Tuition up 6%

[SirFrogsAlot]

MBA programs have very low ROI for the vast majority of participants, lots of good data on that. If an employer pays for it, go for it! But I never counsel somebody to do it on their own.

Maybe it’s just my timing. I graduated in 2008 where many of us (not everyone) entered a market where starting salaries were somewhere around $30-$40k.

MBA allowed me to go from $50k or so, to $95k-$100k range pretty quick.

I did the full time program at TCU and it opened a lot of doors, and the overnight jump in pay was worth it. It also wasn’t a grueling program and was able to work a job throughout it making $40k to live off of.

I was a Neeley undergrad as well, and the second time around felt like a better education. Maybe because I was focused on applying real world applications to learning rather than hungover from the previous night’s mixer at the Aardvark.

 

[Virginia Frog]

The federal government will loan them the money, no questions asked.

And they will live in Poverty City for the rest of their days! No thanks.

 

[Paul in uhh]

College tuition has grown much faster than inflation for several years

I had to keep myself from laughing out loud when we visited SMU.

Like TCU, they cost about $75k per year. They also showed their median starting salary for a SMU grad as about $65k per year

Lol, if you’re making less money with your degree than your tuition, you went to the wrong school

It’s a crime scene. These universities are ripping people off.

Harvard costs $55k per their site

 

[TCUdirtbag]

The % of non-profits (of significant size, >$10mm) who really operate culturally like a non-profit is shockingly small... all are run like for-profit corporations.

The Venn diagram of people who want to run the government “like a business” but run highly complex and sophisticated non-profit multi-billion dollar research and teaching universities like a second hand clothing shop in bankruptcy is a damn-near circle.

 

[TCUdirtbag]

Maybe it’s just my timing. I graduated in 2008 where many of us (not everyone) entered a market where starting salaries were somewhere around $30-$40k.

MBA allowed me to go from $50k or so, to $95k-$100k range pretty quick.

I did the full time program at TCU and it opened a lot of doors, and the overnight jump in pay was worth it. It also wasn’t a grueling program and was able to work a job throughout it making $40k to live off of.

I was a Neeley undergrad as well, and the second time around felt like a better education. Maybe because I was focused on applying real world applications to learning rather than hungover from the previous night’s mixer at the Aardvark.

IMO, the ROI on an MBA really took a nosedive after the Great Recession. So many people went back to school, and so many schools started offering them as a giant tuition cash cow that the MBA became a dime a dozen. No knock on the education itself — just the commonality of the degree watered it down (same thing happened to law degrees IMO).

 

[HFrog1999]

Harvard costs $55k per their site

Including room & board I think it’s around $75k, the same as TCU or SMU. Which is ridiculous, they don’t even have a chance at the college football playoff

 

[SirFrogsAlot]

IMO, the ROI on an MBA really took a nosedive after the Great Recession. So many people went back to school, and so many schools started offering them as a giant tuition cash cow that the MBA became a dime a dozen. No knock on the education itself — just the commonality of the degree watered it down (same thing happened to law degrees IMO).

I can agree there. I somehow got a full ride to TCU for their full time two year program. I wanted to do part time so I could continue to work. But the ROI was there to just jump in and get it done. It was really easy to finish in a year and a half… and the local networking with fellow TCU mbas around the metroplex was pretty nice since it’s only a class of 40-60 students.

Went to undergrad for Marketing and got my MBA in energy finance so I at least feel like I learned something and wasn’t just getting letters behind my name. Which I don’t even promote.

 

[Eight]

Including room & board I think it’s around $75k, the same as TCU or SMU. Which is ridiculous, they don’t even have a chance at the college football playoff

shows what you know because according to some on this site the frogs don't either

 

[Gary's Shirtless Revenge]

Maybe it’s just my timing. I graduated in 2008 where many of us (not everyone) entered a market where starting salaries were somewhere around $30-$40k.

MBA allowed me to go from $50k or so, to $95k-$100k range pretty quick.

I did the full time program at TCU and it opened a lot of doors, and the overnight jump in pay was worth it. It also wasn’t a grueling program and was able to work a job throughout it making $40k to live off of.

I was a Neeley undergrad as well, and the second time around felt like a better education. Maybe because I was focused on applying real world applications to learning rather than hungover from the previous night’s mixer at the Aardvark.

Congrats, glad it was good for you. "Networking" and relationships is often cited as the #1 benefit of all MBA programs.

Data says the salary gains are often spotty and inconsistent, and simply working hard and going to the "school of hard knocks" in business can result in equivalent earnings gains over time. It's true some people benefit greatly, but on average most don't (enough to justify the $$$).

 

[Sweat Equity]

Cost of living and other raises in compensation rarely go down either, just to point out a different view and not to justify the increase. Wages chase prices; that’s how inflation go

I would agree on cost of living but commodities (gas, lumbar etc.), consumer products/food (raw meats - racks of lamb and lobster tails, for example, are 40% less for the consumer than in 2021 -, grains, clothing etc.), transportation (shipping, etc.) et al. I would strongly disagree: There is variable pricing and is adjusted upward and downward.

The mapping of upward/downward pricing of the above is meticulous and often complicated and sometimes a SWAG (algos, supply/demand, inflation etc.), whereas the pricing of higher education is much simpler, see Exhibit 1:

 

[Prince of Purpoole II]

I would agree on cost of living but commodities (gas, lumbar etc.), consumer products/food (raw meats - racks of lamb and lobster tails, for example, are 40% less for the consumer than in 2021 -, grains, clothing etc.), transportation (shipping, etc.) et al. I would strongly disagree: There is variable pricing and is adjusted upward and downward.

The mapping of upward/downward pricing of the above is meticulous and often complicated and sometimes a SWAG (algos, supply/demand, inflation etc.), whereas the pricing of higher education is much simpler, see Exhibit 1:

Of course prices of commodities go up and down. You’ll have to look long and hard to find a quote from me saying otherwise and even then the search will be fruitless.

You said tuition doesn’t go down once it goes up and I said neither do wages. I further said wages chase prices. Finally I said I’m not trying to justify the tuition at TCU

The end.

 

[Frog-in-law1995]

I started in the Ad/PR world out of undergrad in the mid 90s and after a couple of promotions, the big boss pulled me aside one day and said to go get an MBA to get me into management. So I started one and halfway through, our agency was bought out and relocated. I decided to leave and go to law school, but went ahead and finished my MBA first. So for any of y’all out there who think your MBA doesn’t have much value…get on my level. Absolute zero value for me.

Edit: looks good on the vanity wall, I suppose.

 

[Sweat Equity]

Of course prices of commodities go up and down. You’ll have to look long and hard to find a quote from me saying otherwise and even then the search will be fruitless.

You said tuition doesn’t go down once it goes up and I said neither do wages. I further said wages chase prices. Finally I said I’m not trying to justify the tuition at TCU

The end.

I know it is "The end." but wage decline/cuts are actually ... a big and common thing. (To suggest that wages do not go down is fundamentally false. It is a very, very common metric monitored by the Fed and has a significant role in policy decisions.) I agree with everything else you said and I know we are not solving the underlying problem here nor contributing anything meaningful to society discussing it so on we go.

 

[Pharm Frog]

I don't disagree with you, but with the trend of employees not staying in companies long term, the model of Organizations funding grad degrees has all but vanished (barring programs offered mainly by fortune 50 companies for their best and brightest). The market is flooded with post-grad applicants. I don't have a single solitary direct report who does not have an MBA, and every one of those degrees was financed by the employee. My company offers "tuition reimbursement", but the level of reimbursement is barely enough to cover K9 obedience classes.

That’s kind of my point. If you are identified as talent worthy of doing an MBA program to the extent that your company will reimburse a substantial portion of it, then do it. If not….better think very seriously about the wisdom of doing it on your own dime. And, I’d put my EMBA up against the MBA programs from all over the East and West coast….and I have. Did so again last Monday in fact. It’s amazing how many MBA’s I’ve interviewed in the last 10 years or so where their experiences/expertise are rather pedestrian compared to the basic undergraduate business degrees of the 1990’s/early 2000’s. Pretty sure we’ve watered down the MBA programs substantially (universally speakin…not a shot at Neeley at all)

 

[Brog]

Harvard costs $55k per their site

Harvard's free if you can show you need it. Wish TCU were the same.

 

[satis1103]

I am square among the population of "working stiffs" who can barely make ends meet as it is. And our number is growing. Add in that everyone - from landlords to grocery chains to gas companies to even small businesses at this point are raising prices. Blame inflation or politics if you want - but to me it comes down to corporate greed. Corporations want to be a person when it's convenient, i.e. political speech, but don't share the "personhood" aspect of tightening the belt when things get hard. Or at least not in this cycle. They just pass the buck to the little guy.

Thousands more people aren't going to be able to afford all of their most basic necessities within a short time frame. Who the hell will have money for college?? Especially when college loans have been revealed as little more than a scam and/or ripoff themselves.

I am truly very happy for each and every one of you that could potentially afford to send your kids to TCU or even college in general. You are to be commended and you avoided the trap.

 

[kodiak]

Graduated TCU in 1972. First in the family. Have young grandchildren, 5(five and a half as she reminds me), 3, and 6 months. Private schools for K-12 education. Reading, writing, arithmetic. History, government, civics. My son and wife decided to home school. Some opportunities may be missed, but much easier to do now than in the past. pubic education is very much a cesspool in large districts. After I retired, returned to the town where I grew up. Class 1A school. Kids are mostly well grounded, involved, and respectful. Texas public education funding is screwy. We are considered a rich district and the State recaptures over 1 million dollars of our funding because some school needs to have their pool resurfaced! We are still playing in the gym where I played in the 60’s. Spend your money early for K-12. Thanks for the rant. I needed that

 

[PurplFrawg]

This is sickening. I have an 8 year old. Can’t imagine what it will be in 10 years.

It will probably be 18 years old.

 

[Rex Kramer]

It will probably be 18 years old.

Can we get a rim shot for this guy over here?

 

[froginaustin]

Harvard's free if you can show you need it. Wish TCU were the same.

Harvard thinks you “need it” even if you are not strapped. I forgot what the family income was when I saw it in print several years ago, but it was low 6 figures. At the time I thought enough to live comfortably in Texas but maybe not in the northeast.