Bloomberg has article discussing the situation surrounding many college campuses today. it goes into how colleges borrowed money to spend on things like new dorms, buildings, as well as rock walls, jacuzzis, and mini kitchenettes in all the dorms in order to attract students to their campuses. Well, with federal loans tougher to come by and private loans all but non-existant, students are no longer willing to pay for those amenities and are choosing cheaper alternatives, like community colleges. Well, those spend-happy colleges are now facing tough financial decisions because their tuition revenue is dropping.

That’s the point of a recession. To weed out those who conduct business poorly. People who spend their own money on college don’t choose it based on the jacuzzi count. Only those who allow others, including the federal government, choose based on that. Federally funded loans and state funded insitutions have shifted the cost of higher education from the student (where it belongs) to tax payers. We gave students money to get an education, and we let them make that decision based on jacuzzi counts.

College isn’t for everyone. It should be expensive. It should only be worth going to college for degrees where higher learning is needed. A four year degree isn’t necessary for political science, public works administration, sociology, and other fluff degrees. Some areas only require a few semesters like book keeping, etc. A good measure of how necessary a degree is how few electives are needed. For example, my electrical engineering degree required 16 hours of electives. My wife’s sociology degree required 64 hours. Which degree offers better marketable skills? Just guess.

This recession is just what higher learning needed, but now we have Mr. Obama offering stimulus money to keep these institutions afloat, the worst thing we can do. Let those schools fail. Force kids to re-evaluate their future goals and methods for attaining those goals.