<p>Beginning to think that college is the next bubble about to burst.</p>
<p>Lots of parallels. Perceived, assumed value that people spent more and more to obtain that then suddenly loses value precipitously.</p>
<p>How will a perceived ‘bubble’ in college costs actually burst?..in housing, people stopped buying,you can’t possibly believe that students will stop attending college…and even if that happened to a insignifcant degree, the schools likley most affected would be secondary and tertiary type schools…i doubt any of the so-called top 100 schools would lower their costs at all</p>
<p>How long would the military go without getting their paychecks before they took over US government?</p>
<p>lizard, I have too much faith in the members of the American armed services to think they would ever, under any circumstances, try to take over the US government.</p>
<p>I think that the politicians will change their minds when their campaign contributors have a bad market day or two. After all, how can they get re-elected without the money?</p>
<p>Sewhappy, I have been hearing that the “college bubble is the next to burst”, but I am with qdogpa, I am not sure how it would burst, or what that would look like. The only thing that I can come up with is college loan defaults for those that took out such high loans to go to elite (and sometimes not elite) schools. Then could not get work. I have been lurking on this site, and others, for a few years, trying to wrap my head around college costs and planning (son is senior this year). There has definately been an increased focus on merit/FA/affordable schools. And with the current seniors, they have been living with the econimic down turn long enough to feel the impact, and to realize that the $100,000 loans for school may not be a really good idea. There is absolutely more focus on good, but affordable colleges. I would think that eventually, it will start to impact the tier II and maybe even low tier one expensive colleges application rates. Unfortunately, only time will tell.</p>
<p>We live in a fragile world, we don’t have enough faith in our fellow human beings not to have armed forces to defend the US. Under strain, people can do strange things. In the unthinkable, if politicians can’t take care of government business, someone else will.</p>
<p>qdogpa and vlines,</p>
<p>Education Bubble for me means not the precipitous drop we saw in internet stocks but more the more gradual but inexorable decline we saw (and are still seeing) in housing. </p>
<p>I think the perceived value of education is very much in flux at the moment. We are experiencing it in our family. Sent older one to an elite school full freight. Second one we would do the same for but are making sure that she thoroughly explores alternatives, ie. the public U that offers merit and privates that might offer merit. She sees attending a good school on merit as equally, if not more, prestigious than attending trophy school full freight.</p>
<p>That sort of economically informed thinking was not quite as strong in our family with older kid. Nothing has really changed in our economic status. It’s just our perception of relative value in various education pathways.</p>
<p>My sense is that in families where a full freight education means loans, those conversations are much more intense.</p>
<p>I would think this whole climate of uncertainty will also have many kids and their families looking a bit more askance at fields of study with dubious marketability.</p>
<p>I don’t disagree with that statment, sewhappy! 5 years ago, I would have said I would find a way to allow my son to go to any top college that he could get accepted to. This year, it is a very different conversation and thought process.</p>
<p>The slow drip scenario you suggest will likley affect many schools,but i doubt it will affect the tuition and attendence of the so-called top 100 schools…</p>
<p>qgodpa…maybe not financially, but I wonder about academically. How many other students that could get into those top 100’s 5-7 years ago are passing them up for more affordable options? It will be interesting to see.</p>
<p>We encouraged DS2 to choose a slightly lower ranked school that would cost $13k less per year due to merit $ over a top 100 school. We left the decision up to him but made our preference gently clear and his decision will be saving us all over $50k over four years. He will be a junior in Sept. He is having a fine experience. We would have been less likely to do this for DS1 seven years ago. Indeed older son passed up two hefty merit offers for his final pick. Times change.</p>
<p>What would happen if those accepted to top 100 schools( i think it can be assumed these would be relatively intelligent students), decide to forgo those schools and attend less costly schools,such as flagship state schools…what happens to the students that normally would only be able to attend flagships or state schools due to financial reasons as well as they may be only average students…They don’t have the stats to get into better schools and don’t have the financial resources to pay for the ’ overpriced’ schools…</p>
<p>Freakanomics at it’s best. ;)</p>
<p>Earlier this month Moody’s warned five states would risk losing their triple-A ratings in the event of a U.S. downgrade. Its additional warning Thursday included a total of 177 public finance credits ranging from local governments to a university and covering $69 billion in debt.</p>
<p>Most of those credits, 162, were local governments scattered across 31 states. They accounted for $63 billion in debt and the heaviest concentrations were in Virginia and Massachusetts.</p>
<p>The warning also included possible downgrades for 14 housing finance programs and one university: University of Washington. “This action primarily reflects UW’s unusually large share of revenues derived from federal research grants and Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements,” according to Moody’s statement.</p>
<p>[U.S</a>. Debt Battle - Washington Wire - WSJ](<a href=“U.S. Debt Battle - WSJ”>U.S. Debt Battle - WSJ)</p>
<p>States at risk: Maryland, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.</p>
<p>Yeah qdogpa, it is a domino effect, that is for sure. Kind of overwhelming to think about.
Hugcheck, we are going through the same thing with our son. We would have had a different view 5-7 years ago. Maybe even 4 years ago. The conversation we had with our son was “we can take all of our retirement money out for your college, but then we will be living with you when we retire.” He is happily looking at good schools that are more affordable. Besides, I want him in a school that is happy to have him there, not one that makes him feel like he should be greatful they allow him to spend $50,000 a year to attend.</p>
<p>I guess we will hear tomorrow what will get paid and what will not get paid:</p>
<p>[U.S</a>. Contingency Plan Gives Bondholders Priority - Yahoo! Finance](<a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/news/US-Contingency-Plan-Gives-bloomberg-2604131065.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=]U.S”>http://finance.yahoo.com/news/US-Contingency-Plan-Gives-bloomberg-2604131065.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=)</p>
<p>I feel fortunate that my family is in an economic position such that we can watch the country burn for a bit from these spending cuts before things get rough for us. I feel like whether or not this plan gets passed, things are going to go very downhill for the country. And there are a lot of people I care about who are going to be hit very, very hard.</p>
<p>I’m so incredibly outraged by this madness that I feel like an effing Tea Partier. </p>
<p>And since when does ‘we won’t get everything but you’ll still get nothing’ constitute a compromise?</p>
<p>I don;t think you are alone in your thoughts, IBfootballer</p>
<p>It puts things in perspective: $500 billion matures in August. I wonder what expected income is.</p>
<p>When push comes to shove, I doubt there are many people who want to watch this country burn. And certainly not many families of college students can ride rough financial waters for very long.</p>