What will tuition at LSU look like in 15 years?

While tuition and fees are $8,750 right now, tuition alone is only $6677.85/year for a full time student taking 15 hours/semester.

Assuming they increase tuition a full 10% each year...

$27,895.04/year for a resident.

Plus fees.

Forty-five.

I don't know man...it scares me to think about. Not that I'd ever send my kid to LSU, but Auburn is already nearly 5K per semester just for tuition.

Something is going to have to give, I hope. Everyone keeps saying the student loan bubble is the next thing to pop...but state funding to many schools is dwindling, and they're making up the difference with tuition hikes...We'll see.

Free to students but an extra 5-10% in taxes to the highest tax payers

quote:

---

I blame Saban.

---

I would blame people who pushes young kids who shouldn't be in college to go to college. And then there's the government for backing loans. That allows colleges to push tuition prices up year after year. Colleges are only care if they collect the $$$ up front. They don't care if the student will be able to pay back or not which is ashamed.

Yes, for some people college education benefits them by increasing their future career earning. However, this is for specialized and in demand fields such as Medicine, Engineering, IT, etc. But the message that "you have to go to college to succeed" is not true. I've dealt with electricians, plumbers, and welders that are pulling in 100K plus. So a vocational education can lead one to have a lucrative career. But you'll never hear people on TV or in Movies praise such career paths because they are perceived as "low status" job by most people. In all honestly, I advise people against going to college if they were going to major in general studies, art history, sociology, or women studies. If you are interested in these fields, fine...get a library card. You don't need to get in debt for 25K to gain knowledge on these subjects.

quote:

---

seems like college can be cut short than the typical 4 years. If you're an Accounting or Engineering major, why are you required to waste time and money on courses like sociology, history, or music appreciation? Some people say those courses make students "more rounded". BS. I've been in those courses and people either don't show up, don't pay attention, or make the grades just to be done with it.

---

What a depressing attitude. Those distribution courses are the difference between an education and mere technical training. The whole point of a college education is to teach you to think & write: to analyze, synthesize, to create and compare. A truly educated mind finds much in history, sociology, and music appreciation to inform daily life...education is NOT job training. It is preparation for life, for citizenship in a democracy, for improved relations between self & society.

I do agree that far too many students are clogging up colleges: if you don't want an education, don't go to college. Technical training--plumbing, electrical, skilled carpentry, instrumentation, etc--are excellent, productive fields. You don't need to be educated to excel in those fields--you need to be trained appropriately.

On the other hand, if you're an accountant who only knows accounting, you may lack the human relations skills (psych & sociology) to develop your business, the historical perspective to understand how Louisana's taxation structure came to be, or the art/music appreciation skills that help you to enjoy life when you're not adding and subtracting.

Look, I'm an Old War Skule alum who sat through plenty of poorly attended distribution courses. What those students are missing is THEIR loss, not yours. Soak up all the smarty goodness you can while on campus--that's why you're paying tuition.

If you want remunerative work and tech only training, be a plumber. My plumber charges as much per hour as my attorney better half. He has a HS education, a house on a golf course, and a thriving business. And no one ever made him read Shakespeare, or understand the history of integration in Louisiana, or look at the planets through the telescope in Nicholson Hall. I'm happy he's good at his job, but I'm happier as a well educated LSU grad.

quote:

---

vocational education can lead one to have a lucrative career

---

^^^Amen

I went to college. I am a doctor. If you can do plumbing, HVAC, or general contracting you can make a pile of money in your 20's.

Many college courses were a waste of my time at best. I think even some courses in medical school were not very useful. In medicine, you could cut it to 3 years because residency is where you learn your "trade"- and yes it is a trade. A service traded for money- payments are often delayed by weeks to months (try this with a plumber or HVAC guy)- and sometimes for no payment whatsoever.

I like being a doctor, but do not recommend it for everyone.

I'd say add a 3-4% inflation rate every year

That would be a colossal mistake. That scholarship is what keeps a lot of talent in state and not elsewhere. I think increasing the standards to qualify for TOPS and KEEP Tops once in college is not out of the question though, but to get rid of it all together would be inane.