U.S. and state officials are intensifying efforts to hold colleges accountable for what happens after graduation, a sign of frustration with sky-high tuition costs and student-loan debt.
Sens. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) and Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) are expected to reintroduce this week legislation that would require states to make more accessible the average salaries of colleges’ graduates. The figures could help prospective students compare salaries by college and major to assess the best return on their investment.
Seems silly, given the fact that so many of the almost-guaranteed employment universities are also the most expensive. And there’s more good news-it’s really well thought out.
The Wyden-Rubio bill doesn’t spell out exactly how this information has to be assembled. The goal is that students and parents could use the U.S. Department of Education website to query data from all 50 states. But the bill relies on states to knit together wage data submitted by employers with information on graduates submitted by colleges.
What’s also missing is a way to measure the actual efforts of graduates to get work that reflects well on their institutions. The presumption that everyone is hitting the streets and giving it their best shots seems a bit far fetched.
So this program tells undergrads that, let’s say computer network security is a degree that pays well. Undergrads flock to those courses. Four years later security specialists are a dime a dozen and starting salaries drop.
That’s economics for you: generally speaking, the more of something there is, the less value it has. There is also the fact that not everyone is equally good at a job let alone be capable of doing a job. A lot of people trained as the above mentioned specialists won’t be very good at the job and so won’t be hired, or if they are will be replaced by someone better.
What they should do in college is kick out the liberal elite wrecking the place. Make all the feel good fluff courses electives rather than actual degree paths and get back to real education. The first two years the basics like math, science, history, economics as well as ethics, logic, and rhetoric. The last two years this continues but the student can select courses geared toward their desired career. In other words, like it used to be when a college education was worth something. It would also help to cull the parties and the rest of the 50% that come in and never graduate. Make college a place for serious students again and not a continuation of high school for those who don’t want to grow up.
Today, colleges are mostly “reform schools” for students who managed to get out of high school with the ability to think.