Some of you may be interested in Sanjay Samuel's TED talk on How college loans exploit students for profit (Feb 2016, TEDxPSU).

Previous threads on college loans have discussed the misnomer of being termed "financial aid" when these loans essentially raise the cost of obtaining a degree, making college more unaffordable.

Parents and students may want to consider the degree to which higher education may be a Giffen good and/or Veblen good.

The TED talk from Daphne Koller (June 2012, TEDGlobal) may also be of interest:
- 559% increase in college tuition since 1985
- 44% of college grads unemployed or underemployed in jobs not requiring a college degree
- Coursera free online classes from top universities
- Peer grading, self-grading highly correlated with teacher grading
- Analysis of wrong answers can identify misconceptions and provide targeted error messages for personalized learning
- Active learning increases: attendance, engagement, learning
- Lifelong learning to expand minds, change lives