Snitz looks at his Alma Mater Middlebury. Ouch!

Middlebury is one of the most prestigious liberal arts schools in the nation. They charge dearly for that moniker. Cost: I: being out of the labor force for 4 years & II: $91,000 this year for tuition/room board.

Are you prepared to get a job? Hmmm. The chart below shows the majors reported by students. Business isn't offered. Approx 40% of the graduates major in STEM or economics. The other 60% gets to pitch their resume as a humanities major...rough in the current job market. Ergo, they may find themselves forced to take a job that doesn't use the academic skill set or pursue graduate education. Not a great economic result for someone who just spent about $400,000 ($550,000 pre-tax) to get their head "filled".

When I attended in the late 1970s, the cost was about $5,000 and grad school was a relative bargain as well.

Chart denoting majors (large boxes mean more students)

Some other interesting metrics:

• The college prides itself on admitting students of color. A whopping 3.5% are Black, 2.5% are from the Middle East or Africa and 9% are Hispanic. Otherwise, it's Whites and Asians.

• What percent of the kids "identify" as a person of color? 39% of those who didn't receive financial aid, 58% who did. WTF? 14% are actually minorities but3-4 times as many identify as such? Interesting multiverse.

• Approx half the class identifies as Atheist or Agnostic. I guess there's plenty of room in the school Chapel.

• Do these pillars of virtue report that they cheat? That is on their academic work. In 2019 that number was 35%. This year? 68%. I'm sure they'll have a change of heart once they enter the workforce.

• How about politics? On a scale of 0-10 (0 being the most liberal), 80% identify as liberal (first four designations).

My take on all this: The school was once an affordable, great place to learn critical thinking and openly discuss anything and everything. All viewpoints welcome. Today, like most other elite liberal schools, the kids appear to be out of touch with reality and poorly prepared to get a good job. Ergo, this school and others provide a product that's grown obsolete.