"In the U.S., more than 150 musical theater bachelor’s programs graduate at least 1,500 students each year into a famously unstable industry. Some argue: Enough is enough."
Indeed. A BFA professor argues:
"I don’t think that the system broke down at random,” he says in the video. “I think it broke down in response to more colleges creating more B.F.A. programs, not because they were equipped to have those programs, but because they thought they would be cash cows—and they were.” He goes on to claim that he knows of one institution that doubled the size of its B.F.A. cohort in order to earn more revenue from tuition."
Academics sometimes argue that limiting degree programs based on the chances of gainful employment discriminated again poor people who could not otherwise afford to pay for these degrees at unsubsidized prices. This is certainly true. As the article observes:
"The discourse comes amid ongoing debates over gainful-employment regulations established by former president Joe Biden, which require academic programs to demonstrate that their graduates earn more than those without a college education and that they can afford to repay their student loans."
So discriminating against poor people will reduce the chances that they will stay poor, trying to pay back loans for low paying jobs. Yes, it is so unfair to encourage poor people to stay poor.
Final point: universities are engaged in predatory practices that screw over the poor. Evil capitalist exploiters!
Seems a simple solution: Make the schools the guarantors of federal loan payments for those who take out loans (which I'd bet is a LOT of them).
ReplyDeleteThe increase in useless degree programs is because they're easy to create and profitable. Make them less profitable and they will end