What Does College Really Cost? Ron Lieber Explains
The Jesse Mecham Show
YNAB
4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 31 March 2021
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
New York Times columnist and bestselling author Ron Lieber joins the podcast for a frank discussion about the ever rising cost of college and whether it's even a good idea for young people today. Evaluating the true cost of college, as it turns out, is essentially a budgeting exercise. There's the sticker price for tuition and room and board, but the real analysis lies in examining the hidden costs, as well as the hidden benefits. Ron Lieber helps us break those down and demystify the college problem.
Ron Lieber
The Price You Pay for College
https://ronlieber.com/books/the-price-you-pay-for-college/
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, Wine Ebbers. My name is Jesse Mekum. This is podcast number 484. Wine Ebbers, |
| 0:08.8 | we teach you four rules to help you stop it from paycheck to paycheck, get out of debt |
| 0:12.0 | and save more money. I feel like lately we've been hitting topics where it's like, how |
| 0:17.1 | do you save just boatloads of money or how do you accidentally spend boatloads of money? |
| 0:21.3 | And one of those is college, higher education. I am so happy to have back on the podcast |
| 0:28.4 | Ron Lieber. He wrote a book several years ago that changed my mind around the idea of allowance. |
| 0:32.8 | It was called the opposite of sport. Ron Lieber is the money columnist for the New York Times |
| 0:37.1 | and it all around fantastic individual. He is extremely fun to talk to because he researches |
| 0:44.5 | to death these topics and just goes in deep and this book, it's called How to Pay for College, |
| 0:52.3 | is absolutely no exception. Now I'm a little biased here because my oldest is a junior |
| 0:58.1 | in high school and so it's like here we go. I'll also shoot straight here and say I, for many |
| 1:05.1 | years, have not even been certain I wanted to help my kids with college. I thought maybe it just, |
| 1:11.0 | maybe it doesn't help them. Maybe grinding on their own is the best thing and I would say as |
| 1:16.7 | much to my kids, you know, I use strategically lies apparent and I would just basically be like, |
| 1:20.8 | hey, you're on your own. You're on your own. You're on your own. Well, Ron's book, again, |
| 1:26.2 | it's called How to Pay for College. It started to change my mind and it is, it's not an easy |
| 1:32.4 | read in the sense that you just can fly right through. He goes into depth on every single aspect |
| 1:39.5 | of college. Some disturbing things like the idea of merit aid and I'm doing air quotes for people |
| 1:44.0 | that aren't watching, where we, how we even got here, why it's so expensive, how colleges are |
| 1:49.7 | funded, revenue optimization, the idea of gap years, doing that savvy thing where you may be good |
| 1:56.3 | at community college first, state schools, private schools, and then, oh my word, he kind of blows |
| 2:01.9 | our minds by saying, well, what exactly are you buying and are you clear with that? And then if |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from YNAB, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of YNAB and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.