The video was simplistic, badly designed propaganda. It contained as many half-truths and mischaracterizations as the propaganda the higher education industry puts out.
Today higher education is a racket. Originally a man would liberalize (free) his mind by becoming better educated. Private institutions were set up to provide this service. Free men were more attractive to employers because they brought more to the table than uneducated persons. Thus the market value of a university education was established.
After America turned to national socialism in the 1930's, government took over the institutions of higher learning with the Prussian Ph.D system and began using them to indoctrinate the populace. Today they sell the promise of increased wages. That was never supposed to be the purpose of a university education.
Today it is a fact that overall a person who possess a university degree is a more marketable to employers that one who does not. The NIA video tries to discount this fact, but fails.
The information in the video about how it is unwise to take on student loan debt is correct. The information in the video about how there is a bubble in student debt is correct. The video's conclusion that people should not pursue higher education because of those two facts is poisoning the well, strawman, or red herring. I can't decide which.
The NIA could have highlighted the problems with our system of higher education without resorting to half-truths and fallacies. I suppose they decided the video would have broader appeal if they took the emotional approach. They were probably correct in that estimation, but produced a crappy video because of it.
The other thing is, there are good and bad degrees out there just like any other product. The irony here in the UK is, past generations had their degrees fully subsidised by the taxpayer - they now wish to mortgage young people's futures for them to have a chance at getting a good job. Unfortunately, like it or not, a substantial portion of degrees (of a sufficient grade) are viewed as a favourable addition to one's resume, if all else is equal between two candidates.
The amount of occupational licensing restrictions in the economy make it inevitable that you need a qualification of some sort for a professional field, unless you enjoy competing for McDonalds jobs. It may not be a degree, but it will still be an obstacle to gaining employment in that field. Going back to the UK example, those that take the Mickey Mouse degrees are least likely to be required to pay back their loans, as the repayments are means-tested. Those that are successful with, for example, a medicine degree will be paying them back almost immediately, with punitive interest rates (RPI + 3%) on top of the usual punitive income tax, etc.
(The higher interest rates are set to be implemented from 2012 onwards)
This thread on education reform can be applied to universities as well as schools:
http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=81613.0Obviously, the removal of licensing\taxpayer funding along with increased competition will weed out the institutions with parasitical Deans or overpaid "lecturers".
