Too bad modern education doesn't prevent ignorance.

A bachelor's degree is a huge ripoff. It costs an outrageous amount, the first two years of which you should have learned in high school. The other years could mostly be learned in a library. The Feds increased the availability of financial aid and the universities jacked up the cost to pay for athletic programs.

Hey I was a year and a half into my degree before my university started flipping out that i didn't bother with the worthless freshman classes. Was getting great grades in junior and senior level classes but guess they wanted that tuition money. Ended up wasting a lot of time and money to get taught things I had known since middle school. Tbh current state of higher education kind of disgusts me. And that was before some universities started adding cultural sensitivity etc classes to the required curriculum.

What do you think is a reasonable cost of tuition for one year?

What a great question! I don't have an exact answer. I do know that there are graphs that show increases in average tuition costs over the last forty years or so plotted against inflation, and the difference is pretty shocking. The profit taking has been every bit as gratuitous in higher education as it has in healthcare or Wall Street. To answer your question, I would probably find an amount from the past and adjust for inflation.

I am not sure that simply applying average inflation rates is fair. For example, the service we all expect from healthcare has changed. Things that could not have been cured or treated now can. The research and technology necessary to achieve those outcomes is expensive. On the other hand, the groundskeepers at these colleges and universities keep them looking great but do not add to the educational experience. I think alot of money is spent on gyms and stadiums etc. "Wall Street" has spent enormous sums on technology AND driven down the cost of transactions.

Maybe it isn't fair. But I'm not aware of undergrads learning any cutting edge tech, and what they are charged for a degree that doesn't guarantee a job isn't fair either. Escalating costs of education also contribute to the escalation of costs in other areas. How do you tell a doctor they can't charge all the market will bear when he or she has $200K-$400K worth of school loans to pay off? On the other hand, healthcare is expected to pay high dividends because everyone's retirement is invested in it one way or another. I'm sure we could go on and on, but if they're going to run education (or healthcare, for the matter) like a business, we're not students (or patients) we're customers with a right to demand a better ratio of cost to benefit.

I agree with you. A degree is the result of a standardized process so that the student and potential employer know what they are getting. For many degrees the cost/ benefit is not favorable. Buyer beware!