Free Republic

There are some valid points raised in Lee Siegel's 1100 word rant against college loans (if not so much against college education). There are some bad ones. But two things are clear: the words "personal" and/or "responsibility" were used precisely zero times, and the op-ed writer, who described himself as "the author of five books who is writing a memoir about money", is hardly a glowing advertisement for an education attained (funded with either debt or equity) at one of the Ivy League's "best", Columbia University.That, or the return on money after spending nearly a decade in university and...

While Arizona State University has almost doubled its tuition over the past 10 years amid claims that it needs more state money, the school somehow had the funds to give half a million dollars to the Clinton Foundation. According to The Arizona Republic, the public university paid $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation to host the former president-Bill Clinton; former-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; and their daughter, Chelsea, during a Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) event in 2014. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Bill’s wife, is the current front-runner for the Democratic nomination for the 2016 presidential race. Mark...

Track star and Ivy-League freshman student Madison Holleran, age 19, had been a “happy go lucky,” though achievement-oriented, kid all her life, according to her father. She had no history of mental illness. At home for Christmas break last year, she broke down and told her parents that she had been having suicidal thoughts and was depressed. Her mother said that “I was shocked. She’s never been depressed before,” according to the Daily Mail. “I knew she needed a therapist, but I couldn’t get her an appointment because it was weekend.” Madison seemed to respond somewhat to the TLC she...

Six democrats are seeking to grant Pell Grants to inmates in prison. They claim that it will make them desirable applicants to companies when they get out of prison. Hey liberals, believe it or not companies aren’t clamoring for graduates of Stu’s University online even if they haven’t knocked off a bank or raped small children. So, why would these cons be employable? Of course, if they were to take computer classes they might stop mugging senior citizens and join the growing identity theft industry. It’s also important to know that there is not an endless pool of money in...

A brilliant young man has single-handedly solved the problem of college loan debt. It was a daringly simple maneuver! Tennessee high school senior Ronald Nelson, Jr., who is a National Merit Scholar, star athlete, sax player, SAT high scorer, and student body president, turned down acceptances from eight Ivy League colleges and will instead attend the University of Alabama this fall. Young Ronald seems to have absorbed at an early age a lesson that eludes many youths (and those who have long since left youth behind): avoid going head over heels in debt. This is not to denigrate an Ivy...

Even Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) most ardent supporters would probably concede, albeit grudgingly, that he faces very long odds in the 2016 presidential race. So why run? Because there’s value in having a national platform for bold, progressive ideas that might otherwise be ignored. Bloomberg Politics reported yesterday, for example, on Sanders’ new plan to make public college tuition-free in the United States. The plan will provide tuition-free higher education to students at four-year colleges, the statement said, and is modeled after the way many European nations handle the costs of college. “Countries like Germany, Denmark, Sweden and many more...

At the South by Southwest education conference in Austin, Texas recently, on a panel entitled “What’s Next for Access and Affirmative Action?” administrators such as Anne-Marie Nunez from the University of Texas (UT) system revealed some of their thought processes. Nunez, an associate professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at UT, San Antonio, explained that one of her projects included an initiative designed for Latina immigrants in California. When “underrepresented minority students” were instructed “to think about sociopolitical issues,” they “began to build more of a sense of entitlement,” she said, adding that it is “a different kind of...

UC President Janet Napolitano and the President’s Advisory Council on Undocumented Students will host a national summit on undocumented students from May 7-8. The invitation-only conference, which aims to discuss the needs and challenges that undocumented students face in higher education, will bring together undocumented youth leaders, immigration advocates, researchers, government officials, artists and funders from across the country. This is the first time the university is hosting a summit on undocumented students, according to UC Office of the President spokesperson Shelly Moron. Moron added that the summit expands upon Napolitano’s previous work, such as her distribution of $5 million...

To borrow a quote from Game of Thrones, which recently had its season 5 premiere, “Winter is coming.” This is what can happen in Texas, our economy could start to freeze up, if we limit educational opportunities for undocumented students in Texas by passing Senate Bill 1819. It would end the dreams of thousands of Texas high school graduates, who have lived here since they were children, and rely on in-state tuition regardless of immigration status. The push to rescind 14 years of in-state tuition to these students, known as Dreamers, will greatly impact the Texas economy — a college...

Texas legislators are debating whether to repeal the Texas Dream Act. Signed by then-Governor Rick Perry in 2001, the law allows certain undocumented students to pay in-state tuition. A recent Texas Tribune analysis revealed that the majority of undocumented students who pay in-state tuition rates don't attend four-year universities – they’re in community colleges. And most are in school here in North Texas. Like many immigrants, Alejandra Miranda and her parents left their native El Salvador for a “better life.” That was 12 years ago. She’s 23 now and enrolled at North Lake College in Irving. As she sat in...

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - A bill that would offer in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants in Tennessee failed to pass the legislature on Wednesday. View from the Hill State lawmakers argued for more than two hours on the bill that has been four years in the making. The issue had bipartisan support, but many teetered on if this was an education issue or about immigration reform. Ultimately, the bill failed by a single vote. Several students dressed in graduation caps and gowns came to the state House to support the bill. They carried signs to represent the jobs they hope to...

I am on the phone with a humanities professor at a small, nationally revered liberal-arts college, and she is telling me about the seltzer situation in the faculty lounge. "You know, the dean said we need to get the beverages out of there." "And that's, like, a hygiene thing?" "No, it's because they're worried we're spending too much on Diet Coke and those aluminum cans of seltzer." "Oh." "And the president just replaced his hood ornament with a Fabergé egg. Our Manhattan consulting firm said it was the only way to upstage Dartmouth." OK, I made up the egg thing,...

University tuition continues to rise, but the tendency of some critics to blame the trend on overpaid professors might not be an accurate one. When university administrators in the UNC system and nationwide decide to increase tuition, they often cite the need for funds to retain faculty as a reason for the hike. Still, according to an annual report about myths of professor pay from the American Association of University Professors, faculty salaries are not the primary cause of higher student costs — cuts to state support and declining university endowments are to blame. But Jenna Robinson, president of the...

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Sen. Rand Paul called Friday for college tuition to be a tax writeoff in his first direct pitch to young voters of his presidential campaign. Paul used the power of the pocketbook, along with calls for electronic privacy and reforming the criminal justice system, to appeal to what he called the "Instagram generation," a constituency he sees as vital to his nascent presidential campaign. Paul blasted President Obama's plan for free community college, telling the crowd of a few hundred people, mostly students, that it won't work because someone has to pay for professors and facilities....

On Wednesday, National Public Radio had a spot about how some states are reviewing laws on their books that let them yank driver's or professional licenses from those who default on their student loans. To set the story up, the NPR reporter focused on the plight of Clementine Lindley, who recalls how after graduating she had to "decide whether to pay rent, buy food or make her student loan payments" because her debt was so massive. How did Lindley rack up so much debt? NPR doesn't say, but a little sleuthing shows that Lindley got her Bachelor's degree in "Liberal...

IÂ’ve written many times about the shortcomings of government schools at the K-12 level. We spend more on our kids than any other nation, yet our test scores are comparatively dismal. And one of my points, based on this very sobering chart from one of my Cato colleagues, is that AmericaÂ’s educational performance took a turn in the wrong direction when the federal government became more involved starting about 40-50 years ago. Well, the same unhappy story exists in the higher-education sector. Simply stated, thereÂ’s been an explosion of spending, much of it from Washington, yet the rate of return...

Remember those 15 people who refused to repay their federal student loans? Their “debt strike” has picked up 85 more disgruntled borrowers willing to jeopardize their financial future to pressure the government into forgiving their student loans. And the government is starting to listen. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has invited the group to Washington on Tuesday to discuss their demand for debt cancellation. Although the CFPB doesn’t have the power to grant that request, the agency’s overture shows that the strike is being taken seriously. It’s been a month since 15 former students of the failing for-profit giant Corinthian...

With all of that job creation being claimed by the Obama administration and disseminated by mainstream media outlets as signs of a sustained recovery youÂ’d think most college graduates would have no trouble keeping up with their bills. But new data released by the Department of Education tell a different story. According to the report as many as 33% of American college grads with student loan debt are now in delinquent status on their repayments. About one-third of borrowers with federal student loans owned by the U.S. Department of Education are late on their payments, according to new federal data.The...

According to the Washington Post, New York University is charging $66,000 a year in tuition.  This includes room and board but is still a fantastically expensive figure.  Columbia University is charging $63,000 a year, and even less well-known schools like Sarah Lawrence College and Harvey Mudd College are charging about $65,000 a year. Now, to be fair, these figures include room and board.  But even with room and board, these are fantastically expensive rates.  Many schools like NYU play a game, where they say that their asking tuition is $66,000, but after scholarships and grants, the average tuition is...

The headline on this op-ed piece in the Washington Post says it all: College applicant: I got in! But I can’t afford it. Was all my hard work for nothing? The author of the piece is a high-school senior in Lousiana who just got admitted to Tulane, so let’s cut her some slack here. But what does it say about the success of President Obama’s constant yammering about how college should be “free” (incrementally, of course, beginning with community college, but we’ve all seen this leftist movie before and know where it’s going)? A lot, is what: I am...