• The KillerFrogs

Texas four-year college annual tuition costs

LVH

Active Member
This is ridiculous... state schools now cost as much as TCU did when I attended. Sickening.

Government and Higher Education is in bed, jacking up higher education costs to ridiculous levels and they rake in the dough and then saddle the students with the burden. I guess they need to pay gender studies majors that fill these massive Diversity Equity and Inclusion departments and build all these fancy new buildings and amenities somehow.

I dont support government forgiveness of student loans but this is absurd. Higher education should not be that expensive.

Everything the government gets involved in becomes way more expensive... name one industry the government has entered that made prices go down. Want costs to go down? Government exits the student loan market. But they wont because higher ed wants governments to be involved in student loans so higher ed continues to drown in cash.
 

LVH

Active Member
Cancel student loan debt and suddenly all of the schools will cost the same (SMU's price).
Yep. Would just make the problem 100x worse. If the government "cancels" student debt, then students(Borrowers) will go to school expecting the same to happen to them, meaning the schools will jack up their tuition costs even higher.

Make universities co-sign student loans and be on the hook, and costs will drop like a rock overnight. Again, it won't happen, because government and higher ed are in bed with each other. It's a symbiotic relationship. Democrats get the government involved in student loans, which causes higher ed to charge a lot of money for tuition and rake in the dough, then higher ed re-donates almost exclusively to democrats in the form of campaign contributions. Also it helps out democrats because its democrat voters who fill the administrative bloat that ridiculous tuition costs enable. Ohio State wouldn't have a 69 person $13 million Diversity Equity and Inclusion department if not for government involvement in student loans.
 

tcudoc

Full Member
Agree. Student loan forgiveness would drive the cost of education up even higher. In addition, all technical schools like Devry and Lincoln Tech would also be getting in on the free money.
Not to mention the slap in the face for those who worked their butts off to pay off their loans or those who served in the military to fund their education.
The government is coming out with bad ideas one after the other.
 

TCUdirtbag

Active Member
Agree. Student loan forgiveness would drive the cost of education up even higher. In addition, all technical schools like Devry and Lincoln Tech would also be getting in on the free money.
Not to mention the slap in the face for those who worked their butts off to pay off their loans or those who served in the military to fund their education.
The government is coming out with bad ideas one after the other.

I don’t know why no one has offered “cut student loan interest rates” rather than all the “cancel debt” [ deposit from a bull that looks like Art Briles ].

I’m pro-very-low interest education loans. Anti-cancellation. Seems very reasonable. But we don’t do reasonable in this country very often.

I do think the market will correct in time. The looming enrollment cliff will force institutions to adjust. LVH likes to [ hundin] about DEI initiatives at colleges akin to those run by every Fortune 500 company. I generally disagree when his perspective but don’t deny there should be an option for students who don’t want to foot a bill for a giant student affairs enterprise. I also disagree that the problem is “democrats.” The last Republican administration just forced colleges to significantly expand their Title IX offices and expenses. A cost that will trickle down to students. Point being that political leaders of all persuasions are imposing their preferred and costly regs on institutions—we’re all driving costs up together. The bottom line though remains as it always has - it’s not salaries driving the payroll expanse (most of the jobs people like LVH call bloat are low paying, particularly relative to education), it’s the cost of employee healthcare, necessary technology, insurance, infrastructure, and student-demanded services. Education is more technical, more advanced, and the workforce is requiring more technological skills and credentialing. Those things cost money. The great resignation is hitting higher ed particularly hard because the industry can’t keep up with private sector pay—even adjusted for the quality of life/benefits.

IMO, a significant industry problem is every private wants to be like Stanford or Harvard (except the religious ones trying to be Liberty), every public flagship wants to be UCLA or Michigan, and every land grant wants to be Ohio State. We need colleges to differentiate and stay in their lanes so the buffet of institutions give students various options (price, services, degrees) based on what they want and are willing to pay for.
 
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Heard a guy on the talk radio the other day who said his plan was to put money away for his kids in to a trust. Then when his kids were between 18-30 they could present a proposal /business plan to his board of trustees as to what they would do with the funds. Start a legitimate business, go to school for a specific purpose like dr, lawyer engineer, etc... hookers and cocaine was not an acceptable plan. Interesting take.
 

4 Oaks Frog

Active Member
As I remember, when I was at TCU, my tuition was $50 per hour plus books, fees and board. State schools were about $8-$10 per hour. I love TCU and the education I received there. However, $50 per hour was too expensive for the times then, and almost $75,000 per year is ridiculous now.
No basic college education is worth that kind of money. The government guaranteed student loan program is the cause of run-away tuition prices. Until something is done about that, tuition inflation will continue…
 

Pharm Frog

Full Member
IMO, a significant industry problem is every private wants to be like Stanford or Harvard (except the religious ones trying to be Liberty), every public flagship wants to be UCLA or Michigan, and every land grant wants to be Ohio State. We need colleges to differentiate and stay in their lanes so the buffet of institutions give students various options (price, services, degrees) based on what they want and are willing to pay for.
I've been saying that for about three decades now...ever since I left higher education in large part because I was being asked to "enrollment manage" to an "aspiration" and not a reality. Not a marketeer by nature but I do play one about 60% in my job and it seems pretty clear that differentiation is pretty clearly critical if you want to compete well in the space that best matches your distinction.
 
I don’t know why no one has offered “cut student loan interest rates” rather than all the “cancel debt” [ deposit from a bull that looks like Art Briles ].

I’m pro-very-low interest education loans. Anti-cancellation. Seems very reasonable. But we don’t do reasonable in this country very often.

I do think the market will correct in time. The looming enrollment cliff will force institutions to adjust. LVH likes to [ hundin] about DEI initiatives at colleges akin to those run by every Fortune 500 company. I generally disagree when his perspective but don’t deny there should be an option for students who don’t want to foot a bill for a giant student affairs enterprise. I also disagree that the problem is “democrats.” The last Republican administration just forced colleges to significantly expand their Title IX offices and expenses. A cost that will trickle down to students. Point being that political leaders of all persuasions are imposing their preferred and costly regs on institutions—we’re all driving costs up together. The bottom line though remains as it always has - it’s not salaries driving the payroll expanse (most of the jobs people like LVH call bloat are low paying, particularly relative to education), it’s the cost of employee healthcare, necessary technology, insurance, infrastructure, and student-demanded services. Education is more technical, more advanced, and the workforce is requiring more technological skills and credentialing. Those things cost money. The great resignation is hitting higher ed particularly hard because the industry can’t keep up with private sector pay—even adjusted for the quality of life/benefits.

IMO, a significant industry problem is every private wants to be like Stanford or Harvard (except the religious ones trying to be Liberty), every public flagship wants to be UCLA or Michigan, and every land grant wants to be Ohio State. We need colleges to differentiate and stay in their lanes so the buffet of institutions give students various options (price, services, degrees) based on what they want and are willing to pay for.
I appreciate your thoughts and because I am curious as to how informed your perspective is, and if you don’t mind me asking, do you work at TCU?
 

BleedNPurple

Active Member
It says that’s the list price but estimated actual price students are paying is $23,277

 

TCUdirtbag

Active Member
It says that’s the list price but estimated actual price students are paying is $23,277


That’s if your family income is $0-$30,000. Gotta toggle that menu at the top. For families with household income over 100k the estimated average price is $51k.

The point that sticker price isn’t representative of actual price is quite true though.
 

BleedNPurple

Active Member
That’s if your family income is $0-$30,000. Gotta toggle that menu at the top. For families with household income over 100k the estimated average price is $51k.

The point that sticker price isn’t representative of actual price is quite true though.
They used to have Texas equalization grants for private schools vs state. Not sure what’s out there now.
 

mc1502

Full Member
That’s if your family income is $0-$30,000. Gotta toggle that menu at the top. For families with household income over 100k the estimated average price is $51k.

The point that sticker price isn’t representative of actual price is quite true though.
What families' income is < $30K? My 16 year old daughter works at a fast food chain on the weekends. She makes $15.00/hr. That rate annualized at 2,080 is $31.2K. Sorry, but if a families' income is < $30K, that family isn't trying to make a living.
 

TCUdirtbag

Active Member
What families' income is < $30K? My 16 year old daughter works at a fast food chain on the weekends. She makes $15.00/hr. That rate annualized at 2,080 is $31.2K. Sorry, but if a families' income is < $30K, that family isn't trying to make a living.

Weird distraction from the conversation but as a reminder the minimum wage is less than half of what you quote, $7.25/hr. And your calculation of $15/hr x 40 hours x 52 weeks assumes the worker takes literally no time off work in an entire year. For reference, here are household income statistics. https://www.statista.com/statistics/203183/percentage-distribution-of-household-income-in-the-us/
 

Pharm Frog

Full Member
Weird distraction from the conversation but as a reminder the minimum wage is less than half of what you quote, $7.25/hr. And your calculation of $15/hr x 40 hours x 52 weeks assumes the worker takes literally no time off work in an entire year. For reference, here are household income statistics. https://www.statista.com/statistics/203183/percentage-distribution-of-household-income-in-the-us/

Definitely related but y'all may be talking about two different income measures: family v household. And, yes...odd bunny trail but I can see it being a curiosity.
 
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