You Get What You Pay For?

"In Hard Times, Lured into Trade School and Debt"

At the community college where the Solipsist works, one can obtain a certificate in Classical/Modern Food Preparation and Restaurant Training. This certificate requires a student to complete 35 units worth of culinary classes. Currently, tuition at California community colleges is $20 per unit. In other words, students' tuition costs for the entire program will be $700. For the sake of argument, double that for books and fees and other costs: $1,400.

Compare those costs to those imposed by Le Cordon Bleu's culinary school in Portland, Oregon: 21 months, $41,000.

Well, you say, that's a specious comparison. After all, Le Cordon Bleu offers a much higher level program, whose graduates will be raking in tens of thousands of dollars per year upon graduation. This is true. They will be raking in tens of thousands of dollars a year: actually, they will be raking in two tens of thousands of dollars a year, the average salary for a graduate being around $21,000 a year.

But, you object, the experience!

(Digression: What is it with you, anyway? EOD)

Chef Kenneth Giambalvo, executive chef at Bluehour: "When they graduate and come in the kitchen, I tell them, 'I'm going to treat you like you don't know anything.' [The program] doesn't really give them any edge."

What's really outrageous about these programs is the sheer number of people who are getting screwed by them. Students either pay outrageous sums for the dubious training or, more likely, take out exorbitant loans. Many of these loans, in turn, come from or are backed by the federal government. That's right, folks: YOU are paying these corporations.

Look, we are all for education, and, of course, we applaud people's desires to learn marketable skills. But it costs as much to send one person to Le Cordon Bleu as it does to provide 30 people with the same training at a public institution. Why is the federal government subsidizing these for-profit charlatans while states slash funding to the bargain basement (in cost, not quality) community colleges? Where are the true conservatives rising up in outrage?