UPDATE: The online petition, in the short few hours its been linked to in this story, now has over 230 signatures! Let's keep it up!

Higher education is the next big bubble about to burst. Bloated administrative staffs, "diversity officers," deans, sub-deans, chancellors, provosts, etc. and, primarily, the influence of the increasing federal dollars have conspired to boost tuition far above the rate of inflation. And Obama wants to increase federal aid to students so, ultimately, colleges can boost tuition even further. It's all a gigantic scam to keep the adults employed at six figure salaries while students get shortchanged and left with debt. Parents and students are increasingly coming to the realization that much of higher education is not useful to future job prospects. Indeed the value of a four-year degree has been vastly overblown, causing many students to go deeply into debt that will keep them saddled for years. And today, 53% of graduates are either unemployed or underemployed. Remember the NY Times article about the NYU graduate in gender studies and religious studies who graduated with $100,000 in debt and a job paying about $25,000 as a photographer's assistant? Lot of good that degree got her. Do you think her gender studies advisor ever broached the topic of what she was going to do with that worthless degree? Think again.

An undergraduate education is largely about credentialing, i.e. paying vast sums for the status symbol of showing that you attended a "prestigious" institution, even though you probably gained little in the way of practical education. A degree is also a sorting mechanism to demonstrate to potential employers that, from among the general population of potential job applicants, you were able to show up on time and complete assignments. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute's annual surveys have demonstrated that most college graduates come out of a four-year experience knowing less about American history and government (i.e. civic knowledge) than when they entered. Students at Harvard scored best, with a D+ (score of 69). Students at Eastern Connecticut State University not too well--at 39.

The future of higher education has already begun. It’s called online education. There is a vast potential in devising means of delivering high quality education over the Internet at far less cost, and far less debt. Think about the "Great Courses" that feature some of the country's top scholars and teachers that you can buy on DVD. Recruit the top professors and deliver lectures that can be watched on your computer or on your television screen. These programs could be expanded to replicate the most common course offerings. The economies of scale could greatly reduce the cost of higher education. This could be augmented with some one-on-one mentoring, guided reading lists, and examinations to demonstrate mastery. An added benefit would be the elimination of political agendas and indoctrination, which would not with stand scrutiny with such transparency. This would require greater responsibility and self-motivation on the part of students, but, then, if they don't have that motivation in the first place, they don't belong in higher education and are just wasting their parent's, and taxpayers, money. For many students, of course, a four year undergraduate experience is just an excuse to delay adolescence and party.

Such a program will, naturally, have a severe impact on high-priced, but not top tier, schools--Fairfield U. ($50,000+ per year), Connecticut College and Wesleyan come to find--that are charging astronomical sums to credential students. They will be forced to either adapt or die.

I know from personal experience about the perils of higher education costs. My niece and her husband (both in their early 40s) are saddled with a combined $200,000 in college debt from degrees at Brown and the University of Iowa (PhD in psychology and an MBA). They will be paying that debt until they retire and begin collecting Social Security. The debt has become their mortgage--they cannot afford to buy a house in CA because a down payment is out of their reach. I put my two children through state schools, and they have zero debt. A son of an acquaintance of mine learned plumbing and now makes over $75,000/year, about what my niece makes with her PhD. He's got a 401(k) to which he's contributing the maximum, having started doing so at age 22. That will, perhaps, give him two more doublings of his investment portfolio than the college graduate who doesn't start investing seriously until she is in her early to late 30s (or never in the case of my niece). By retirement, this difference will amount to several hundred thousand dollars that would not have been earned without the last doubling (or two). Whether Einstein said it or not, compound interest is one of the greatest forces in the universe. Bottom line: getting good educational and financial advice at an early age is critical to future professional and financial success. The colleges and universities are not going to tell you these things. They just want your hard-earned tuition dollars and won't be around when the loan payments come due.

Faculty should join you as we'll, but again... No spines!