Links for 5/14/10

Mike Mandel

In 2000, the average young adult with only a bachelor’s degree earned about 4 times the annual cost of a 4-year college. By 2008, the average young college grad was earning less than 3 times the annual cost of college. Going to college is still a good idea–but the payback period is longer…

I tend to view this divergence between rising real college costs and flat or falling real earnings for young college grads as insupportable over the medium term for an economy like the U.S. Either real pay for college grads has to pick up (perhaps because of a surge of innovation), or the real cost of higher ed has to stop rising…

DANIEL HAMERMESH

My university (Texas, not Maastricht) has issued a dictum severely limiting faculty seeking authorization to travel to “dangerous countries” (including Israel and Mexico)…

In my 42 years as a University professor, I have seen many administrative stupidities; but this one is a strong contender for the dumbest.

Stuart Rojstaczer

[Why doesn’t everyone just reject G.P.A.’s and demand class ranks?]

It’s not part of college culture today to emphasize competitiveness in the classroom. I would argue that competitiveness would be of value, but not many would agree with me. Class ranks would make some students winners and others losers. Such distinctions run completely counter to our primary goals in higher education today: make sure students enroll; make sure they have an emotionally healthy and positive experience; and try to make sure they graduate. I would argue that such goals are of considerable value, but our primary goals should be to educate students well and challenge them.