Higher Education is in a bubble. Not only has total student loan debt in the United States surpassed credit card debt, but much of this debt has been taken out for degrees that are not worth the price of tuition. This is due to the fact that many students go to college with the false belief that a degree is a degree. And the colleges and universities profit off this widespread, but mistaken idea. Not all degrees are created equal.
At The Best Colleges one of our primary missions is to help students make informed decisions about their education. Part of our challenge in doing this is exposing real, hidden risks in education. Several months ago we exposed what we believe is a Law School Bubble with a well-researched and informative infographic to help students make a wise decision before taking on a lifetime of debt. Because of the widspread success of this infographic, we began doing research on the wider problem of a higher education bubble. And this infographic is the result of our research.
What we've found is striking. Not only have tuition and fees have skyrockted at rates much higher than inflation but student debt has grown much faster than consumer debt. As a nation we are investing vast resources into higher education, but what have been the results of this investment?
- Drop in the quality of education
- Degrees unmatched to the economic needs of the United States
- Decreasing graduation rates
- Declining value of most Bachelor's degrees due to oversaturation
- Drastic increases in debt, and the emergence of a wage slave class
Some of have suggested that the United States is currently engaging in a massive mis-allocation of resources - that we're spending away our wealth on a mis-directed, poor quality, inefficient and unoptimized higher education system. All while the colleges and universities stoke their bank accounts.
Do we think there' s a solution? Yes. And the first step is to start assigning economic value to specific degrees so that students can make wise decisions about the debt that they take on for education.
