Home News How to Make College Degrees Consumer-Friendly – Manhattan Institute

How to Make College Degrees Consumer-Friendly – Manhattan Institute

62
0

Investing in postsecondary education ought to be as clear and transparent as any other purchase, including clear pricing up-front that allows consumers to make well-founded school, degree, and borrowing choices that fit their personal circumstances, talents, and ambitions. Yet that is not how college financing works today. Instead, students and families coming into the process have little knowledge of the total amount that they will have to spend. Furthermore, the information that they do have about costs and options for payment are presented in a way that is difficult to understand when trying to budget effectively.

Too often, the end result of the complicated way people must shop for and obtain postsecondary education is debt without a degree. This report lays out three solutions that can greatly improve consumers’ abilities to make the kinds of thoughtful choices that lead to higher levels of overall student financial success: 1) give students a single, up-front, total price for their degree; 2) separate out, and separately finance, cost-of-living and direct training expenses; and 3) repackage college comparison data in ways that consumers are more likely to understand, and then leverage it.

Some of these reforms can be implemented today by colleges, universities, and the federal government; others will require policy action. All, however, are premised on increased transparency and clarity. As Congress, institutional leaders, and education consumers look for ways to get more students to affordably enroll and complete postsecondary education, success starts with modest changes aimed at helping consumers make better choices while incentivizing institutions to be aligned and responsive to their customers’ needs.

View Original Source

tags:

LEAVE YOUR COMMENT

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *