{"podcast":{"title":"Serious Inquiries Only","slug":"serious-inquiries-only-495493","podcast_index_feed_id":495493,"rss_url":"https://seriouspod.libsyn.com/","website_url":"http://seriouspod.com","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/7/1/7/5/717589c7d819f89588c4a68c3ddbc4f2/SeriousInquiriesOnly_1400.jpg","author":"Thomas Smith","episode_count":838,"summary":"Join Thomas for some critical thinking on questions of science, philosophy, skepticism and politics. These serious topics are discussed with some serious guests, but in an entertaining and engaging way! This is not your typical interview podcast; it’s a friendly dialogue, conducted thoughtfully and with plenty of humor. It's Serious Inquiries Only; but like, not boring or anything.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-28T20:17:26.077408+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/serious-inquiries-only-495493"},"episode":{"title":"SIO522: College Is Impossibly Expensive. But It's Not Because of Bogus Degrees.","slug":"sio522-college-is-impossibly-expensive-but-it-s-not-because-of-bogus-degrees","published_at":"2026-07-21T21:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/serious-inquiries-only-495493/sio522-college-is-impossibly-expensive-but-it-s-not-because-of-bogus-degrees","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/serious-inquiries-only-495493","url":"https://seriouspod.libsyn.com/sio522-college-is-impossibly-expensive-but-its-not-because-of-bogus-degrees","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/media.blubrry.com/atheisticallyspeaking/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/seriouspod/Episode_522_David_on_higher_ed_part_2.mp3?dest-id=456804","summary":"Part 2! Thomas is joined again by David O'Brien , a higher education policy scholar with the California Community Colleges system, to finish dismantling The Daily's take on Trump's student loan crackdown. Reagan, Pell Grants, and decades of quiet state defunding all get their due, plus a theory on why tuition keeps climbing that has nothing to do with cosmetology degrees. Mentioned: The Daily college episode Gainful employment rules Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here ! Please support the show on Patreon! You get ad-free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/seriouspod","meta_description":"Part 2! Thomas is joined again by David O'Brien , a higher education policy scholar with the California Community Colleges system, to finish dismantling T…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2456,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/serious-inquiries-only-495493/episodes/sio522-college-is-impossibly-expensive-but-it-s-not-because-of-bogus-degrees/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/serious-inquiries-only-495493/sio522-college-is-impossibly-expensive-but-it-s-not-because-of-bogus-degrees.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}