College is expensive, and growing more so every year. The exhorbitant price results in students being drowned in debt - ahn average of $26,000 per student, with many students owing over $100,000. The insanity has to stop.
I have a solution (natch).
The government could very easily set up an online university that offers courses and curricula at cost - the actual cost to run the online university, which would be only a tiny fraction of the cost of a "brick & mortar" institution. Currently, many colleges and universities do have online studies available, but they charge the same high cost as if you were taking up space in their classrooms. And that is nothing short of legal larceny.
So, the government sets up and operates an online university that provides very low cost education in all the general courses, such as English, the mathematical sciences, history and all those pain-in-the-butt courses that are not really relevant, but are required for graduation. The only courses the government university would not offer are those that are specialized (i.e. medicine, law etc.) and those that require lab time. For those courses, the student would still need to go to the college and pay for those courses.
Ultimately, the cost of a college education could be cut by as much as 80% in this manner. And since students could study at their convenience, they could set their schedule around their job, so they could save to pay for the on-site classes at the college.
Frankly, there is little reason why a student could not get a 2 year Associates Degree or even a 4 year Bachelor's degree strictly online, at almost no cost at all. Then universities could concentrate on advanced degree programs, such as a Masters, medicine and law.
Of course, colleges and universities would scream bloody murder, but so what? What is more important - a bunch of liberal professors earning $200K per year, or the education of every child who wants an education?
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