“The good news is that an overwhelming majority think jobs and completion are at least somewhat important. The bad news? Fewer than two thirds think either counts as “very important.” To which I can only ask: If those aren’t tops on your priority list right now, what the hell is? Meanwhile, more than a fifth don’t seem to think that cost factors much into the quality calculation, which is a view I can sort of imagine a sentient creature defending in 1997 when everybody thought the stock market was a magical fount of retirement money and the internet was going end unemployment. But at time when half the country seems convinced that everybody under the age of thirty is about to burned alive on a giant pyre of student debt, it’s tad tone deaf. According to Gallup, 77 percent of Americans think colleges need to cut tuition. Every single college is going to be judged via a cost-benefit analysis. This is not complicated. It should be understood by now.”

“McGill offered him a full undergraduate university education for what it would have cost for just one year at G.W. “When the financial packages came in, it was a no-brainer for me,” Andreasen said. Indeed, with strained family budgets and the soaring cost of tuition at American schools, the coveted university degree often comes with just too much debt for many students. About one in six people who owe money on their student loans is in default. Such a debt load is a harsh reality that is forcing a growing number of young people to look north to Canada for an education they can better afford.”

“I have decreasing amounts of tolerance for unnecessary communication because it is a burden and a cost,” said Baratunde Thurston, co-founder of Cultivated Wit, a comedic creative company. “It’s almost too easy to not think before we express ourselves because expression is so cheap, yet it often costs the receiver more.”

“He said customers who now pay, for example, 25 cents per channel for 200 channels could opt for a 20 channel subscription – but the cost per channel would rise to 75 cents. And Ted Woodhead, vice president of telecom policy and regulatory affairs at B.C.-based telecom Telus Corp., said an option that would allow consumers to choose a single specialty channel remains a long way off, given the poor margins for content owners and distributers the model implies.”

“Nearly 57 percent of people think college is a good financial investment for young adults these days, according to the survey of 3,000 Americans, which was conducted by Rasmusson Reports on behalf of Country Financial. That’s down sharply from just four years ago, when 81 percent of people saw college as a good investment. The figure has fallen every year since 2008, the year the financial crisis hit. This year, about 24 percent said they did not think a higher education was worth the investment, while about 19 percent were unsure.”

“Americans believe that the cost of higher education is a greater deterrent than bad high school grades; lack of encouragement from family, teachers, or guidance counselors; and a lack of information about financial aid and how to apply to college. But, given the insanely politicized bickering over interest rates and ongoing acrimonious fights in state houses over higher education cuts, is there any hope that our politicians can ever get it together so American students can get the college education we believe they deserve?”

“If President Johnson had said, “Let’s subsidize students to go to college so that colleges can charge much more and students can decrease their learning effort,” he would have gotten no support for the legislation. Nevertheless, it seems that we have achieved both of those undesirable outcomes.”