Powerline: Thoughts on the Edububble

We want to encourage our young people to go to college. I may have it backwards but my goal is to not lie to them about the investment they and their parents are about to make. So here's an example:

Today, a good private college costs between $40 and $50K a year; many state universities will run you over $20K a year.  Total cost for four year now: $150K or more.  That’s not even close to a starting professional salary, except for the handful of top students who go to Wall Street.  I’ve run this shift by some college administrators and get the same answer: “Well, very few people actually pay those full tuition rates.  Most students get some amount of financial aid, so the real cost is much lower.”  To which I respond: “Determining what college is going to cost you ought not to be like haggling with a used car dealer.”  (Memo to parents by the way: if you have a child admitted to several colleges, you should treat the financial aid offices exactly like used car dealers, and beat the hell out of them for the best deal.  Apologies here to used car dealers; you are actually more scrupulous than college financial aid departments.)

The parenthesis of that above quote would certainly apply to that young lady from my old high school who really wanted to go to Spelman College but she didn't get the best deal there! She did go for the best deal btw still this is a lesson to many high school seniors who are still trying to figure out where they should start their undergrad education!

Via Instapundit which had this pertinent comment, "What other industry forces you to give them detailed financial statements before they’ll decide on your price?"

Well that is what they're doing when you fill out a FAFSA so that you can get grants and loans! Of course that means the information input on the FAFSA will have to be evaluated by a college financial aid advisor.