“I kind of ruined my life by going to college.” College, Debt, and Administrative Bloat

“I kind of ruined my life by going to college.” College, Debt, and Administrative Bloat July 7, 2016

Do not let this be you.
Do not let this be you.

Look at the cover of Consumer Reports and consider whether you should sign that loan document at State U. Every year tuition goes up, but the quality does not increase while student debt skyrockets.

Why?

Schools are wasting your money on vanity administrative projects, bloated administrative salaries, and programs most students do not use (sports, recreation, party planning). Worst of all,  hundreds of thousands of dollars that the students borrow and come from parent’s savings go to consultants who study issues like . . . how to cut the cost of school.

Before you go to X University, Google the 990 of the school you wish to attend. See what the President and the highest paid people on campus make. You might be shocked to discover that at many schools none of those people will teach your classes.

We don’t need schools run by people who are professional administrators, but not teachers, scholars, or intellectuals. Never go to a school where the President makes more than every faculty member in your department where you will major combined. The 990 will tell. (Make sure you add up salary and related compensation lines, by the way.)

Ask the school what the average professor makes and you will discover the administration, people not teaching or doing research, are making many times the amount of professors or teachers. College is costing you more because at more than a few schools, all academic programs may get as little as 1/3 of the budget. 

Many schools face declining enrollments as the world of education changes. Despite fewer students, higher education administration keeps growing as does the cost of college.  Ask what percentage of what they want you to borrow is going to salaries for administrators.

Remember: debt is not “financial aid” except to the aides who multiply around administrators.  You have to pay debt back with interest for years after the administrators whose salaries took up all your tuition have retired.

There are alternatives and Consumer Reports lists them. One solution is to say: “No” and head to any school that does not ask you to borrow money. The King’s College is helping The Saint Constantine School provide one answer to debt . . . only teachers and professors, no full-time administrators, but there are others.

My basic rule when talking to students is never borrow more than twenty-thousand dollars total over four years . . . even for a high quality school.

Here are five options (not named The Saint Constantine School!) to avoid borrowing money to pay for college:

Join the Armed Forces.

Serve your country and save for college. The experience will prepare you for school and the money you save will give you more options.

Go to community college and transfer credits debt free. 

Don’t go to a community college if your dream school offers you full time professors in the “general education” or “core” programs. Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University can do this, so can your school. Don’t pay full price for part-time teachers for half your education.

If you cannot find (or get into) a school with full time teachers for every class (or almost every class), then go to a junior or community college and transfer into your dream school for the major.

This drives the some schools wild because you have taken all the “profit” out of their “non-profit” education, but you can avoid borrowing money.

Find schools whose academic reputation justifies the cost. By no means go to any school where your major has fewer professors than the school has Vice-Presidents. 

If you go to Rice University in Texas, you will get an education that justifies the cost. There are other good options, some small and unknown: find them. Just don’t borrow a lot of money: ever unless you are going to a world class university in a major that leads to a job.

You can get the liberal arts debt-free if you look around.

Pay as you go.

Work and save money. Pay as you go. Don’t be afraid to drop out and start again. If they try to take your “package” from you for taking a year off, do not return. They will often restore your package if you are not coming back otherwise.

Pay cash and avoid debt. Borrowing money feels free . . . paying out last year’s savings . . . not so much.

Get a job at the dream school. 

Most schools heavily discount employee tuition. Get a job (cut the grass!) at your dream school. Work. Soon you can take classes for free or nearly free!

This advice has saved some former students of mine thousands of dollars . . . and they had job experience when they quit as they worked their way up the ranks!

Debt is bad generally. Do not do it, because you do not have to do it! Get a good education at a good school and avoid saying: “I kind of ruined my life by going to college.”


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