Can we all agree that this is an awful idea societally and for the individuals involved? If you couldn't get credit to go, it's because the market is sending a signal that it's a really bad idea to go. Yeah, it sucks if your dream is to do [insert unmarketable degree here] and there are few jobs for people who do that and the training costs just as much as an engineering degree. The idea that "society" should subsidize that is narcissistic at best.
And one of the major reasons for that is that we continue to produce an oversupply of liberal arts graduates, who then get stuck in food service rather than actually working as a teacher or psychologist, while their existence suppresses wages for anyone who can actually find work in those occupations because the employers can choose the lowest bidder from a desperate population of qualified applicants.
It's like saying corn farmers are having a hard time, so let's subsidize the production of corn. Well, then there's too much corn, and what does that do to the price of corn?
Wouldn't it make sense to bring college education back to its original purpose?
Even "public" school salaries are determined by the market.
This is a loaded question based on a faulty assumption. A societal shortage of people in these professions would cause their compensation to increase accordingly, incentivizing more people to enter them until an equilibrium is reached. This is basic supply and demand. Also...
> So it's individually quite stupid to major in anything _other_ than engineering, business or premed.
This is based on the faulty premise that everyone has the same skill set and can succeed at engineering, etc. as opposed to other fields where they may have a comparative advantage.
This is similar to any other area, really.
[1]https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/statutes/c...
[2]https://www.consumerfinance.gov/policy-compliance/rulemaking...
Second, to exaggerate just a wee bit, engineers need big expensive labs and modern computers, whereas French literature majors only need a supply of French literature.
