Here is a paper by Professor Nicholas Dirks arguing for more public funding for universitities.
You can purchase Bryan Caplan’s book,
The Case Against Education,
here.
US total
student debt is now over $1.5 trillion. The
average student-loan debt per graduating student in 2018 who took out loans is $29,800.
Bryan talks about credential inflation and how it encourages people to go to get degrees for jobs their parents did not have to. Employers are
seeking more education for jobs that formerly required less education, even when the skill set required to do the job has not changed.
Professor Dirks argued that although students with liberal arts degrees do not earn well right out of college (compared to their science and engineering peers), over time their career trajectories do improve.
Reports show that by age 40 liberal arts graduates do earn similar salaries to their STEM graduate peers.
Here is a look at how US and UK universities compare. The US system requires students to take a variety of courses outside their majors, while the UK favours smaller classes that focus specifically on the student’s chosen discipline.
Bryan says that 80% of STEM majors (science, technology, engineering, and math) do not go on to get STEM jobs.
This Atlantic piece goes into detail about how STEM degrees do not necessarily lead to jobs in those respective fields
The Varsity Blues Scandal – also known as the college admissions bribery scandal – was the US Justice Department’s largest-ever college admissions prosecution, with an investigation that involved 200 agents nationwide and resulted in charges against 50 people in six states.
Nicholas mentioned Peter Thiel’s fellowship program to reward those who don’t go to college. In 2011, the successful investor and entrepreneur launched a
program that awards $100,000 to promising young entrepreneurs who are willing to drop out of college and focus on turning their ideas into successful businesses.