An investment is something with a payback.
Not all “education” degrees have a payback. That’s why the average college graduate has $40,000 in debt. And many are having to live at home with low-paying jobs because their degree doesn’t allow them to work for more than minimum wage.
Taking out debt for an underwater basketweaving degree is not an investment. It’s dumping money into the hole.
If you are going into debt for education, it better be something with a guaranteed payback: STEM.
As the Legislature’s joint budget committee opens a full week of education budget hearings, state Board of Education President Linda Clark opened with an overview. She noted that while the K-12 public school budget for 2018 is 48.8 percent of the total state general fund budget – “exactly the same proportional share” as it was in 1997 – the higher education budget, for the state’s public colleges and universities, has dropped from 12.6 percent of the state general fund budget in 1997 to 8.3 percent this year.
“The governor’s budget continues to invest in the K-12 task force recommendations, and I think the Legislature should be commended for the diligence in funding and moving those task force recommendations forward,” Clark told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.
She said the governor’s new 36-member higher education task force now points the way toward improving higher ed as well. “It was a very large task completed on a very short timeline, but I believe the task force recommendations provide a sound pathway for the future of higher ed in Idaho, and that they point out some much-needed improvements in our system,” Clark said.