Why does the college bubble persist, despite so much evidence that the old common wisdom about getting a college degree at any cost no longer holds? One reason the message is not getting through to the great majority of Americans is that the mainstream establishment — political, academic, and media — keeps spreading the word (and the subsidies) to encourage more college attendance. ABC, CBS, and the White House can still outshout the NRO, the Center for College Affordability, and the Pope Center. And the occasional bubble article that makes its way into the New York Times or Wall Street Journal still doesn’t make its way to Main Street, where the residents are more likely to read the regional mainstream rag (if they read at all) to form their opinions.
But occasionally, those of us in the reform movement open a few eyes to the overselling of higher ed. Here’s one woman’s article about how being exposed to new information changed her long-held views about whether college is the right choice for everybody.