I agree, Colleges are not helping students, they are not using money to help lower tuition. The more government gives money, the more costs rise.

Gee.....engineering rather than medieval Latin? Guess Hs Holiness will be solving the lack of priests with the millions of students qualified to sing Gregorian chant rather than work in IT.

A link has to be established between education and earning a living, instead of "personal fulfillment" and other euphemisms and daydreams which ultimately result in the waste of money.

I actually agree with Sununu's assertion that student grants and loans ought to be biased in favor of "useful" degrees. But I find it very strange to see such a suggestion coming from a Republican. If such a system were to be advocated by Democrats, then the Republican's would be assailing it as "picking winners and losers".

Why should students receive college loans at all unless they major in subjects that enhance their job market skills? Otherwise, attending college is a consumption item, just like tailgating at Foxboro.

Take a look at your sentences. "will be solving the lack of priests.." What? How about improving grammar school education before we even start to talk about a liberal arts education!!!

Folks, in response to comments like those written by pvalen, it's not about personal fulfillment. Nor is it about earning a living. It's not that simple. It's about being able to think, analyze, write at an even higher level than what a student will do with a great high school degree.

Sen. Sununu brings up two issues in his article: first that a college education costs too much, and second, that there are not enough native-born students going into the so-called 'STEM' disciplines. By way of disclosure, I majored in one of the so-called STEM fields, but that was because I love science, not because I saw it as a path to prosperity. The reason we have so few of our own in these fields is because the American public is, by and large, hostile to science and mathematics. I would say it is more telling that a college education has degenerated to advanced vocational training, and now everyone complains about the cost of that.