re: Pardon me, not about sports

Government backed student loans to 18 y.o. kids that wouldn't even qualify to finance chewing gum is what's causing this. Schools can charge anything they want, so they do.

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It is estimated at $140,000 for four years.

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Seriously? 35k a year? I went to MSU 2010-2013 and tuition was like 7k a year. I borrowed 26k in student loans, living expenses were split between my part time work and parents weekly 150 dollar allowance. That went toward rent, utilities, food, alcohol. Lots of alcohol

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$140,000 for four years. When I graduated I had spent $3,000 including room and board

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~7.4% annual inflation (1970-2023)

Sounds worse than it is. The market’s done 10.4% in that time. 10yr Treasuries averaged 6.1%!

So even a retirement portfolio holding 70% bonds would have kept up with the cost of education.

Now, tell me the cost of education as a % of household investment has gone up? Sure. So has the relative cost of home ownership. But you’ve had MASSIVE deflation in productivity-enhancing and lifestyle-accommodating technology breakthroughs, information access, improvements to healthcare and longevity, and modern conveniences, purely from a development and accessibility standpoint.

While we all feel poorer than the last generation when we look at the $ value on the ATM screen vs. the cost of education or home ownership, we all know the reality that we’re living such healthier, longer, and richer lives is much more valuable in the aggregate.

Ultimately it just gets back to return on TIME. How are you using the hours in the day that you’ll never get back? Da Vinci, Shakespeare, Ben Franklin, heck these college coaches today: they all had only just as many hours as we do.

In other words, wealth has never really been tied to affordability. It’s always been tied to productivity, and capitalizing on the shots you take.