Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
| Future of Education is At Hand: Online, Accredited, Affordable, Useful Posted: 03 Sep 2013 01:18 PM PDT I have long been in the camp that the price of education is so expensive as to make college a poor choice for many who attend, and a downright bad choice for those who go heavily in debt for degrees in little demand. The entire education system is and has been for some time unsustainable. The cost of education keeps rising along with ...
Dylan Matthews at the Washington Post has a 10-part series called "The Tuition is Too Damn High". The first seven articles in the series are already available. Part-10 is the writer's proposed solution. I have talked about most of the points above except point five. Matthews discusses "dorm competition" in Part VI — Why there's no reason for big universities to rein in spending. Freddie de Boer is a grad student at Purdue University, one of Indiana's flagship public research institutions. Purdue has a new gym – excuse me, a new "sports center," the France A. Córdova Recreational Sports Center, to be exact. When de Boer went to check it out, he found treadmills that each featured a TV and an iPod dock, a bouldering wall and a 55-foot climbing wall, a spa with Jacuzzi function that can fit 26 people, six racquetball courts, and a "demonstration kitchen" for cooking lessons. I suggest the problem with the education system is largely that of government throwing more money at the problem. Just as hundreds of affordable housing programs raised (not lowered the price of homes), the same happened in the education system. Throw in union graft, pensions, sports, and you have the problem in a nutshell. The solution is simple. Three-Part Solutions
Of my three proposals, number two above is now at hand, in the form of more accredited online education, at reputable institutions, giving advanced degrees at affordable prices. The MOOC That Roared Reader "Tom" pinged me today with this email: Hi Mish,Radical Change Tom sent a link to a Slate article The MOOC That Roared, subtitled "How Georgia Tech's new, super-cheap online master's degree could radically change American higher education". Georgia Institute of Technology is about to take a step that could set off a broad disruption in higher education: It's offering a new master's degree in computer science, delivered through a series of massive open online courses, or MOOCs, for $6,600. Uncharted Territory Someone at Georgia Tech is thinking, and that person is Zvi Galil, the head of Georgia Tech's school of computing. "This is uncharted territory," he says. But, he warns, if Georgia Tech doesn't do this someone else might come along and do it first—grabbing the notoriety, the students, and the revenue. "There is a revolution. I want to lead it, not follow it". As I have stated repeatedly, someone was bound to do this, and here we are. And it will not stop with advanced degrees, but rather spread like wildfire to lower degrees. I have warned parents with kids in grade school to not lock in education costs at today's rates because I expected costs to come down. And they will, dramatically, within a few years. Unfortunately, this will not do much for high school seniors right now. And it certainly will not do anything for those buried in student debt with no job and no way to pay it back. But relief is coming for those still in grade school. Welcome Deflationary Event College dorms will be for kids of the wealthy, but even then, expect costs to mitigate somewhat when parents decide there is no extra "value" in spending an additional $40,000 a year for education. Yes, this is a deflationary event, and one that everyone will welcome (except those who benefit from the current system of waste and graft). Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
| Posted: 03 Sep 2013 10:26 AM PDT The desperate act of the day comes from Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid who says India Looking to Expand Rupee-Payment System. India is exploring possibilities of a rupee-based trade-payment mechanism with several countries, Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said Tuesday, a move that may help stabilize the local currency and reduce the country's current-account deficit. Exploring the Impossible The only reason Iran accepts Rupees is because of embargoes by the US and Europe on trade with Iran. As a result, Iran is shut off from trade in dollars and euros, and in a desperate move of its own is willing to accept rupees. No one else wants the damn things including India citizens who would rather own gold. See India in Serious Trouble (and Gold at the Heart of It). Such reality does not stop foreign ministers from exploring the impossible, and wasting more time in the process. The real world does not stop on such foolishness. For more on the real world, please see DeLong-in-Wonderland. Also note the Rupee itself. Rupee vs. US Dollar  The Rupee has declined 35% against the US dollar since July 2011. Asia Pacific Stock Market  BSE is the India stock market. That India's Foreign Minister is on a mission to explore the impossible is sure sign that desperation has set in, and India has no idea what to do. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com |
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