.
If it is a private college, they should charge whatever the hell they want. If it is public, there needs to be tuition that is the same across the board; no matter the degree…
DeafJock, they already impliment technology costs for degrees that require it. Most Colleges within Universities have individual “college fees” as well.
Err. Having the potential to do something, and actually doing it, are different things.
no, thats absurd. certain degrees should only be more if it costs more to teach them. not just taking money because they can. i hate that
I guess I’ll just agree with the vast majority of responses here, and say NO! Some majors already cost more due to factors beyond tuition and books. My old roommate was an aviation major, and she spent $100/hour for plane rental just to log flying hours. Will she be paid more than, say, an education major? Yes, but that doesn’t mean that she should have to pay more for her education.
No, even though that would benefit us as we pay for a music degree for our daughter. I know people who got nursing degrees, MDs, engineering degrees, etc. and became missionaries in third world countries. Getting a degree does not guarantee a job in that field, and not everyone who goes into a lucrative field does so to get rich. Colleges should charge for the cost of the education and not for some psychic prediction of future income.
whaaaaaaa! i agree with california gal.
if i had heard that i would have majored
in archeology then got a medical job.
No, it shouldn’t cost you more just because you might make more.
I’m torn. I know that many universities find themselves in a position where they need to manufacture money out of nowhere (students’ pockets; it’s the same thing.) As a music major, I’d probably stand to benefit…
but so many people change careers later on in life. it’s not really a fair penalty to pay.
again, provocative language does you no good.
“the expense of specialized equipment and the difficulties of getting state legislatures to approve general tuition increases”
that’s the reason why, and it’s only to juniors or seniors, or at least students taking classes specifically in their field. my school already does this. a business degree would definitely take more resources over one of journalism. it’s the nature of the field.
College in general is far too expensive. Half the time you never end up doing anything with that damned diploma that you spent so much money obtaining.
Wow, that is the biggest load of bull I’ve ever heard…but I guess that’s all good and fine for me with my literature and arts degree…
No. Especially since everyone always emphasizes the fact that your decisions about college shouldn’t be about landing a better job, but the intrinsic value of getting an education. It’s hypocritical.
I also discovered how “stupid” college was… Yes, I highly value being a literate and educated person, but am resentful that the best job I could get – despite graduating at the top of my class of 5,300, was a file clerk for a law firm. Furthermore, many employers see higher education as merely an indicator that you can complete a task; in general, they could care less about what you majored in. You are entry-level and will be trained.
Further degrees (MA, MD, PhD, JD) are specialized and priced differently for a reason. A JD trains you (theoretically, at least), to work with the law. For undergraduate study, charging different prices is absurd, I think.
College costs are insane.
please think and get real here people.
the cost in books over a year (two semesters) will be the difference in hundreds of dollars already. i guarantee you that a major in bio-medicine will be hella more expensive than say, a major in dance. face it, some majors cost more money to do, it’s not that one job will make more money in a career. that’s besides the point and the way thetheo is trying to make you think stupid and retarded.
Yes, and here why, there are some degree out there that dont pay well enough to justify the cost of the degree.
I think all that will do is make public universities’ arts and humanities departments even shittier than they already are. This issue also highlights one of my longtime gripes about college; it seems like most kids go to college so that they can make some fat cash, not for the education. College used to be about teaching people about art and lit and history and basically making them a well-rounded, informed (interesting) person. Now it’s about management, accounting, and marketing, arts be damned.
Most of the people I meet have some kind of degree. The most boring and/or disagreeable are usually business majors.
No, because with higher costs, people take out student loans..and they are killer to pay back.
NO!
No. It doesnt cost more to tech on major or another, so it should cost more for the student.
That might work for me – I’m planning on being a teacher! Ha!
Seems like a rather dumb idea to me. If you were guaranteed that everyone graduating from a program would make a certain amount of money no matter what they would do after graduation.
They’re already demanding a lot of money just to get in anyway, they don’t need that much more.
And I feel that my career choice has been insulted here. I’m going to make more money than those business majors now, just for that
they have the POTENTIAL to make more money.
doesn’t mean that they will.
so i’d have to say no.
no. there’s no guarantee that the business major will make more money than the literature major will.
Nah
That’s ridiculous. It’s like punishing the people who will be more successful. Especially when you consider how few people actually build their career long-term based on the degree they get as an undergrad, it makes very little sense to adjust their tuition to their “future income.”
no, that sounds stupid.
“…and this is a PUBLIC university. What if it’s a lower income student who is scraping money together to go to college to make something of himself? Now he has to decide to go into literature to make it affordable?”
basically i’m saying….^^^i agree with this =]
A school should be allowed to charge more for certain degrees; if potential students think the education to be received will be worth the increase in cost, they will pay; if students don’t think it’s worth it, they will go somewhere else. Shouldn’t take the school long to figure out if the idea is good or not. But cost increases should be phased in; it wouldn’t be fair to suddenly jack up costs for senior majoring in busniess.
Nope.
No; I think it’s wrong.
I think it is a ridiculous notion. It doesn’t cost them any more money to hire a English teacher than it does for them to hire a Communications teacher so why should we have to pay them more money for the that class. It makes no sense whatsoever. As it is I am maxing out my student loans to cover what pell grants won’t all the while trying to make ends meet for my family of four. If it gets anymore expensive I won’t be able to go, putting me even further behind in my long term goals…crap.
Yes. Because that means my seminary degree should be free.
that would be awesome for me since I’m just going to be a HS English teacher and they earn shit…
College is what you make it. Everyone has the chance to take as many credits and get as many degrees as they want. Besides, this will also create controversy over the degrees that cost less because they suck. Besides, aren’t degrees that lead to higher paying jobs generally “harder”?
I agree with Kestryl, the only reason why I think it’s okay would be if the materials needed for that class cost more than those needed in a different class. The cost of education should be determined on whether or not you’ll be succesful, because a moajority of people will be in debt and the stress of that and other daily life problems might be enough to overcome them and kill off any chance of them being able to achieve that dream, whatever it may be.
No. We are the future. you need people like us
No. That’s just dumb.
Sounds fine to me.
It does cost more to teach certain classes, why not make the students pay more.
And it really already costs more to take certain classes. As I recall, the only materials needed for a Lit class were a book, pencil, and paper.
Anyone want to name off all the materials needed in Chem lab? And their costs?
No.
How can you charge for knowledge?
This question brings us back to politics, for example, Republican is to con as Democrat is to pro.(If we are to agree Republicans believe everyone should be taxed equally, rather than the Democrat’s view that you should be taxed depending on where they are in society and your annual gross) And, being a republican, and seeing my view on this particular subject, I believe that everyone should have to pay the same for their degree, and whether or not they make more money out of it is depending on how well they are at their job and the fact that they should know what they’re getting themselves into in the first place.
Where you are in society.*
Perhaps the college could subsidize required field that will never earn that much but are important for society eg teaching.
As a country, should we be discouraging amjors that actually provide a benefit for society (as acknowledged by salary) like nursing, chemistry, and engineering while encouraging those that society deems lesser like history, philosphy, theater, etc. We hear of the derth oif US scientists and engineers yet we consider penalizing those that choose that majors.
If it were in a more expensive field, I would enroll in a major with no fee and take courses in the more expensive major until I was close to graduation. I am a chemist, but love history and took many history courses. I could have seen myself as a history major until my junior or Sr year.
cough extortion cough
no, it’s the english major’s own damn fault if he enters such a competitive field and can’t find a job at it. it clearly means he’s not good enough and/or he should make himself more marketable. here’s an idea…. if you’re not going to come out of college any more educated or less angsty than you were when you got in, just don’t go. then it won’t cost you anything.
besides, do you know how much pressure is put on kids to choose a career path that is “practical”? if i go into something difficult and boring, like medicine, when i know writing is my favorite and most developed talent, and i leave my “dream” behind in order to make “a living,” i am NOT going to pay extra for it.
destroying the middle class………
noway jose
My degree should totally cost less because I won’t be making hardly any money in my career field!
My degree should totally cost less because I won’t be making hardly any money in my career field!
Wow I’m so glad universities decided to become all the more greedier than I thought they could ever be. I was hoping by now they would realize that everyone can have unlimited potential if they set their minds to it. It shouldn’t be about the field, it should be about how much one wants to invest their efforts into their education. I knew a lady that made a liberal arts degree into a high end corporate job. It’s all what you are willing to do.
it would make it nice for us unhopefuls when it comes to paying off debts. priests and poets will never get their debts paid…
OMFG, the NYT article disgusts me. Implementing artifical price controls for select majors is the worst sort of intellectual rape possible. It fucks at the core of what a university is, both pragmatically and idealistically.
No…most people still start out poor and need as much help as possible to get a good degree. Besides, if a person wants to be a doctor and ends up being a farmer, they are in big trouble. You also won’t have students who really try for what they want because of the money. Stupid idea!
i’ll go with a yes but and a no, unless. that is to say, it makes sense to say “hey, you know what? your chosen degree probably wont make you much money, we’re dropping the price” but to go the other way around sounds more like “the rich get richer the poor get poorer”. it becomes a situation where unless you can already afford the degree you cant get the earning potential to afford the degree. so if you dont have top knotch credit for that student loan and cant get free money from the local money tree you’re stuck in a low paying job, hoping that maybe you’ll be able to scrape something together for your kids.
No way. Education is education. Maybe salaries need to be adjusted… not costs!
Having attended a public university the higher cost for science majors (business is classified as a science), was directly related to the type of expenses the University had to incur in order to maintain that particular level of education for science majors.
As to the question Dan is asking, this is more a question about worth and the free market system. Within the free market, should a business (the university) charge more for a product (undergraduate degree program) which is valued more and is in higher demand, versus other products with less demand and valued less by it’s buyers (students).
The problem is that an education isn’t simply a product that members of society could live without. Education has become a necessity for the U.S., and this necessity shouldn’t comply with the free market system.
No. I know a lot of people who have jobs that have nothing to do with their B.S. degrees and in my experience, its been REALLY hard to get employeed with a B.S. (magna cum laude, Chemistry). I had to get a Master’s in Engineering before anyone would consider me. But somehow I think that they’d charge more for a chemistry degree than an english degree.
hmmmm. no.
WOW. I’m not sure, but I do know that I’m paying the big bucks trying to get college paid for … I’m a children’s choir director … while my engineer friends are all done paying for theirs and saving for babies and retirement.
No…it doesn’t mean the person is going to finish in that major or get a job for sure.
they do it in the philippines. nursing and engineering course are far more expensive than other majors by maybe 2 or 3 times depending on the school
Not at all.
No!!
No…Why should people be punished with a higher tuition if that is what they really want to do.
I think each university has the right to decide whatever it wants to charge. If you don’t like it, go elsewhere.
VERY interesting…unfair I suppose, they should all be low.