UVM is wrapping up over the next few weeks and I got this great post from Seth Godin on: The coming melt-down in higher education. What grabbed my eye was the chart. Ouch! Higher education costs in the US are rising faster than Medical costs. While I don’t agree with all his points I firmly subscribe to his conclusion that there is a coming wave of ways to drive affordable liberal education with out going into massive debt.

UVM’s 4.8 percent increase this year would make in-state tuition $12,276. Out-of-state tuition would be $30,984. Add in room & board, books, and you are looking at $26,340(In State) and $45,398(Out).  If your borrowed all of that $181K is a massive debt load even before you add in an MBA or other advanced degree. The college board reported that the avg 2010 increase for a private university was 4.4%. Time to look at alternatives. Three year programs with a year doing public service or an internship? We need to have a debate on how we get students better skills with out the massive debt load.