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Strategies & Market Trends : Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Madharry who wrote (42639)	5/13/2011 2:36:49 PM
From: Ken Ludwig	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78627

"where does one get the biggest bang for the buck as an undergrad?" Community colleges win hands down for the first 2 years-generally better teaching, much cheaper tuition, older students demanding value for money and a more serious attitude about actual learning. Having specified agreements in place for 4 year schools to transfer credits is a huge plus. Besides it's possible to learn a trade if one chooses that might actually produce a job with a middle class income. Welding? HVAC? Plumbing? Machining. Web Design and architecture The Community Colleges do a pretty good job of being market sensitive and hire people who know how to actually do things in their "hands on" programs. They also often hire writers to teach writing and so on. ken, big fan of CC's

To: Madharry who wrote (42639)	5/13/2011 2:55:08 PM
From: EL KABONG!!!	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78627

I suspect that we would have the same numbers of students enrolled but that the major impact might be on college administration costs and faculty fees. Colleges have very few dollars that comprise "discretionary spending". Most of the money received from various levels of government are earmarked for quite specific spending purposes and cannot be used for general expenses like salaries, administrative expenses and other fairly general costs. Likewise monies received from taxation (usually a property tax or special property tax levy) carry specific spending limitations. Monies obtained via the sale of bonds also carry restrictive rules governing spending, and those limitations are spelled out in the language of the bond referendum itself. So, you are somewhat correct that if incoming dollars are reduced, one of the major impacts will be on administrative costs and salaries. There's simply not many other areas to cut spending. Some courses of studies would be entirely eliminated (presumably those tracks with lower enrollment numbers) and, of course, spending on extracurricular activities such as non-revenue generating sports. Tuition and fees would likely increase to cover any shortfalls, but the higher the costs to the students, the greater the likelihood that less wealthy students would be unable to afford college. The biggest price headache for colleges is not administrative costs and/or salaries. It's the cost of technological advancements that directly affect graduating students. By the time a student graduates from a four year program, what s/he learned in the first 2 or 3 years is technologically obsolete already. Colleges cannot graduate students that haven't been exposed to the latest and greatest in technology, whether it's hardware or software programs. The costs associated with replacing existing technology nearly every year is staggering. Even students share in these costs as the laptop or PC that they use for college courses must be updated to be able to stay current with current business practices and employment opportunities upon graduation. Education is no longer simply "put in 4 years and then work seemingly forever". Education is now an ongoing process and there's just as many if not more returning adult students to contend with as there are students taking undergraduate courses. I am trying to ascertain now where the value lies in various colleges. where does one get the biggest bang for the buck as an undergrad? Clearly, community colleges are the low cost leader in undergraduate studies. For the most part, they're extremely cost effective. But community colleges are effective only for the first 2 years of study, and also effective for returning adults in a few select courses of study. After that, a 4 year school is the only realistic choice for most people. The differences between a public sector school and a private school are difficult to discern. Generally speaking, public sector schools are less expensive to the student as more of the overall costs are shouldered by the taxpayer and the government (also the taxpayer). The quality of education depends entirely upon the individual schools. Some are better than others, some shine in certain studies such as business and lag in other areas, say sciences (or vice versa). All schools have to be accredited by various agencies, and the standards are the same for the public and private sectors. EK!!!