Whose fault is college debt?

[mebison]

The comments made by Gannon Fan and JMU DJ about engineering degrees and professor salaries are absolutely right.

When I finished my UG engineering degree in 2005, I think 2 of us out of 75+ went on to grad school, which in my case was a combination of interest in research and where I was moving to. It is probably true that more people are going to grad school now than before because of the economy, but I think its less "this degree will help me get a job" and more "this is something to do to pass a couple years and hope the economy improves".

I was quite shocked the first time I contributed to a major grant and realized that the "Indirects" (costs that go directly to the university) were ~50% of the grant amount. And as JMU DJ said, that 50% is not for salary or benefits for anyone actually working on the grant. At any major research university, in engineering a tenure-track professor will be expected to essentially pay his own salary and that of his grad students within 3-4 years of being hired.