[jenshoop]

Spot on. There's also been an increasing competitive push between universities to deliver "country club-esque" experiences to students, which further drives up cost. (Separately, let's not forget about the chaos of the educational publishing industry and the insane price points they command for modestly updated editions each year.) But I think items 1 and 2 above -- and a lack of education about what loans are and the value of a higher ed degree to the potential student -- are the true culprits here. There's a cultural expectation that all students will matriculate to college, and many high schools measure their success in terms of college attainment. Meanwhile, there's a lack of counseling/education for students, so few know that they're expected to repay loans and fewer explore the options (college and non-college) in front of them, and counselors would be working at cross-purposes with the secondary institution's goals if they advised against attending college. As demand for higher ed continues to grow, for-profit higher ed institutions continue to spring up to suck up federal loans and lower acceptance standards.

[at-fates-hands]

>> let's not forget about the chaos of the educational publishing industry and the insane price points they command for modestly updated editions each year.)

I had a friend of mine who I knew when I was working at Thomson Reuters back when they still had their educational publishing wing of the company. He was in sales and said educational publishing is one of the biggest rackets nobody has heard of.

He said he would do his due diligence and meet with professors and educators regularly during the year and let them know what the publishers were doing, but in the end, he said it was always a 50/50 roll of the dice if a professor or school bought the books he had been pitching them since they got the last version of the textbooks they ordered.

He said it mainly came down to name recognition, and Thomson had that - but he also said it was similar to how agents woe professional athletes. Lots of perks, free dinners and baseball tickets to the professors making the decisions. He said as a sales person, they had a "client account" card where they could wine and dine clients and had a monthly stipend between 5K-10K specifically for this purpose.

He said you'd be surprised how greedy these professors get once they know they can influence what books are going to be purchased for the following year and from what company.

[zo1]

>"There's also been an increasing competitive push between universities to deliver "country club-esque" experiences to students, which further drives up cost."

That was my impression of University/College. Having only experienced what was shown in movies and the media, I was under the impression that college meant getting your own "apartment with a roommate". Unfortunately, in the non-US university I attended, it meant "4x6" meter room, two beds, two cupboards, two desks, and two-roommates.

Then again, the entire year's tuition did only cost about $3500, about 9 years ago.

[brbsix]

At least in my experience at a UC, the media portrayal was fairly accurate. It seemed like there was a never-ending onslaught of concerts, "multicultural events", sporting events, "community center" activities, safe spaces, Greek events, etcetera (all of which receive school funding in some form or another). I appreciated the occasional guest speaker, but looking around I couldn't help but notice money pouring from everywhere, namely for things that had nothing to do with academics. Far too many administrators with too much time on their hands.

[meric]

I thought the same too. I didn't even have a room, and travelled to class by train from home.

[morgante]

> so few know that they're expected to repay loans

What?

Literally every student I talk to knows full well that loans are meant to be repaid.

[dredmorbius]

Lots of loans are "meant" to be repaid (that's a literal, not a scare quote).

But if it turns out that it cannot be, virtually all are dischargable in bankruptcy.

Student loans are a very, very rare exception. Also a rather recent one.