Be a part of this timely discussion.
“A Liberal Arts Degree - Is It Worth It?”
With increasing tuition rates and student loan debt, is a college education even worth the expense? Please join IU College of Arts & Sciences administrators and faculty to discuss pressing questions regarding this hot button topic. Audience members should plan to participate in a lively discussion with questions for the panelists - and each other! The discussion will be led by:
- Larry Singell, Dean, IU College of Arts and Sciences
- Jamsheed Choksy, Professor of Central Eurasian Studies and History; Presidentially-appointed and Senatorially-conformed member, United States National Council on the Humanities
- Richard Miller, Professor of Religious Studies and Director, Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions
Prospective students, current IU College of Arts and Sciences students, IU alumni, IU admissions staff, local secondary education professionals, and advocates for higher education are invited to this discussion. This event is free and open to the public, but preregistration with the College of Arts and Sciences Office of Advancement is required. Registrants will receive a copy of The College magazine’s article, “Is a College Degree Worth the Cost” prior to the event.
Date: Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Time: Reception 6:00pm - 6:30pm (4th Floor Lobby), Discussion 6:45pm - 8:00pm (Room 405)
Location:IUPUI Campus Center, 420 University Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46202.
Click here for directions.
Please RSVP to asalumni@indiana.edu or at 812-855-7934.
Related Articles
http://college.indiana.edu/magazine/fall2011/cover.shtml
http://www.time.com/time/interactive/0,31813,2072670,00.html
http://chronicle.com/article/7-Major-Misperceptions-About/64363/
Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds [Hardcover] by Richard J. Light
On the Purpose of Education - PDF Article |
|
|
|
After my mother’s recent passing, alev ha-sholem, I was going through her papers and found aninteresting bit of ephemera that I think you will enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI had sent her theenclosed letter from the IU Dental School, listing the requirements for myinitial matriculation. I am sure youreceived a similar letter from the IU Medical School at the same time.
Although I hadmarked up the mimeographed page with notes and calculations for monthly amortizationpayments, a careful reading discloses that my first year of dental schoolrequired that I pay a total tuition of $ 430.00.
The intervening years had clouded my memory of the cost ofmy tuition, but when I was reminded by seeing this remnant from the past, Ijust couldn’t let it go.
I went to the IU School of Dentistry’s website andascertained that the current annual tuition for in-State students is sixty times as much.
In comparison, I do remember that that in 1958 a newly graduated elementaryschool teacher’s salary, in Indiana was about $3200.00 a year. Had teacher’s salaries enjoyed the same rateof inflation as IU tuition it would infer a present-day teacher’s annual salaryof around $180,000.00, which is counter-factual.
Now, I am not bringing this to your attention because I amsuggesting that you do anything about this. Tuition inflation is a national phenomenon, not just an Indianaproblem. Indeed, absent the recession,graduates who could obtain jobs would just obligingly pay off their educationdebt. However, when there is no job tobe had after graduation, it must seem like a breach of the Social Contract.
I guess that Sallie Mae’s open handed educational loanpolicy added so much liquidity to the Education Sector, that schools justenjoyed the boom. Easy money meant neverhaving to say no to any new project. AndI am sure your experience inside the University has afforded you a deeperinsight into the matter.
Tuition inflation is a national economic aberration and willrequire a National solution. I justwanted to share this with you as your trusteeship might give you access for beginningto address the solution.
Wish I could be there, but Texas is far away from there. Since I have a Ph.D. in the humanities and a M.A. in English, have published in economics and on higher education, and recently attended a colloquium on higher education, yet am unemployed, I do have some opinions on the matter, as you can imagine.
ReplyDeleteWill this event be broadcast so we can follow it remotely?
ReplyDelete