$10,000 Excelsior College Degree

[ShotoJuku]

...I suspect one of you is secretly working for EC...

Secret - what secret!

[dcan]

I shoulda known the Purple People Eater would show up.

[sanantone]

I think it's cool how they matched up free study sources to their exams. I haven't gotten anyone to follow the test out path either. I know many people who won't even take courses online. If they want to spend 4 years and $40,000+ on a degree that makes it hard for them to work full-time while attending school, that's their prerogative. As for me, I finished around 70 credits in less than a year.

That Yahoo article just shows how the public is still clueless. Thomas Edison and Charter Oak deserve a shout out. They may not be advertising a $10,000 degree, but they've been offering them for years along with Excelsior. If the writer of that article were to get into FEMA and other ACE evaluated credit sources like ALEKS, her mind would explode.

[rebel100]

I wouldn't want the lender to make decisions like that for me. Not that they shouldn't be fiscally responsible with their cash, but who gets to decide which degree is worthwhile and which is not? Imagine it's 1970 or so and some drop out named gates wants to study a new technology "computers" that will never amount to anything. We can't have a bunch of bankers making all the big decisions of who gets to study what and for how much. Nor should we impose our will on a trust fund baby that wants to study philosophy and sit around endlessly contemplating his navel.

Personal responsibility and the free market should be making these decisions. If a borrower can't demonstrate the ability to pay he/she shouldn't get the loan....the government should not be involved in that process either.

Of course it's much more complex than that....Kudos to EC for a great move!

[burbuja0512]

I wouldn't want the lender to make decisions like that for me. Not that they shouldn't be fiscally responsible with their cash, but who gets to decide which degree is worthwhile and which is not? Imagine it's 1970 or so and some drop out named gates wants to study a new technology "computers" that will never amount to anything. We can't have a bunch of bankers making all the big decisions of who gets to study what and for how much. Nor should we impose our will on a trust fund baby that wants to study philosophy and sit around endlessly contemplating his navel.

Personal responsibility and the free market should be making these decisions. If a borrower can't demonstrate the ability to pay he/she shouldn't get the loan....the government should not be involved in that process either.

Of course it's much more complex than that....Kudos to EC for a great move!

I agree with your point, but there are degrees that do not make money, even if there can be exceptions to the rule. If the lenders would lend money based on the area of study, colleges would have to lower costs of some fields or risk losing students. That would be the free market at work, right? I just don't think it makes sense on any level to have all credits at schools cost the same amount of money. Some are worth more and should cost more.

[ShotoJuku]

I shoulda known the Purple People Eater would show up.

Make that PURPLE and GOLD!!

[dcan]

I wouldn't want the lender to make decisions like that for me. Not that they shouldn't be fiscally responsible with their cash, but who gets to decide which degree is worthwhile and which is not? Imagine it's 1970 or so and some drop out named gates wants to study a new technology "computers" that will never amount to anything. We can't have a bunch of bankers making all the big decisions of who gets to study what and for how much. Nor should we impose our will on a trust fund baby that wants to study philosophy and sit around endlessly contemplating his navel.

Personal responsibility and the free market should be making these decisions. If a borrower can't demonstrate the ability to pay he/she shouldn't get the loan....the government should not be involved in that process either.

Of course it's much more complex than that....Kudos to EC for a great move!

I never said bankers should decide who gets to study what, only that they require prospective loan recipients to prove they have the future ability to repay the loan. If a student pays his/her own way through school some other way, have a ball. But if you need to borrow money, then you need to show some ability to repay it. Show me a banker who will give $50,000 or $100,000 to someone for a house without wanting to roto-rooter the recipient's credit history, require a home inspection and title insurance, and demand you demonstrate an ability to repay the loan? Would you loan that kind of money to someone without that kind of risk analysis?

By your logic "we can't have a bunch of bankers making all the big decisions of who gets home loans and who doesn't." It's exactly this thinking that led to banks being forced to give loans to people who didn't need or deserve them, which contributed to (not caused) the mess we have now.

Besides, you are simultaneously supporting and defending this position, with your statements "We can't have a bunch of bankers making all the big decisions of who gets to study what and for how much" vs. "If a borrower can't demonstrate the ability to pay he/she shouldn't get the loan....the government should not be involved in that process either."

BTW I'm pretty sure Gates' dad was rich so he could afford to "drop out" and do something else. And trust-fund babies don't need loans.

[dcan]

I agree with your point, but there are degrees that do not make money, even if there can be exceptions to the rule. If the lenders would lend money based on the area of study, colleges would have to lower costs of some fields or risk losing students. That would be the free market at work, right? I just don't think it makes sense on any level to have all credits at schools cost the same amount of money. Some are worth more and should cost more.

Here's a couple of places they could start:

Best Undergrad College Degrees By Salary

Top 10 Lowest Paying College Degrees: Bad ROI Associates, Bachelors, Masters & Doctoral Degree Programs

[sanantone]

Another thing to think about is the unemployment rate in a profession. Architecture is one of the worst degrees to get right now. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sociologists make a lot more than what's listed in that second link. How can the median salary for a bachelor's in sociology be higher than a master's in sociology?

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos314.htm

[burbuja0512]

Another thing to think about is the unemployment rate in a profession. Architecture is one of the worst degrees to get right now. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sociologists make a lot more than what's listed in that second link. How can the median salary for a bachelor's in sociology be higher than a master's in sociology?

Sociologists and Political Scientists

Because the people with the masters degree are actually trying to work in their field and being underpaid. The bachelor's degree-holders probably just used the sociology undergrad as the generic "I have a degree" checkbox to get a job that doesn't require a specific type of degree. Example - I am in sales. I worked my way up without a degree, but obtaining the BS helps my long term career. Most B2B sales people I know make great money and hold a random sampling of degrees. My closest colleagues hold the following: psych, chemistry, english, etc... you get the point.

Ha ha this is my theory anyhow, I could be wrong. Just a thought...