There’s plenty of guilt to go around.
*PING* More Student Loan discussion over here!
The government handing out loans to dumb 18-year olds is the cause.
Nullify any loans made to anyone under 21.
And take it out of the endowments of the universities that exploited them.
Require students go to their local Community College for the first 1-2 years.
I think most of the blame is on Obozo and the frauds who equated a college degree at any cost with a human right. Too many Americans have shown themselves to be financially illiterate. Expecting a 17/18 year old to understand the ramifications of taking on so much debt is not realistic. Their parents should have guided them better but they may not be any better at managing money either.
The activists who fought to nationalize student loans knew exactly what they were doing. They are criminals.
You have colleges requiring useless courses to meet an arbitrary number of ‘hours’ to get a degree. If you want a business degree, you can get all the basics you need for under 60 hours. The rest of the hours are ‘fillers’ to make the mandatory needed hours. You want to end student debt, completely restructure what is necessary for a viable degree, doing away with useless courses. If someone wants to add a philosophy class over and above minimums, not eligible for a student loan.
As EEGator noted, there is plenty of guilt to go around.
Let’s say a freshman student decides to major in 14th century English literature. That’s a bad decision, to be sure. But we will somewhat forgive the student because he is young and naive.
So this student goes to his college’s English department to sign up for his classes. What will his adviser tell him? He adviser will praise his decision, and tell him all the great things he can do with a 14th century English literature degree.
This story is NOT a hypothetical. I’ve seen it play out quite a few times. Yes, the student deserves blame for not doing his due diligence. But the college deserves blame as well.
My solution: Make colleges co-sign for loans. You want to sign some kid up for 14th century English literature? Find. But you will then be on the hook for his debt.
You MUST finish in 4 years or less! Or not. Take courses as you can afford them and work while going. Life experience and the turtle approach could keep some folks out of massive debt and end up turning out a more well rounded result. And, how many parents are bearing the debt burden?
IUD’s
Decades ago, one of our younger relatives with two engineering majors in his degree got several good job offers before he was graduated.
This was during one of the many recessions we have had since the Korean War.
So we asked him what was happening.
He said that most of the degrees even then were worthless.
Then, he labeled them IUD’s, Instant Unemployment Degrees!
Now the Instant Unemployment Degree/ IUD racket is bigger now than a few decades ago.
Our local morning news brings in singers on Fridays. 1 of the gals mentioned she had a Masters in art and music appreciation.
I have a friend whose wife has a Masters in art therapy.
Both are unemployable with their advanced degrees.
The conclusion the author should have drawn is that the schools are putting out more graduates than the market demands.
While it's also true that the cost of a college degree is artificially high due to government interference with free market pricing, if the demand for graduates was in balance with the supply, they would earn enough money to pay back their loans.
-PJ
lesson 1, be true to your word, If you took a loan and agreed to pay it, pay it...if one’s word is worthless, then...?
The rise of in the costs of college correspond to the influx in government spending. Just like healthcare. They have both expanded greatly.
Throw in the grads today get to compete with imported guest workers, global wage arbitrage and the ever changing dynamics of the economy. Life was easier when China was commies and Germany and Japan were being rebuilt.
Kids are dumb. College kids are the dumbest. I place blame squarely on politicians, bankers, and college administrators who changed the rules so anyone can get a loan. As soon as that happened, it was game over.
All
There’s a discussion here that’s missing that probably should be had independent of the loan discussion.
Is college\university there to educate or for job training?
It used to do both.
That needs a new thread.
Actually I blame the public school system and parents.
Even when I was in my 20’s, I had no idea how much it cost to fund a family and home.
The world doesn’t need anymore college grads with worthless degrees and parents need to tell there children this early in life.
Unlike much of the world, we do a very poor job getting our children ready for the real world.
Well they are one part of the equation. The government is the other part. The students would not be able to borrow in the first place if there was no one supplying the easily obtained money. The banks saw the handwriting on the wall, which is why they all got out of the practice. This easy money is also the major contributing factor to the ridiculous high cost of higher education. It is also the cause of dumb majors being created that offer little to no return for the “education” secured.
This nearly unlimited credit also spawned one of the quickest growths in tuition costs, fueled a vast growth in campus building, and caused a massive increase in staff expenses.
For tuition costs, the answer is relatively simple. Include student loans once again under bankruptcy. Tuitions will quickly plummet after some years of whining and protests.
Blaming students for falling into a government funded and caused trap is simply blaming the victim. Sure, a bunch of companies will lose some money, we'll take 650 billion in losses to the national treasury, but it is merely a drop in the bucket compared to the alternative of debt forgiveness, creating yet another crop of people burdened with high debt.