Posted on 03/11/2015 8:18:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
After 114 years, Sweet Briar College revealed last week that it would close after the spring 2015 semester, an abrupt announcement that shocked many in the world of academia.
"This is just the beginning of the college implosion," Mark Cuban tweeted last week, after the news about Sweet Briar, an all-women's college in Virginia.
Cuban, the well-known entrepreneur and billionaire investor, was not surprised by the news. For years, Cuban has warned of a "student loan bubble" created by skyrocketing tuition fueled by an endless supply of student loans.
"At some point, it's going to pop," Cuban told Business Insider in a recent interview.
Here's how to fix the bubble, according to Cuban. Congress needs to pass a law that caps the amount students can take out from private student lenders. That would be more useful than focusing on students' current debt, he said.
"There's all kinds of things that have been proposed to reduce existing student debt," Cuban told Business Insider. "At some point, there's got to be legislation where we put a limit on how much you can take out on a loan."
To be sure, the federal government does put strict limits on the amount of money college students can take out in federally subsidized loans. Typically, dependent undergraduate students can only take $31,000 at most in federal student aid for all four years of college.
However, the federal government doesn't cap the amount of money students can take out from private lenders. Many private lenders set their own caps at a student's "cost of attendance" for attending college, minus all other aid the student received — which can still top $100,000 for four years of school.
Private loans also lack some of the benefits of loans backed by the federal government.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Indentured servitude.
RE: Indentured servitude.
You mean working for the bank that loaned you the money?
Are they going to hire a women’s studies major?
My solution to every debt and legislative bubble and malformation in our economy is the same.
Kill the Federal Reserve and restore real money. It will automatically shrink government in every area as monetized debt and fake interest rates could no longer be used to support such “progressive” social-engineering schemes.
The easiest way to return balance is to introduce risk to the lender. Right now they can loan any amount to any person and have no fear the person will declare bankruptcy.
Really? How about working to save the way the rest of us did? And, how many degrees in “Underwater basketweaving” are being given to kids who don’t want to work, but want some kind of “cred”?
My first idea would be make them pay it back?
Capping the loan limits isn’t ever going to happen - that would mean a whole slew of college juniors would have to drop out... and the colleges/universities themselves would scream about that (never mind the students).
35 years ago my 4-year tuition was paid for in full via a $1500 scholarship. My son is in the midst of his freshman year at around $16,000 total cost per semester. It’s about costs way outpacing incomes - that’s what’s generating the loans.
I am with you. This doesn’t seem to be a situation where more laws are needed. And what business does Congress have in even being involved in the industry of student loans?
Fixing college education first starts with a proper understanding of what a “right” is and is not. There is no inherent right when the action requires work from others. You have the right to breath because that is something that you can do on your own. You do NOT have the right to healthcare because someone else (doctor, nurse, etc) has to provide their labor.
That being said, no one has a right to education. The people (government) may decide to enact programs that improve the education of the community but it is still not a right. That brings the question, what value does education bring to the government. Primarily a better tax base. Better education generally means more and better paying jobs. However, education for education sake is NOT in the best interests of government.
Loans for education should be based on that degree’s ability to pay off that loan. The private sector as a far better incentive to make sure that happens as opposed to government. To that end, government should not be involved in loans for education.
If there is any call for government involvement for education, it should be limited to subsidies to address specific shortages that are necessary for the good governance of a city, county, state, feds. A good example of this is the ROTC program which pays for education in exchange for a work commitment.
Because student loans are all through government these days
That’s idiotic. The one thing that would solve the student loan “problem” overnight would be allowing them to be discharged in bankruptcy again. Once lenders have to consider risk again in lending and rates, and students can’t be held in debt slavery forever, the problem disappears...
It’s a two-part problem. Yes, the easy money loans are half of it, but the other half is that everyone thinks they are smart enough to go to college nowadays, because the “self esteem” movement told them all that.
Even if you fix the issues with loans, you’ll still have inflated demand jacking the tuition up, until people start to realize that college is not for everyone.
"Here's how to fix the bubble, according to Cuban. Congress needs to pass a law that caps the amount students can take out from private student lenders."
You can’t now, because in the risk free lending environment created by outlawing the discharge of student debt in bankruptcy the resultant flood of money into colleges has driven the price up to where you can’t pay your way through on summer and part time jobs.
It is also the reason there are a myriad of worthless majors available now, wymens studies, underwater fire prevention, refuse basket odor control, etc... all exist from being created to soak up the essentially free cash sloshing around from risk free lending.
Good analysis.
And of course Big Education (profs and admins) contributes substantially to Democrats. Another reason to flow big bucks to them.
Cap it? Nahh... Student loans are no longer immune for bankruptcy. Done.
Risk will balance out, and colleges will compete on the open market for students. Sure, Harvard will still cost a mint, but after half the rest of colleges fold, the market will be open for something far cheaper and better. And tax payers will save a bundle in both taxes and university costs.
It's a vicious circle. Costs were in line with salaries back in the 1960s before there were student loans. Before unqualified people went to college. When nearby community colleges and state colleges for undergraduates provided a very inexpensive way to get an adequate undergraduate education. A student had to be pretty qualified to get in the state college...no special programs for the unqualified. No expensive extras.
Then the gov put in things such as Pell Grans and tuitions at these inexpensive institutions went up, just about the amount of the freebie. Then the gov "helped" colleges with building programs, and the mortgages and expenses of maintenance caused expenses to increase. Then even the most lowly colleges put in expensive speakers programs, recreational facilities, you name it, raising costs.
How does it end? Cuban's correct. The bubble's gotta' burst. If that happened, people might actually demand that kids get a public HS education to prepare them for the real world, just a it was in the old days.
The article seems to say the cap would be on loans from private lenders. ??
An even easier way is to allow businesses to administer written tests to check that applicants are literate and have knowledge of the field they are being hired in, without being charged with discrimination of certain groups don't pass at the same rate as white males.
That would make a college degree optional. Currently, businesses want a degree to attempt to ensure some basic level of literacy. Directly testing would be more effective.
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