Posted on 04/12/2011 9:12:42 AM PDT by cowtowney
Of all the exploitative systems in the U.S., none is more rapacious than the Education Cartel. Like the proverbial frog that is unaware that it's being boiled because the water temperature rises so gradually, college students and their parents are unable to recall what higher education was like before students were herded into debt-serfdom.
Apologists for the Education Cartel like to blame Corporate America or the banks, but the reality is that the Federal and State governments and the employees of the Cartel are willing partners in the exploitation and fraud. How did we get to the boiling-water point where students are expected to take on $100,000 or more in debt to attend college--even a mediocre one?
Answer: immensely profitable Government-backed loans. If the Central State wasn't partnered with the Education Cartel, today's debt-serfdom would be impossible.
(Excerpt) Read more at oftwominds.com ...
But the Banksters and the Education Cartel have managed to take THEIR risk out of it and put it on the backs of the students, which will be the first to revolt. This is unsustainable.
Always remember that student loans are a profit center for the government. That was the main reason 0bama pushed for a federal takeover of this racket. All that interest paid back by borrowers goes straight back to the federal government.
A few changes need to be made:
1. Loans need to change so students can bankrupt themselves out of them
2. The federal government needs to GET OUT of the student loan business
3. The federal government should not subsidize student loan interest rates
This will cause short term pain but fix the education inflation issue pretty fast. You will see many colleges go bankrupt in the next few years.
The schools are actually shafting the student and the government. Many diploma mills register homeless people. All they have to do is con someone with a SS# into filling out the FASFA crap and the school starts getting checks from the government with absolutely no accountability.
Hard telling how extensive the fraud is...
State colleges are an endangered species, especially in the North, where most graduating students don’t even stay in-state after graduation. What’s the point of the state educating students who then take their knowledge out-of-state?
I believe every word of what you wrote!
I've been writing about this for over 20 years - long before the Internet.
I worked with young people who, after college and with their exorbitant loans, had only part time jobs at barely above minimum wage - because they couldn't get a loan to buy a car - because of their loan debt. So they were limited to jobs they could walk too - here in Red country, there isn't a lot of public transportation. Vicious circle.
I postured, instead of getting into tens of thousands of dollars in debt that would take decades to get rid of - think about 1 or 2 year specialized courses in a solid trade, like electrician, welder, physical therapist, draftsman, accountant, etc. - fields where your learning time is concentrated on the particular field of expertise.
Look to Community colleges and Voc schools, apprentice programs, small business courses - or ROTC, CAP - programs that pay for your college tuition. Not everyone needs 4 years of college. An added bonus: students don't come out as programmed Socialist robots. (Remember obummer's plan to force all students who had a gov't loan for college to 'serve' two years for the gov't as part of payback. Look for this to be implemented. Confisticating the college loan business was just his first step to gov't control of students.)
With the advent of the Internet, there are good, accredited online schools where one can study and get a degree for pennies on the dollar of a brick and mortar school. And with online study, you can arrange your own time schedule - day and/or night - while working a full time job.
That would give you 4 years ‘experience’ in the work place, earning money instead of incurring debt, during the 2-4 years of study time getting your degree. Then you hit the ground running, unshackled by immediate debt overload that hangs over your head for years.
It's way past time for parents and students to start looking to the viable alternatives to becoming a debt-slave of the gov’t - particularly now (for 2-3 decades now) that the students rarely see the vaunted professors of the colleges they attend. They don't even realize that they should be taught in classrooms with the professors instead of lecture halls with 600-800 students and a STUDENT teacher. Most parents haven't a clue they're paying upwards to $20,000 a year for this mass-class non-education.
Time to get off the enslavement of the government, most particularly now that all loans will be controlled/held by, the government.
I did this. Took a six month course in welding and got a job. Went nights for four years for a two year degree and transferred to a four-year degree. Got a job with my two year degree and kept going nights to finish a four-year and then a Masters. Funny thing was I never even thought of getting a loan and going full-time. This was during the 80’s and maybe it wasn’t as common then.
Just think of the tens of thousands of dollars you ‘made’! “A penny saved is a penny earned.”
Made me smile, reading your post. If only more people would figure this out instead of going like lambs to the slaughter.
Same thing when it comes to getting ones house. Save up money and buy land, outright. Save up and put in well, electric, etc. Take courses in building, electric, etc and do much of the labor in building the house. And even if a mortgage has to be taken out for the house, with the land etc., already paid for and a great chunk saved on labor, the mortgage should be small enough to do double payments on the principal each month, shortening the mortgage years at least by half.
With no college loans and then no mortgage payment by middle age, there's a BIG RAISE...and retire with no mortgage: real security.
There are ways to avoid the slavery of college loans and mortgages, putting that money in your own pocket. And children should be taught this early on.
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