Dave Hodges
Activist Post
The United States has the most expensive post-secondary education system in the world. In
Part One
of this series, I detailed how the government, as well as institutions
of higher learning, the media and the banks have loosely conspired to
dramatically drive up the costs of a college education and enslave
middle-class college students through their lifetime by coercing their
participation in a system which almost guarantees an adulthood filled
with massive debt.
The Exorbitant Cost of a College Education Is No Accident
The elite have created a post-secondary education system which is out of
the financial reach of an increasing number of middle-class students.
This is deliberate and it is NOT being driven by market forces. It is a
conspiracy concocted by the wealthy to limit the elite’s children to the
dangers of competition from middle-class children. Yet, on the other
side, the elite have convinced the federal government to fund the
college educations of the poor and the disadvantaged so they can create
competition for the middle class. The omnipresent goal is to create a
bifurcated two-class feudal society, and education is the starting point
in this plot to control social stratification.
There Is Way to Avoid This
The astronomically rising costs of funding a college education, as well
as the establishment of predatory lending practices, are the weapons of
the mass destruction being used against the middle class’ ability to
obtain a college degree. This is classic divide-and-conquer class
warfare. However, there are cracks in the educational caste system, and I
am going to reveal a few strategies which might allow you to provide a
college education for your children.
The economics underlying the obtaining of a college degree are as
exploitative as any scheme which could have been devised by the most
ardent dictators who are hell bent on creating a society of “haves and
have nots”.
The economics of funding the post-secondary education system is
predicated on wealth redistribution by making it increasingly difficult
for the middle class to send their children to college as opposed to the
wealthy or the poor. Many in the bottom tier of the economic strata get
the government to fund elaborate financing mechanisms (e.g. Federal
Financial Aid, Federal Work-Study, etc.) in order to pay poor children’s
education at the expense of higher taxes for the middle class. And it
is ironic that these middle class taxpayers don’t see any economic or
educational benefit for their children with the taxes they are paying.
Consequently, middle-class children are cast into a corrupt system of
debt enslavement in order to fund a college education.
Conversely, the wealthy don’t blink an eye at spending $60,000 per year
to send their children to schools like the University of Southern
California. And before the bleeding heart liberals jump through their
computer screen to attack me, please allow me to state that I am not
opposed to helping poor children to become what God intended them to be.
I am opposed to poor children getting access to a benefit which is
increasingly being denied to middle class children. Both strata of
socio-economic classes deserve the same opportunity. I am not socialist,
but in this case I would support taking back the bailout money and
ending the war in Afghanistan and applying the savings to funding a free
post-secondary education system. Oh, but that would not benefit the
agenda of the elite, because their kids might get competition for
meaningful jobs by children from the wrong side of the tracks.
You Want Answers?
So,
what is a middle-class parent to do? The options are very narrow, but
there is a way to finance a college education at a fraction of the cost
that young adults face when they set foot on a university campus this
coming September. However, I do not expect that this opportunity will
remain available indefinitely because universities are actively lobbying
against the plan that I am setting forth here which will finance
college education at a fraction of the cost. The strategies to reduce
college costs will be covered later in this article, but first parents
must prepare your child to be college ready at an early age if they want
to reap the benefits of the tuition reduction plan.
The Middle School Years Form the Foundation for Funding a College Education
Most college courses require a certain level of literacy, math skills
and work ethic. If a child is encouraged to develop the critical and
essential basic skills in seventh and eighth grade, a foundation is set
in order to take honors classes in ninth and tenth grade. Honors courses
often provide a student with the academic rigor that they will need in
order to be prepared to master the skill sets needed to begin to take
college courses at a young age.
The middle school years are the age that parents need to invest in
tutors, if needed, and to look for alternative methods to prepare their
children for college courses. For example, last year my son took a
reading comprehension and speed reading course on Sunday afternoons at a
local college designed for elementary aged children. We also pay a
small fee for him to be tutored in math, science and literature.
To get your child college ready, I strongly recommend the development of
a study skills plan for your child. The one that I chose for my son is
called the Study, Question, Read, Recite, Review (
SQ3R).
This was the study skills plan that I was taught in seventh grade,
along with speed reading. I was able to utilize the SQ3R method starting
in middle school and I successfully employed these study principles
all the way through my post-graduate education. I teach a modified
version of the SQ3R to my students on the first day of class and I am
now beginning to teach it to my son. And no, I do not have a business
relationship with the creators or publisher of this method. I use the
system because it works.
I also suggest that children take as much math as they possibly can at
an early age because math forces a child to use different parts of the
brain. The earlier math is introduced to a child, the easier the mastery
of math is obtained.
The brain goes through a definitive and major change between the ages of
11-12, and this is the time that a child should be taking Algebra as
well as foreign language. During the period from six to puberty,
scientists have found that the gray-matter spike shifts to the temporal
and parietal lobes. These parts of the brain play a major role in
language skills and spatial relations which are critical to math. The
growth rate of these brain cells then falls off fast, which may explain
why, as a rule, the ability to learn languages declines sharply after
the age of 12. Therefore, the window of maximum opportunity is narrow.
As children age, brain growth moves in a sort of wave from the front of
the brain to the rear which results in an increase in gray matter in the
front part of the brain right before puberty, which occurs around age
11 in girls and 12 in boys. This is your optimal developmental window to
introduce pre-college learning experiences which are critical to later
success. How do I know this? This is part of what I have taught at the
university level.
I would also advise parents to get their children to take some career
interest inventories and identify a career path as early as possible.
Academic indecision and changing majors are two huge factors which will
drive up the cost of a college education. A solid career interest
inventory test that I have utilized is the
Self Directed Search by John Holland. Again, I have no financial interest in this testing instrument.
As your child becomes college ready, it is time to move to the next step
which involves taking dual enrollment college courses at their local
high school.
Turning Eleventh and Twelfth Grade Into a Money-Maker
If
you live in or near a metropolitan area anywhere in the United States,
you will find high schools which offer dual enrollment. Dual enrollment
is a program in which a high school student takes a high school course
which is also offered in conjunction with a nearby community college as a
3-5 credit college course. Parents do have to find the funds to pay for
these tuition costs. However, these costs are relatively minimal
compared to the cost of a university education. Let’s look at a cost
comparison in Arizona which is typical for students living in any state.
The University vs. the Community College
It’s fun and it is sexy to go away from home to a major university.
There are no parental restrictions, no curfew, there is an abundance of
alcohol, a plethora of social gatherings and there is of course the
opposite sex. It is exciting, but it is a very expensive way to break
away from parental controls. Middle class students should come to grips
with the fact that there is a much more efficient and cheaper way to
grow into adulthood than the four-year university on-campus experience.
For many students, a four-year university experience can produce the kind debt which can
enslave
a person instead of creating economic opportunity, which is what
education was intended to do. I have composed a typical cost comparison
between attending a University or a Community College for two years.
For an incoming freshman who will be attending Arizona State University
(ASU), the following are the cost estimates of attending ASU as
published on the
ASU website.
IN-STATE
Base tuition and fees: $9,724
Room and meal plan (average): $9,094
Books and supplies (average): $1,000
Total
direct costs: $19,818
OUT-OF-STATE
Base tuition and fees: $22,977
Room and meal plan (average): $9,094
Books and supplies (average): $1,000
Total direct costs: $33,071
There are some high schools which offer dual enrollment courses for
nearly every discipline. In some high schools, students are earning an
Associates two-year degree by the time they graduate from high school.
A potential ASU student would save a huge sum of money by enrolling in
dual enrollment courses offered through the Maricopa County Community
College District (MCCCD) while still in high school.
Maricopa Community College Tuition Schedule – 2013-2014
Registration Fee: $15 per semester
Resident Tuition: $81 per credit hour (subject to change) or $2,430 per year for 15 credit hours
Out-of-County: $317 per credit hour
Audit Fees: $25 additional fee per credit hour/plus tuition/fee
Non-Resident: $317 per credit hour $215 per credit hour – courses
offered out of Arizona, including distance learning, to non-resident,
out-of-state students
Do the Math
For a total of $4,890 a high school student can fund the first two
years of a college education. I did not include book costs because in a
state-supported high school, textbooks are generally offered free of
charge.
The
same student attending ASU for their first two years has paid almost
$40,000. Your child is saving themselves over $35,000 by taking dual
enrollment courses. By the way, the ASU estimates of only paying a
$1,000 per semester for books is grossly underestimated. If a student
takes the normal five course (three credits each), they are paying
$100-200 per book. Again, do the math and you will note that ASU is
understating textbook costs, and many courses require more than one
book.
What If Your Local High School Has Limited Dual Enrollment Opportunities?
It is possible that your family may live in area in which your local
high school may not offer many dual enrollment courses. Most states
mandate open enrollment for just these kinds of reasons. Parents, do
your homework and find a high school which offers a variety of dual
enrollment courses and subsequently enroll your child.
If all else fails, there are community colleges which offers online dual
enrollment college credit and will coordinate with your local high
school counselors. Don’t wrinkle your nose up at online learning; it is
the inevitable wave of the future because it is cost effective.
This Window May Not Be Open Long
In 2001, I testified before the House of Representatives Education
Committee at the Arizona State Legislature with regard to the quality of
dual enrollment programs and high school students readiness to take on
these challenges. My testimony was offered as a counter to the ASU paid
lobbyists which tried to get lawmakers to outlaw dual enrollment
programs. ASU’s had a clear financial motive to oppose dual enrollment;
it was taking money out of their coffers.
The Arizona Legislature reached a compromise in which they limited
students to taking only two dual enrollment courses in any one semester
unless they were ahead on their credits needed for high school
education. I have discovered that this is a typical restriction in most
states. It is very easy to get ahead on credits. For example, in the
summer before a student’s junior year, a student should enroll in one or
two community college courses, which can be offered as dual enrollment
at their high school, or by taking the class online.
If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them
Today, ASU has embraced online education and is no longer attempting to
destroy dual enrollment programs. However, the federal government will
not acquiesce so easily. If more and more students opt for dual
enrollment as a means of avoiding the predatory lending practices for
obtaining and paying back a federal student loan, you can look for the
feds to move in and control dual enrollment in the same manner as ASU
attempted to back in 2001.
A Final Cost Analysis
Cutting back on college costs and avoiding predatory student loans will
result in financial savings which are substantial to a middle income
family.
Four
years at ASU will cost an in-state student around $80,000. By following
the plan I have laid out here in which a student attends an ASU
satellite campus for only the last two years and lives at home, will
cost a middle-class student around $40,000 to obtain a college degree.
And with these kinds of “reasonable” costs, a college student can fund
their own college education with a fairly minimal part-time job. And by
avoiding predatory federal loan practices, you will, unlike
Kenneth Wright,
not have a SWAT team breaking down your front door, physically abusing
you and terrorizing the rest of your family members for the
non-repayment of an estranged wife’s college loan.
The biggest advantage to following this plan is that when a college
graduate launches their career, they will not do so under the tyrannical
thumb of the federal government, at least not yet.
And one more warning for your soon-to-be college student. Do not send
them to a high school where the recently implemented Common Core
curriculum is the base standard of their educational system. The system
is designed to lessen math achievement and compromise literature
courses.
If You Only Knew Some of What Professors Are Teaching
There are strong social and moral reasons to limit your child’s exposure
to four-year colleges and universities. Some of what is increasingly
taught on college campuses would shock the average person. That is the
topic of Part Three of this series.
