Why Is College So Expensive?

A topic I have been having with my patients of late is regarding free college. Most of my patients think it is unfair that they have to pay off someone else's student loans. And I tend to agree that it's a poor idea. What do you think? 

And this does have to do with respiratory therapy because we need a degree to do this. And that is part of the problem. I agree that it is a good idea that we need a degree to do this. This is because there are things we need to learn to do this job. So, some degree is practical. 

But then you have elites that tell us we need more education to do the job we already do just fine. And that is where the cost comes up. So, I have an associate's degree. And I do just fine in my job. My coworkers all have associate's degrees. And they do just fine. There is no reason we need to have more education. And so we have all decided we will not go on to get our Bachelor's degrees in respiratory therapy. 

But the younger generation is being convinced to go on and get a bachelor's degree before they even start as RTs. And I believe eventually a bachelor's will be required. I do because this is exactly what happened with nursing. Now most nurses are required to get bachelor's. 

And this is part of the problem. You add more degrees, and you double the price. And so, rather than getting out of college with a $20,000 loan to pay back you have a $40,000 loan. And I am probably underestimating the cost here too. 

So, elites decide we need more education. When in fact we do not. And all that happens as a result is we end up with these student loans that we can't ever seem to pay back. And that is the premise of Biden deciding to forgive $10,000 worth of student loans.

But it is a bad idea. It is a bad idea because it is too much spending that caused inflation. You give people money and they buy things with that money. And so, you have too much money chasing too few things and the price of those things will go up. This is economics 101. 

So, you have inflation. And you give $10,000 to a person. And that person has $10,000 to put into the economy. And the loan people have that $10,000. And they loan this money out to another person. So, in essence, that $10,000 adds another $20,000 into the economy. And this will no doubt add to the inflationary problem. 

And of course there are other factors that go into this. Nancy Pelosi taught a class once And she received $400,000 to teach that class. She is an elitist, meaning she is a person of power. And, despite being part of the problem, she says we ought to forgive student loans because college is too expensive. Well, if she would be paid a normal wage to teach, college wouldn't cost so much. 

So, in essence, the same people that caused our problem say they have the solution. 

I have a friend who says I'm pig headed because I don't want the government to forgive student loans. He said his son has a $40,000 student loan for attending respiratory therapy school. And he said it "unfair" that he has to pay so much.

And I have empathy for his son. But, why do I have to pay off his student loan? I told him it's unfair I have to pay off his student loan. I told him if he has a problem with college admissions costing too much, solve that problem. Don't punish me.