Today, I am not giving my opinion in this blog except to say I agree with Mark Cuban on colleges, college debt and consolidation of universities and colleges. I will add some numbers I found at the bottom of the blog.
Is a four-year college a good investment today?
That question was asked to businessman Mark Cuban in an interview with CNN and he had this to say:
If you pick the right one, yes. Kids should go to school. But you should only pick a school that you can graduate from with little or no debt. You don’t need a boat anchor of college debt killing your ability to reach your goals. The biggest drain on our economy today is student debt.
Student debt is a big deal. So how do we reduce it?
Cuban had an idea on that issue, too.
We should put a limit on the amount of federal guarantees available for student loans. If we started a program that put a limit at $50,000 per year next year, then $40,000 in three years, then $30,000 in six years, down to $10,000 in 10 years, you would see the price of education drop like a rock.
Student loan guarantees are like the easy money that led to the real estate and financial crash six years ago.
On Merging Colleges:
Universities and colleges would merge and find themselves forced to be far more effective. The best analogy I can give you is that student loan guarantees are like the easy money that led to the real estate and financial crash six years ago. Schools raise tuition because they know the money is there.
What the (Obama) administration is doing now to try to slow tuition increases will have a minuscule impact. Put a cap on student loans, and you will find college affordable for everyone very quickly. There may be fewer, more efficient and more targeted schools, but it will be more than supplemented by customized education.
One anecdote: I was speaking to a large group of political supporters. People who had donated a ton to campaigns. I asked them who thought tuitions were too high. Hands went up. I asked which of them had put their name on anything at a college campus. Hands stayed up.
Then I made them realize they were part of the problem. If you donate money to build a building, you aren’t helping; you are hurting. Buildings cost money to maintain. Forever. And ever. They drain resources and don’t create any. Other than special lab environments, a desk or seat for a sociology, business, psychology or writing class works the same in every building.
We don’t need new buildings, new cafeterias, new fitness centers on the campus. Let the local markets take care of those.
What we need is a reasonable cost of education that doesn’t require students to go into debt. When that happens, not only will more kids go to college, but the economy will explode from all the money moving from debt to spending.
Editor’s Note- I have always admired the way Mark Cuban has handled business. In fact, I like his methods much better than Donald Trump. Here are some numbers I found through searching the internet on the number of colleges and universities per state.
STATE # INSTITUTIONS
- Alaska AK 35
- Alabama AL 129
- Arkansas AR 108
- Arizona AZ 156
- California CA 1246
- Colorado CO 171
- Connecticut CT 115
- District of Columbia DC 33
- Delaware DE 23
- Florida FL 439
- Georgia GA 210
- Guam GU 2
- Hawaii HI 43
- Iowa IA 107
- Idaho ID 33
- Illinois IL 392
- Indiana IN 175
- Kansas KS 99
- Kentucky KY 165
- Louisiana LA 174
- Massachusetts MA 261
- Maryland MD 148
- Maine ME 60
- Michigan MI 302
- Minnesota MN 169
- Missouri MO 242
- Mississippi MS 69
- Montana MT 54
- North Carolina NC 188
- North Dakota ND 30
- Nebraska NE 68
- New Hampshire NH 43
- New Jersey NJ 207
- New Mexico NM 61
- Nevada NV 77
- New York NY 633
- Ohio OH 386
- Oklahoma OK 158
- Oregon OR 125
- Pennsylvania PA 544
- Puerto Rico PR 161
- Rhode Island RI 37
- South Carolina SC 97
- South Dakota SD 33
- Tennessee TN 191
- Texas TX 506
- Utah UT 60
- Virginia VA 222
- Virgin Islands VI 2
- Vermont VT 32
- Washington WA 164
- Wisconsin WI 132
- West Virginia WV 99
- Wyoming WY 17
That is just staggering. Look at all that duplication of services and costs.