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Study: College Too Pricey for ManyCRLF

Publisher's own license, Jan 08, 2002
Commentary by Stephen Downes

As someone who still owes money on my student loans, the cost of an education is a personal issue for me (and one of the reasons I am an advocate of online learning). According to a study by the Lumina Foundation for Education, only five states have four-year public colleges that low-income students can afford without financial aid. The article also spends a lot of time on criticism from "higher education groups" who counter that "fifteen million people from all income levels attend college at two- and four-year schools." The educators also express concern that the study will discourage potential students as people often over-estimate the cost of university. I don't know why serious journalists offer fallacious arguments in response to studies like this. Fifteen million is a large number (though a small percentage) but it includes students in two year programs, a demographic specifically excluded in the Lumina study. A serious and considered response to the study would have made for better journalism.

CRLFWhere, for example, will the high cost of education take us?

CRLFWhile you're browsing through this link, take a look at the offerings of CNN's "education partners" (Harcourt and Riverdeep) listed in the right hand column. On the one hand, including education resources with news articles is good. But on the other hand, some of these educational resources have more to do with political and corporate agendas than they do with learning (raising the question of what these education partners think education really is). In particular, look at the CRLFMedia Literacy offering from Holt (Harcourt) which offers a seriously inadequate guide for assessing news articles. Or the CRLFevaluation rubrics (Holt again), one of which includes a metric for judging student-created advertisements. Critics from the other side of the political spectrum may want to criticize Riverdeep's CRLFPicking Responsible Stocks, a guide to ethical investing. Some of the resources are good - Holt's World Map, for example, and Riverdeep's Volcano Lab (which is a lot of fun). But really: until they separate learning materials from political and corporate content, commercial education providers will be viewed with suspicion.

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