Online Education Will Be the Next 'Bubble' To Pop, Not Traditional University Learning

John Tamny:

Speaking in Providence, RI not too long ago, the post-speech conversation turned to college education. The word was that Brown University's tuition alone had risen above $50,000 per year.

The above number is staggering. For the most part college students tune out during their four years on campus; that, or they memorize what's needed to get As on the tests. Why then would any parent pay the sky-high tuition, and then barring parental help, what 18-year old would take on that kind of debt in order to be the recipient of lots of largely useless information?

Brown is course not alone in this regard. Whether at public or private schools, college tuition over the years has skyrocketed. One factor, though it's certainly not as big as analysts presume, is the federal government's growing role in the financing of education.

With the above entity increasingly the only market for college loans, and with that same entity rather generous with the money of others, colleges and universities have very little incentive to do anything but raise tuition. Since our federal government is price insensitive, tuition can keep rising.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at June 11, 2013 1:26 AM
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