The SunBreak » university

Student Loan Debt Will Bury Us All, Spring 2013 Edition

Michael van Baker — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 21:47:04 +0000

But with Washington State facing a $1.3-billion budget deficit, the mood has changed substantially at the Capitol: “Conversations have gotten increasingly pessimistic,” Margaret Shepherd, director of state relations for the University of Washington, told the Seattle Times. “Legislators are telling us no new cuts would be a victory.”

Why Johnny Can’t Afford a Washington State College Degree

Michael van Baker — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:55:36 +0000

Many parents, looking at tuition costs that resemble home mortgages, might want to punch these experts in the mouth. Is it really so hard to imagine that students from Washington's less wealthy counties might hesitate at the prospect of, three months out of high school, signing on to a four-year hitch that will leave them $40,000 in debt?

Ask an Economist: What’s the Deal with College Tuition?

Michael van Baker — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:00:23 +0000

I've written before about what I think could be called, fairly, the runaway costs of higher education. But what, I wondered, does an economics professor think of this trend? On the one hand, viewed with an economist's famously dispassionate eye, perhaps we're simply seeing the true value of higher education set. On the other, as a professor of economics, there would be some skin in the game. Is this what's best for students? For society?