The exorbitant costs of attending college set students up for failure, and higher education is often a “scam” and unnecessary in some fields, said a writer and researcher on market influences and monopolies.
“I think the financial aspects of college or higher education have overwhelmed the ability to create citizenship at a very basic level,” Matt Stoller, director of research at the American Economic Liberties Project, told Fox News. “This is like a slow burn crisis that we have to investigate.”
The average cost of going to a private college, including tuition, fees, books, and room and board, went from $2,930 a year in 1971 to $51,690 in 2021, according to data from the nonprofit College Board group. . Nearly a third of parents and students believe college is too expensive, according to a recent study by Sallie Mae and Ipsos.
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“Columbia School of Journalism is in some kind of existential crisis because they have a nine-month degree that costs $120,000 and they’re saying, ‘Are we the problem?'” Stoller said. “Yes, you are the problem. You are not the only problem. You are more of a symptom.”
Stoller also sees the high prices of elite institutions as a scheme to make money.
“There’s a scam there,” he told Fox News. “I haven’t been able to figure out what that scam is.”
“That’s what’s causing this problem,” he added.
Undergraduate enrollment decreased by more than 650,000 students, more than 4%, from spring 2021 to 2022, according to a National Student Clearinghouse report.
College Board data shows cost of college found that the average cost of going to a private college, including tuition, fees, books, and room and board, went from $2,930 per year in 1971 to $ 51,690 in 2021.
(Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“I believe that education exists to train citizens and build a moral and autonomous society. Plus, it’s there to enable you to get a job and build a life,” Stoller said. “I think we’re falling apart on all aspects of that, and we have to see why that is.”
Universities are “a disaster in terms of administrative overload” and “burden people with a lot of debt,” he added. “You can’t come out of a school with a lot of debt and be a good citizen; now you’re dependent on someone else.”
Stoller also questioned the need for some degrees, such as journalism. The high cost associated with journalism school, she said, “shows that it is just an accreditation mechanism for a social class rather than a practical way of thinking about free speech in a democracy.”
Columbia University’s prestigious School of Journalism costs $120,000 for the nine-month course.
(iStock)
In August, Politico magazine published a profile on dean Jelani Cobb of the Columbia School of Journalism. In the piece, “Are We the Problem?” The New Dean of Columbia J-School wrestles with her place in the industry,” Cobb discusses questions about the need for a journalism school and the state of the industry itself.
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The dean who hopes that Columbia “will be a pipeline that helps the [journalism] more democratic field,” he himself did not attend Columbia’s nine-month program, which costs students $120,000.
“Journalism used to be a working-class profession. There’s not a lot of science behind writing a news article,” Stoller, who writes weekly newsletters for his own Substack account, told Fox News. “You just find out what’s going on and write it down.”
“You need a high school degree for that, that’s all,” he said.
To view the full interview with Stoller, click here.
