Welcome to Fleece University.

[Selatius]

...

But never forget that your real purpose here is to shake off the pointless freedom of youth and assume the burden of debt. To this end, we have just raised our tuition in an attempt to keep up with such top-of-the-line institutions as George Washington University (now weighing in at $39,210 a year, or $50,000 with room and board.) You will find us also charging a plethora of additional fees--a "student activities fee," a "technology fee," and an "incidentals fee." In addition, we will be experimenting this year with a "snow removal fee," a "lecture hall seat-use fee," and the installation of pay toilets in the dorms.

It would be short-sighted to resent these fees, since they provide valuable experience in bill-reading, and will come in handy when you confront your own personal monthly utility statements. At present we do not charge any additional tuition for this training in bill-reading, though we are considering adding a special "fee fee" in the future.

Another thing that will help ease you into the status of debtor is the price of your textbooks--about $120 to $180 for a new, graffiti-free copy. True, this seems high when you could buy a hardcover of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for $20 or less, but the aim is to teach you that a book is something to treasure (and, again, we charge no extra fee for this lesson.)

On average, you will graduate with a respectable-sized debt of $20,000, which will enable you to establish your all-important "credit history." If we have succeeded in our educational mission, you will be a first-rate debtor, capable of making minimum monthly payments much of the time. As fresh offers of credit cards and home equity loans pour in, you will beam with pride at your achievement.

Please note carefully that Fleece U degree cannot guarantee you a future income that will allow you to pay off your debts. Many of our most promising graduates are now, three or four years later, working for $8-12 an hour serving up latteés, counseling disturbed youth or creating business computer networks. They are set for a lifetime of debt, and we are proud that they first began to accrue it right here, on our lovely mock Oxfordian campus.

...

http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20070924&s=ehrenreich

Reading this makes me despair. Some of the things here are hyperbole, and I understand that, but the entire article hits a financial nerve in me that ruins my mood.

I believe that the idea of making a student or a family pay out of pocket when they could get a better deal if society collectively pooled resources together is unjust. It is unjust because the pay-to-play system disadvantages the working poor and the middle class in favor of the relatively wealthy, who are often more able to pay off the debt than someone with a working poor background.

When I say collectively pooled, I mean something akin to single-payer health care. In that system, you are free to see any doctor at any hospital you wish for the medical help you need, but the bill would be handled by one government entity, which has the power to collectively bargain with health care providers and pharmaceutical companies in the name of getting the most per dollar for each and every patient. Because this one entity represents everybody, it has far greater collective bargaining power than any private for-profit entity, without the temptation to increase shareholder wealth at the expense of patient care. The only difference here is that we're talking about college expenses, not medical expenses.

If we want to be more competitive in the world, we must study what the best education systems in the world have to offer. (We are not ranked at the top compared to the rest of the industrialized world) Then, we must emulate what they do best to give ourselves a better future as well. If we go to France or Germany or Japan, they do not saddle their students with debt. They invest in their students instead with higher standards and public funding from taxpayer dollars. Is our system the best way possible? Is there no better way to live?

[terisan]

1. It is truly the American College Fleecing. It is shameful-as are the colleges with

super-endowments.

I understand there is a great administrative overload.

[BlooInBloo]

2. (shrug) Kids are stupid, due largely to their parents, and their prior substandard...

... educators. True enough, the university shouldn't *capitalize* on that, but the fundamental problem is not the *creation* of the university.

For a genuinely bright and 1/2-way responsible kid, college WILL open up a world of opportunity.