[firefoxman1]

> Young people and parents need to seriously consider forgoing college entirely, that will be the only thing that will force the price down.

That's definitely a problem I've seen with my peers. They go just because their parents expect it of them. I can't find the article (it was on HN maybe 6 months ago) that compared college majors in the mid 80's to 2011. While useful stuff like CS stayed relatively flat, the majors that skyrocketed were things like Liberal Arts. Those are the people making college expensive for all of us.

One real way to bring prices down would be to attend community college for 1-2 years. It's extremely cost effective, easily transferable, and designed for working adults so the schedules are often more flexible than traditional college.

[jseliger]

While useful stuff like CS stayed relatively flat, the majors that skyrocketed were things like Liberal Arts.

Liberal arts degrees are also relatively flat, depending on how you want to count them: the major rise was in business, which accounts for about a quarter of U.S. undergrad degrees. Communications has also risen enormously.

(See Academically Adrift and Louis Menand's The Marketplace of Ideas for more details. Note that the former also finds that liberal arts majors actually make large, measurable improvements in learning over their first two years of college, while business majors, as a group, don't.)

[gyardley]

Liberal arts education is both useful and costs relatively little compared to technical education. My history degree isn't making anyone's CS tuition rise.

Tuitions have been rising primarily because state governments have been reducing subsidies to higher education -- thanks to pressures elsewhere in the budget, like pension obligations. Generous federal loan policies and capital expenditures on non-essentials like swanky 'luxury dorms' haven't helped.

[eshrews]

This is the source you are looking for - http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/11/col...

[firefoxman1]

That's it! Much appreciated.

[JVIDEL]

Maybe but the thing is that people you mention also go to expensive schools because of the prestige, not the learning part, so you wont be able to convince them of going to a community college.

[firefoxman1]

Well, yeah that's exactly it. It's almost entirely a reputation thing.