Student Loan Debt Hell: 21 Statistics That Will Make You Think Twice About Going To College

The Economic Collapse ^ | 05/01/2011 | Michael Snyder

[SeekAndFind]

Is going to college a worthwhile investment? Is the education that our young people are receiving at our colleges and universities really worth all of the time, money and effort that is required? Decades ago, a college education was quite inexpensive and it was almost an automatic ticket to the middle class. But today all of that has changed. At this point, college education is a big business. There are currently more than 18 million students enrolled at the nearly 5,000 colleges and universities currently in operation throughout the United States. There are quite a few "institutions of higher learning" that now charge $40,000 or even $50,000 a year for tuition. That does not even count room and board and other living expenses. Meanwhile, as you will see from the statistics posted below, the quality of education at our colleges and universities has deteriorated badly. When graduation finally arrives, many of our college students have actually learned very little, they find themselves unable to get good jobs and yet they end up trapped in student loan debt hell for essentially the rest of their lives.

Across America today, "guidance counselors" are pushing millions of high school students to go to the very best colleges that they can get into, but they rarely warn them about how much it is going to cost or about the sad reality that they could end up being burdened by massive debt loads for decades to come.

Yes, college is a ton of fun and it is a really unique experience. If you can get someone else to pay for it then you should definitely consider going.

There are also many careers which absolutely require a college degree. Depending on your career goals, you may not have much of a choice of whether to go to college or not.

But that doesn't mean that you have to go to student loan debt hell.

You don't have to go to the most expensive school that you can get into.

You don't have to take out huge student loans.

There is no shame in picking a school based on affordability.

The truth is that pretty much wherever you go to school the quality of the education is going to be rather pathetic. A highly trained cat could pass most college courses in the United States today.

Personally, I have had the chance to spend quite a number of years on college campuses. I enjoyed my time and I have some pretty pieces of parchment to put up on the wall. I have seen with my own eyes what goes on at our institutions of higher learning. In a previous article, I described what life is like for most "average students" enrolled in our colleges and universities today....

The vast majority of college students in America spend two to four hours a day in the classroom and maybe an hour or two outside the classroom studying. The remainder of the time these "students" are out drinking beer, partying, chasing after sex partners, going to sporting events, playing video games, hanging out with friends, chatting on Facebook or getting into trouble. When they say that college is the most fun that most people will ever have in their lives they mean it. It is basically one huge party.

If you are a parent and you are shelling out tens of thousands of dollars every year to pay for college you need to know the truth.

You are being ripped off.

Sadly, a college education just is not that good of an investment anymore. Tuition costs have absolutely skyrocketed even as the quality of education has plummeted.

A college education is not worth getting locked into crippling student loan payments for the next 30 years.

Even many university professors are now acknowledging that student loan debt has become a horrific societal problem. Just check out what one professor was quoted as saying in a recent article in The Huffington Post....

“Thirty years ago, college was a wise, modest investment,” says Fabio Rojas, a professor of sociology at Indiana University. He studies the politics of higher education. “Now, it’s a lifetime lock-in, an albatross you can’t escape.”

Anyone that is thinking of going to college needs to do a cost/benefit analysis.

Is it really going to be worth it?

For some people the answer will be "yes" and for some people the answer will be "no".

But sadly, hardly anyone that goes to college these days gets a "good" education.

To get an idea of just how "dumbed down" we have become as a nation, just check out this Harvard entrance exam from 1869.

I wouldn't have a prayer of passing that exam.

What about you?

We really do need to rethink our approach to higher education in this country.

Posted below are 21 statistics about college tuition, student loan debt and the quality of college education in the United States....

#1 Since 1978, the cost of college tuition in the United States has gone up by over 900 percent.

#2 In 2010, the average college graduate had accumulated approximately $25,000 in student loan debt by graduation day.

#3 Approximately two-thirds of all college students graduate with student loans.

#4 Americans have accumulated well over $900 billion in student loan debt. That figure is higher than the total amount of credit card debt in the United States.

#5 The typical U.S. college student spends less than 30 hours a week on academics.

#6 According to very extensive research detailed in a new book entitled "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses", 45 percent of U.S. college students exhibit "no significant gains in learning" after two years in college.

#7 Today, college students spend approximately 50% less time studying than U.S. college students did just a few decades ago.

#8 35% of U.S. college students spend 5 hours or less studying per week.

#9 50% of U.S. college students have never taken a class where they had to write more than 20 pages.

#10 32% of U.S. college students have never taken a class where they had to read more than 40 pages in a week.

#11 U.S. college students spend 24% of their time sleeping, 51% of their time socializing and 7% of their time studying.

#12 Federal statistics reveal that only 36 percent of the full-time students who began college in 2001 received a bachelor's degree within four years.

#13 Nearly half of all the graduate science students enrolled at colleges and universities in the United States are foreigners.

#14 According to the Economic Policy Institute, the unemployment rate for college graduates younger than 25 years old was 9.3 percent in 2010.

#15 One-third of all college graduates end up taking jobs that don't even require college degrees.

#16 In the United States today, over 18,000 parking lot attendants have college degrees.

#17 In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.

#18 In the United States today, approximately 365,000 cashiers have college degrees.

#19 In the United States today, 24.5 percent of all retail salespersons have a college degree.

#20 Once they get out into the "real world", 70% of college graduates wish that they had spent more time preparing for the "real world" while they were still in school.

#21 Approximately 14 percent of all students that graduate with student loan debt end up defaulting within 3 years of making their first student loan payment.

There are millions of young college graduates running around out there that are wondering where all of the "good jobs" are. All of their lives they were promised that if they worked really hard and got good grades that the system would reward them.

Sometimes when you do everything right you still can't get a job. A while back The Huffington Post featured the story of Kyle Daley - a highly qualified UCLA graduate who had been unemployed for 19 months at the time....

I spent my time at UCLA preparing for the outside world. I had internships in congressional offices, political action committees, non-profits and even as a personal intern to a successful venture capitalist. These weren't the run-of-the-mill office internships; I worked in marketing, press relations, research and analysis. Additionally, the mayor and city council of my hometown appointed me to serve on two citywide governing bodies, the planning commission and the open government commission. I used to think that given my experience, finding work after graduation would be easy.

At this point, however, looking for a job is my job. I recently counted the number of job applications I have sent out over the past year -- it amounts to several hundred. I have tried to find part-time work at local stores or restaurants, only to be turned away. Apparently, having a college degree implies that I might bail out quickly when a better opportunity comes along.

The sad truth is that a college degree is not an automatic ticket to the middle class any longer.

But for millions of young Americans a college degree is an automatic ticket to student loan debt hell.

Student loan debt is one of the most insidious forms of debt. You can't get away from student loan debt no matter what you do. Federal bankruptcy law makes it nearly impossible to discharge student loan debts, and many recent grads end up with loan payments that absolutely devastate them financially at a time when they are struggling to get on their feet and make something of themselves.

So are you still sure that you want to go to college?

Another open secret is that most of our colleges and universities are little more than indoctrination centers. Most people would be absolutely shocked at how much unfiltered propaganda is being pounded into the heads of our young people.

At most colleges and universities, when it comes to the "big questions" there is a "right answer" and there is virtually no discussion of any other alternatives.

In most fields there is an "orthodoxy" that you had better adhere to if you want to get good grades.

Let's just say that "independent thought" and "critical thinking" are not really encouraged at most of our institutions of higher learning.

Am I bitter because I didn't do well? No, I actually did extremely well in school. I have seen the system from the inside. I know how it works.

It is a giant fraud.

If you want to go to college because you want to have a good time or because it will help you get your career started then by all means go for it.

Just realize what you are signing up for.

[tbw2]

The offensive part are the colleges that require students to live on campus for their first 1-2 years unless they live at home. So sharing an apartment with friends or even moving in with a relative isn’t an option to attend - and living with parents is discouraged as they encourage living on campus as “developing independence” - while parents pay now or students pay later.

[dhs12345]

Engineering — definitely. Computer Science, software are top. I am a hardware geek and hardware jobs have been dwindling. However, software jobs are still plentiful and pay very well.

Disclaimer: that could all change in four plus years when your son graduates from College.

Start him out at a Community College. Let him sort out his future there. He’ll learn the mechanics of learning without the added expense of a University.

Plus, a couple years of working for minimum wage in a thankless job will motivate him. Did it for me.

[blueunicorn6]

“A highly trained cat could pass most courses in the United States today.” Well, if you grade on a curve.

“Alright students, what did the man say after he fell down? Fluffy?”
“Me ow!”
“Frank?”
“Oranges?”
“Damnit! Another home-schooled cat making the rest of the students look bad.”

[dr_lew]

‘College Education’ has been a racket.

Back in the 60's Esquire magazine had a feature article, "Is College Worth the Money ?" ( or such. ) Their conclusion: "No, but go anyway."

[dhs12345]

Yup. That is a scam. They have all of that real-estate to pay for so why not force students to live on campus.

[blueunicorn6]

I’m a graduate of the Southern Hartford Institute of Technology. When you graduate from there, you know a lot of sh_t.

[luckystarmom]

He’s 16 now, and we’ve told him that he needs to get a job this summer. I told him if he doesn’t get a job, then he is doing volunteer work. The local food bank makes volunteers actually work: sorting food, sweeping, boxing up food.

[TheOldLady]

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[Alberta's Child]

Very interesting article. Anyone who has a child in high school who is thinking about what the future holds should really do their homework and see if the nonsense that passes for "higher education" these days is worth the cost.

I just had a phone conversation with an associate in my field who is sending his child to the University of Pennsylvania. According to him, the total cost there is more than $55,000 per year. I paid a little over half of that for my undergraduate and graduate degrees combined -- and I'm not all that old myself.

[kearnyirish2]

The worst part is that the first 2 years of college (”general education requirements”) are just to catch up to where high school graduates were 30 years ago.

[ctdonath2]

You want education? That’s free. Complete MIT curriculum online: http://ocw.MIT.edu
You want certification? That’s what’s expensive.

[kearnyirish2]

That’s how I went - commuted to a state school full time while working full time; got my degree in four years free & clean, with a little money in the bank as well. That was 20 years ago; I hope it is still possible to do that.

[kearnyirish2]

“Recent American college grads with a degree in petroleum engineering are being paid $90k per year and the supply is not keeping pace with the demand.”

I’m sure there are some fields where it is worthwhile; I hope Bangalore & Beijing don’t take note, because as Americans start studying and earning $90K, a manufactured shortage will flood us with H1-B workers at $45K.

[DesertSapper]

After an unproductive year at a 4-yr college, my eldest is now at a community college and doing quite well. He's aiming at an AS in "Convergence Technologies" (that's voice, video, data over IP networks) and should have his CCNA certification in the next 6 months.

I shed blood, sweat, and tears to get my BS and MS but, in hindsight, I know I'd be better positioned in the IT job market if I'd gone the certification route rather than for degrees.

[montanajoe]

For most occupations, outside of the trades, you need a bachelor's degree at a minimum to get your foot in the door, whether you are successful then depends on how hard you are prepared to work..

For the most part college doesn't teach someone how to do things but where to find the information you will need to figure out how to do things in the real world.

Americans are competing and will be even more so in the future competing with foreign workers who will all have college degrees because in many places in the world you need a degree to even be a desk clerk in a hotel.

Conservatives need to get their kids those degrees if conservative ideas are to be around in their futures.

[tanknetter]

the boomer generation faculty increased their salaries greatly.

Faculty salaries are part of the equation, but a smaller/less important one than others.

The big issue is a self-reinforcing feedback loop between the demands of sought-after students, the costs of meeting those demands, and the availability of "cheap/free" money in the form of student loans.

Colleges need to attract the best/brightest students possible. But those students only make up about 10-15% of the actual student body. They DO help kick up various statistics, like average SAT scores of incoming freshman classes. Which are needed to appeal to the prospective students that fill out the remaining 85-90% of the student body and are the ones that actually pay the bills.

This means that colleges over-invest in technology and facilities. State of the art IT (SmartBoards - and associated infrastructure - in EVERY classroom!), world-class sports facilities. Substantial art holdings. Gourmet dining facilities. Etc, etc ... all designed to make the school appeal to the best candidates possible, because the next tier or two or three down wouldn't think of going to a school where they aren't in classes with the best. More/better facilities/technology -> "better students" who in turn demand even MORE/BETTER facilities/technology.

All of that costs $$$. Lots and lots of $$$. Fortunately, $$$ is available via STUDENT LOANS. Can't afford to go to college? F*CKING FINANCE IT (apologies to Judge Reinhold in "Ruthless People"). The availability of student loans acts as an enabler for colleges/universities to expand facilities/offerings/services well beyond what the student body would be able to pay if they couldn't finance their education.

A nasty side-effect of this feedback loop is that colleges/universities are seeing their alumni giving revenue streams shrink. Why? Because their grads need to spend THEIR income to pay off debts. This only serves to further drive increases in tuition ...

[zeaal]

If a student is not sure of what they want to major in or the direction they want to go at university then it would probably be wise to attend the local junior college or community college to get their general education credits completed.

[dhs12345]

Wonder how many people work while going to school.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: That’s what we’ve been planning on. We sold a bunch of stock before the crash, and that’s how much of it will go to tuition.

---

There is one great, conservative, accredited undergraduate college in Pennsylvania that refuses to accept Federal money and has proven time and again that you don’t need government help to provide reasonable tuition to college students.

It also has a great Engineering program ( Electrical, Mechanical and Computer). If your child qualifies, and you want him to have a great, conservative, free market, Christian supportive, education, you ought to consider this school.

[PA Engineer]

According to him, the total cost there is more than $55,000 per year.

My Daughter will be starting college in August. She was accepted at both Pennsylvania and Drexel with what appeared at first to be very generous scholarships. After looking at the costs, distance and rankings she decided it would be better to go to Penn State in biomedical engineering. We agreed.

First, they refused to accept the 18 credits she tested out of with AP exams (4&5points each). Secondly, the costs were higher even with 24K in scholarships. Finally, the reputation of the programs were lower than that of Penn State.

Our static costs now, ignoring any inflation adjustments that are certain in the future, will be 105K. 105K! For what? It is a good degree for future work, but this is insane.

Both my Wife and I put ourselves through college. We both came from poor families and took out loans as well as worked full time. It was tight and finally paid off my Wife's loans (medical school) in our mid 30s. This is different. There is no way my Daughter will be able to generate enough working cash to make a dent in the current tuition costs.

We worked hard to save for tuition and made her a promise to pay her way through her undergraduate (GPA 3.5+ or out). This is an economic anchor on the current generation that is not in any way comparable to ours.

One of the funny things we received during her acceptances to college was from Carnegie Mellon. Her acceptance was a one paragraph letter with a brochure of the tuition costs. The letter simply stated that these are the costs if you choose to come here and we will not accept your AP credits. We laughed most of that evening before throwing it in the trash. At least they were honest and up front that it was a business. A very expensive business at about 220K for an engineering degree.