Have two grandsons at Tx A&M, one a sophomore in architecture school and the other a graduate student in Engineering. Talked to them over the weekend and they are both frustrated about paying ridiculous tuition and having to take courses online. No chance to see professor, only graduate students for help. One even had to pay extra for someone to come and monitor him while he takes a test.

No way I can believe that an advance course can be taught online and be of the quality it should be. Even so, online course cost should be significantly less than a course taught in a classroom. No wonder they don't rank in the top 50 public universities in the country.

I went to Tarleton for my B.S....very hands on and accessible professors.

Then I went to TAMU for my M.S....very much on your own. Professors are mostly concerned with staying ahead on research and obtaining as much grant money as possible. Not that they don't care, but the priority is to be a leader in research.

It doesn't take much effort to keep the money coming from the students, but grant money is a battlefield.

There�s a continuing trend of states cutting appropriations to state universities so corners have to be cut somewhere

The higher education bubble is going to pop at some point and it�s going to be ugly.

Tuition cost as is health care are out of control!

A four year degree at Div. 3, Hardin Simmons in Abilene TX currently runs you over $100,000. Can't imagine what the cost are at the major universities.

Ask yourself why tuition is so high.

Those universities have plenty of money, they are taking everyone.

It's not just in aggieland. It's everywhere. Like poster said earlier, its all about obtaining Fed monies for grants and research. Breakthroughs in any high tech field today is worth millions to the institution.

U of Phoenix "knockoffs" are changing higher education as more and more are opting for those type degrees. Higher ed is changing before our very eyes.

IMHO, colleges and universities will continue to raise prices until the optimal price point is met, ie, until demand (enrollment) tapers off. Demand, and therefore prices are higher than in the past because of, again in my opinion, student loans.

I almost got arrested trying to steal their cannon when I was at McMurry

exactly, anytime you can increase either time, amount or access to loans that thing goes up rapidly in cost. ex: boats, they amount and time on a boat loan tripled 20 yrs ago and you went from simple 15k fishing boats to fully loaded 80k monstrosities that you could finance for 15 yrs +.
Well of Johnny Bassclub don't give an ol dang about anything but his payment,so he wanted all the bass boat he could get.
same with student loans, making 100k loans to 18yr old kids who don't have a clue.

I guess the movie scene was not to far from the truth.
College class room
No live students but every desk had a recording device.

At the head of the class where the professor usually stands is another desk with a tape recorder playing a prerecorded clip of the lecture.

What movie?

I went to a DIII college. I graduated in 2005. It was $120,000 back then for four years (and has kept rising). Schools like Lehigh University (private, northeast, highly regarded for engineering, I think) has been $50k or higher for a long time.

It�s outrageous.

What is your opinion, since you work at one? I should have asked my buddy, who I was hanging out with last weekend, and is a professor at UNC and his wife is one at Vanderbilt.