The underlying issue for me is that politicians decided to pass the cost of education to the student rather than society at large. In the late 1950s (1954-1961), I paid no tuition at Brooklyn College, one of the New York City public Colleges. Except for the last year, I went at night to support myself but paid only some kind of minor …
The underlying issue for me is that politicians decided to pass the cost of education to the student rather than society at large. In the late 1950s (1954-1961), I paid no tuition at Brooklyn College, one of the New York City public Colleges. Except for the last year, I went at night to support myself but paid only some kind of minor student fee. On graduation in 1961, I was completely funded for grad school in anthropology (a PhD) by the federal government. My field research was similarly funded. Schooling was considered a social good and a social cost.
Sometime, I think in the early 1970s, politicians destroyed these kinds of social commitments, transforming social costs onto individuals through the student loan system.
One consequence of these changes is that independent (or private) schools have often flourished on the backs of student loans, while state schools more dependent on the government have floundered. Some state schools even recruit more non-state that state residents in order to increase their funding, again at the expense of individuals rather than making education a social good and cost.
The underlying issue for me is that politicians decided to pass the cost of education to the student rather than society at large. In the late 1950s (1954-1961), I paid no tuition at Brooklyn College, one of the New York City public Colleges. Except for the last year, I went at night to support myself but paid only some kind of minor student fee. On graduation in 1961, I was completely funded for grad school in anthropology (a PhD) by the federal government. My field research was similarly funded. Schooling was considered a social good and a social cost.
Sometime, I think in the early 1970s, politicians destroyed these kinds of social commitments, transforming social costs onto individuals through the student loan system.
One consequence of these changes is that independent (or private) schools have often flourished on the backs of student loans, while state schools more dependent on the government have floundered. Some state schools even recruit more non-state that state residents in order to increase their funding, again at the expense of individuals rather than making education a social good and cost.