$50,000 for a Bachelor’s Degree — thanks George Washington University!

Some of you may know that I regularly sound off on the fact that the cost of basics in American society is skyrocketing ahead of wage increases. Real estate, healthcare, education, etc.

Well, that’s not dissuading some universities from making headlines! George Washington University will now be charging $50,000 per year for their world-famous Bachelor’s degrees!

My wife– who is an employee of George Washington University hospital — choked upon hearing the news, especially since she went to medical school for only $35,000 a year.

I am doing more and more talks at colleges, and when I talk about "graduate degree inflation" people often ask me what I mean. Well, with the increasingly competitive marketplace for work, people have been forced to seek higher credentials regardless of their saleability in the workplace.

These kids ask me if they really are consigned to grad school – is it a sound investment? What are they buying for all this money? I turned to a recent report on higher education, and found a financial analysis of the cost of education — what you could expect given the amount you pay and the amount you would ultimately earn. To elucidate the matter, I made a handy graphic:

Hey, college is still a good deal, in general. Unless you are so smart you’re going to knock ‘em dead at Yale and Princeton, your best money is spent at a state school for bachelor’s degree, followed by a professional degree — the Net Present Value of that combination was around $700,000.

But planning on getting a $200,000 bachelor’s degree in the gender studies of basketweaving, followed by a Master’s in comparative French literature? Its NPV is negative, meaning that you’ll never get your money back. ESPECIALLY when they ratchet up the cost of bachelor’s degrees.

Regardless, this is a message to the Baby Boomers running America’s universities — these tuition hikes are not just a burden to deep-pocketed parents who don’t care either way. You are reducing the future ability of Gen X and Y to keep the healthcare and social security schemes running.

Think about it. This may come back to haunt you yet.

-Garland