How Much Is That Psychology Degree Worth?

[Howie Felterbush]

How Much Is That Psychology Degree Worth?

Ann Coulter | Jan 28, 2015




The Republican leadership in Congress still hasn't held hearings on why college is so expensive, although I proposed the idea two weeks ago. Of course, it's been a month since the GOP took control of Congress, and they also haven't voided Obama's unconstitutional executive amnesty, passed e-Verify, a fence bill or the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Act.

Democrats are on offense all the time, even when they've just had their legs cut off. They announce absurd agenda items and then indignantly demand to know why Republicans are refusing to deal with the free unicorn-rides proposal. Obama is a lame-duck president and, three months ago, his party was slaughtered in midterm elections. And yet, I gather that his State of the Union address consisted of a litany of insanely expensive, utterly pointless ideas.

And Republicans fall for it every time. They consider it a major victory to come back with a free-market approach to surrender.

In response to Obama's "free" community college idea, Republicans should say: We're not giving you anything, and, in fact, we're demanding answers from the entire "higher ed" establishment. You'll be surprised how liberating and fun it is to go on offense, Republicans.

The GOP needs to hold tobacco company-style hearings, hauling in the presidents of various universities and asking them to justify their multimillion-dollar salaries.

We want professors explaining, under penalty of perjury, exactly how much they make per hour for their rigorous schedules of two classes a week, summers off, and full-year "sabbaticals" every few terms.

Also, we'd like to know how driving the getaway car for a cop-killer constitutes a qualification to teach college.

College professors relentlessly hound the rest of society for its crimes -- racism, sexism, "white privilege" -- look what you're doing to the environment! Why are we paying them, again? There's no visible reason most of these people should be teaching at all. How about they explain their value to the taxpayers who subsidize their cushy lives?

Other than engineers, economists and quarterbacks, no one acquires any marketable knowledge at college. The sole purpose of a degree is to function as a substitute IQ test. If employers were allowed to give applicants 15-minute intelligence tests, they'd have the exact same information as knowing what college a person attended.

But they can't do that, so families have to spend a quarter of a million dollars to give their kids the parchment equivalent of an IQ score. High school kids who get into good schools should present employers with their college acceptance letters and skip the going-to-college part.

Republicans need to force colleges to issue reports, just like drug companies, attesting to the average cost, and the average salary, for every degree. It will cost you $160,000 to receive a degree in Spanish literature and will take you 88 years to pay that back.

Trust Ann -- liberals will go wild. That's how you'll know you've struck gold.

They will scream bloody murder, accuse Republicans of "McCarthyism," say it's too burdensome to collect this information and how can you put a dollar value on a college education?

They better be able to put a dollar value on a college degree! That's how it's being sold. Obama doesn't say it's important to go to college to learn to think analytically, read critically or be exposed to different ideas -- none of which occurs at most colleges, anyway.

No, that's not the pitch. The pitch is: You're going to fail in this economy without a college degree!

If colleges really believe their product is worth anything, why don't they guarantee their own student loans? Why should taxpayers be on the hook for everyone's tuition?

According to the colleges, their graduates are going to earn all sorts of money! At least that's what they say when they're conning teenagers into taking out colossal student loans.

"It's burdensome" is not an excuse accepted by the government in any other context. It doesn't work for businesses being forced to come up with reams of information for the IRS, the EPA or OSHA. And the taxpayer isn't on the hook for the deceptive promises of any other industry -- except hucksters for home mortgages and student loans.

I would like to hear college presidents explain that what they do is totally different from any other company.

Democrats need to be exposed as hustlers for the most fraudulent, overpriced scam in the country. There's no other industry that has politicians flacking for it, much less conniving to prevent consumers from getting truthful information about the merchandise.

Going after Big Education is all upside for the GOP. College professors and administrators already vote 98 percent for the Democrats. In fact, it's a triple-play for Republicans: They would punish a liberal constituency, strike a blow against the principal vehicle of liberal indoctrination in America, and the middle class will love it.

[Ben Johnson]

I wonder why the Republican Congress hasn't called hearings into the climate change industry, asking the likes of Michael Mann pointed questions about his research and Climategate?

[jhc7]

Sometimes we forget the value the state approved schools gave. Without them the RA schools can raise prices to their heart's content. That's what JB was saying and selling for a quarter century. He was right, but for all the wrong reasons, and of course, it was for his bank account.

The only way to really keep down prices is with competition. We had that for awhile, but no longer. What next? an MBA to manage Kentucky Fried Chicken, or perhaps to teach the first grade. College is much too costly for what you get. We the consumers have to be more price aware and knowledgeable about choices. If you need it get it, if not maybe something else will do. Community Colleges are inexpensive, and their degrees should be more usable and acceptable.

[JohnBear]

Sometimes we forget the value the state approved schools gave. Without them the RA schools can raise prices to their heart's content.
That's what JB was saying and selling for a quarter century.

Saying, yes, for 41 years . . . and actually selling for 16 years: 4 years consulting with Columbia Pacific, 3 dreadful months with Fairfax, 3 years running International Institute/Greenwich University, and nine years doing US/Canada marketing for the Royal Chartered Heriot-Watt University/Edinburgh Business School. 

He was right, but for all the wrong reasons, and of course, it was for his bank account.

And the bank accounts of the schools as well. A great deal of money was made, and is being made, by schools, accredited or not, offering usable degrees at affordable prices.  The regionally-accredited Regents College told me in 1990 that more than half of their first ten thousand students came in because of my books. That's about $15 million for them . . . and one free lunch for me. (Not complaining, just observing.)

The only way to really keep down prices is with competition. We had that for awhile, but no longer.

I think we still do -- especially with the growing trend for junior and community colleges offering Bachelor's degrees and teaching credentials. I'd bet some will have Master's degrees within a decade. And when I tabulated the cost of the 320 distance and online MBAs two years ago, the range was from $5,000 to over $100,000 for the accredited and $3,000 to $20,000 for the state-approved. It is hard to argue that one MBA could really be twenty times more valuable than another.

College is much too costly for what you get. We the consumers have to be more price aware and knowledgeable about choices. If you need it get it, if not maybe something else will do.

Absolutely. For 25 years, I've been recommending the wonderful books by Charles Hawes (especially Proving You're Qualified: strategies for competent people without college degrees making the point that degrees are often unnecessary, Alice Bird's book The Case Against College (making the point that if one doesn't go to college but invests that money wisely, in 40 years you'll have more money than the degree(s) would have earned), and Ivar Berg's The Great Training Robbery (which suggests, based on research at Columbia, that there are a great many jobs, from air traffic controller to lab assistant, where people without degrees do just as well, often better, than those with degrees).

[Armando Ramos]

Has bear become unstuck in time, or is he just experiencing an acid flashback to when he was still relevant?  Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.  When he was on the outside looking in he supported alternative everything; when he was on the inside (i.e., working for The Man) he wanted The Man to control everything and everyone.  

[ham]

If it's really mr. Klempner typing here, I formally wish to avail myself of the "unconditional money back guarantee" that was put forth to me when I purchas...oops! when I studied with dr. Bear's top-notch educational ventures...

[Winston Smith]

If it's really mr. Klempner typing here, I formally wish to avail myself of the "unconditional money back guarantee" that was put forth to me when I purchas...oops! when I studied with d. Bear's top-notch educational ventures...

I'm sure if you send him your receipts he will be happy to refund all your money. 

Remember how the Chrysler workers complained about their St. Regis degrees and immediately received full refunds?  No wonder the education cartel rigged the game to send them to jail.....if RA schools had to meet that standard of customer service 90% of them would be out of business in a week.

[ham]

If it's really mr. Klempner typing here, I formally wish to avail myself of the "unconditional money back guarantee" that was put forth to me when I purchas...oops! when I studied with d. Bear's top-notch educational ventures...

I'm sure if you send him your receipts he will be happy to refund all your money. 

Remember how the Chrysler workers complained about their St. Regis degrees and immediately received full refunds?  No wonder the education cartel rigged the game to send them to jail.....if RA schools had to meet that standard of customer service 90% of them would be out of business in a week.

Perhaps I am not going to pursue this further...after all, didn't the moolah from dr. Bear's "phony degrees for sale in America only" go to a children charity? How could one defraud innocent children?

[jhc7]

It's good, it'd bad, no maybe, perhaps, hmmmmmm. I guess it depends on the size of the check.
Small one room schools were called good if their intent was real and some level of effort was required, and if the school was operated legally in the state it existed in. As we all know by the time of DI it was a joke. So joke or real? How the hell can we tell? He changes his words as if the wind itself bears his words. Twisting and bending in all directions like a snake twisting. Like a used car salesman, absolutely no ethics or remorse.

Bear ???????????????? would the real man please stand up. OR was their ever any reality.

[JohnBear]

Dear Mr. C

He? He? He? Do you realize that the real John Bear is reading what you write. Would you talk to me like this in person? Just wondering.