Sorry to be the naysayer of the group - but The Atlantic reports that a high school graduate will earn $107,000 MORE after 20 years than a VCU graduate with an education degree (that's in-state, the number is $169,000 for out-of-state). This is not a perfect study, but it raises many questions for me... How terribly are teachers paid? Why is VCU's tuition so high? WTF are we gonna do about this?
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/03/these-us-colleges-and-majors-are-the-biggest-waste-of-money/359653/
Seth- something puzzling about the Atlantic article: is VCU the most expensive school of education or is central VA the worst paying region for teachers? I know tuition everywhere is out of control, but also wonder who is behind this piece?
ReplyDeleteThis is scary. Education is the most common major and represented in several states. Is VCUs tuition high? I assumed it would be relatively cheap for in state students?
ReplyDeleteI learned today that VCU is more expensive than U.R.--BUT--that's misleading because U.R. only offers a certificate program, not an MEd or MT. So VCU is more expensive because we offer more courses ( a good thing, in my opinion) not because cost per course is higher. It is really nasty to compare apples and oranges and to ignore quality of learning...
ReplyDeleteThat does not mean that we shouldn't be fighting for tuition reform! In the steady erosion of public funds and the fierce (perceived) need for universities to compete by building designer dorms--we have clearly lost our "first generation" mission at VCU...:(