Abstract
Increasing college costs and decreasing employment opportunity have produced an avalanche of studies regarding the value of college degrees. Sometimes more information is not better. A “back to basics” understanding would be valuable to all.
“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
Oscar Wilde
Legitimate concerns about ever-increasing costs of college and a seemingly ever-decreasing availability of good paying jobs for the holders of degrees have generated studies that make a student’s and parent’s head spin.
Recently, EducationSector, a think-tank that ponders education policy, published an investigation by Andrew Gillen, “In Debt and in the Dark: It’s Time for Better Information on Student Loan Defaults.” The findings were reported in USA Today under the headline, “College Default Rates Higher Than Graduation Rates.”