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.

[techworker]

Interesting my 10th grader has been told he’s on track (if he works a little harder) to be Div.-1 baseball player. As a dad who’s taken an active role in shaping the kid, pitching to him, filming every swing, etc. it’s a helluva payoff.

However as I start to look at things I wonder if it’s even worth it. The baseball teams even if fully funded only have 11.7 scholarships. So in general a stud pitcher or catcher might get a full-ride but that’s about it. Everyone else is getting partial’s and there are plenty of walk-ons.

Yesterday they toured a D-1 school’s baseball facility and the head coach talked about some of the perks of being an athlete (meals twice a day most of the time, laundry etc.) so certainly it’s worth something. If you get get .25 scholarship I also assume that to be covering room/board/tuition, so I still plan to pursue it, but really look into options.

I personally think starting out playing at a JUCO might be best (here in Fla. the brand of baseball is very competitive) and they are not under NCAA rules about scholarship limits. While JUCO is lesser education like another poster pointed out you get two years to figure stuff out. Maybe at the end of that he decides being a college athlete is way too burdensome. Maybe he loves it, and wants to go D1 at that point. Hell maybe he gets drafted I don’t know but the point is that can be two full years of not paying out too much and lets him grow up a little.

Disclaimer: 97K student loan I am paying on. Dumb-dumb-dumb and I don’t want the kids to do what we did.

[BobL]

“Almost all HR department heads want to see that you have that “BA/BS” of a’ticket’ before they even consider you for a meaningful position.

Well there’s a reason for that, which is accreditation (something you don’t find in high schools). The degree shows that you can read, write, and do at least basic math (pre-Calculus, at the one school I just checked on - for an English degree). There is no way in heck I would hire someone for any job that involved those subjects unless they had at least an Associate’s Degree...as getting even that requires that you, essentially, learn what you should have in high school (typically a 2-year effort), and then take two years of classes beyond that (4 years for people who have been pushed through the public school meat grinder). For any job that requires the use of computers...then definitely a 4-year degree.

It’s not the fault of the employers, it’s not the fault of the kids, it’s simply due to “Sight Words” and “Fuzzy Math” going on the public schools - and parents who trust those schools so much (due to their outstanding propaganda machine) that they end up crippling their kids for life.

[BobL]

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

Actually, I’ve concluded that making the kids live on campus is part of the weeding out process. They want you to show that you can cut through the distractions of a dorm (which, of course, are huge), and still get decent grades. It’s not a bad process, from the view of an employer.

I only recently figured that out. When I was in college 20+ years ago, no video games, no internet, but still LOTS of distractions (in my case, spending 2 to 3 hours a day reading newspapers). I knew it would be trouble for me and I was right...but once you’re in a dorm you really don’t want to leave, as all of your buddies are there. If I had lived off campus the entire time, I probably would have graduated a year earlier. Instead I figured it out (by accident) and wound up living in was practically senior citizens’ housing. Worked great for me, I finally, more or less, caught up in my classes, and graduated with a respectable average.

[BwanaNdege]

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

The MIT courses are great!

Also, http://www.khanacademy.org/ is really good for the remedial stuff. I’m going back over the calculus which I neglected to study 45 years ago.

Work through all of these and a few other online courses then try to find a school that will give credit by examination. Good luck on that, though.

Back in 1997, I returned to college. My adviser was of Indian extraction and had a Tanzanian calendar on the wall. After I greeted him in Gujarati and a bit of Kiswahili, we had a good old time talking about Tanzania, East Africa and India. During this first meeting he suggested that I see the head of the Anthropology Department about getting “life credit” for the “Comparative Cultures” requirement in the core curriculum.

When I visited the Anthropology head in her office, she asked why I thought that I should receive credit. I told few of the places where I had lived & worked, mentioning living with an unreached tribe in a remote part of Uganda. She asked, “Which one?”, and when I told her she said, “Oh, you must come & speak to my classes!”

She wrote me a note for the Registrar’s office, saying” If you have any trouble, let me know.” Two weeks later with the Registrar still dragging their feet, I returned to the Anthropology department head. She wrote the Registrar a lengthy letter on department stationery which finally convinced them to give me credit.

All the registrar was concerned was the cash per credit hour I represented.

[dhs12345]

Yup. Tons of distractions. And many more today. Don’t know how kids manage. It would have probably been the end of me. The temptation would have been too great.

Many of the students at my school were professionals who worked during the day. Some of the professors were professionals, too. Gave us an interesting perspective.

And I think that it made it a little tougher. No frills, no BS.

Then again, I missed out on the “Campus life.” :)

[Straight Vermonter]

Almost all HR department heads want to see that you have that “BA/BS” of a’ticket’ before they even consider you for a meaningful position.

Yep. I have 20+ of success in my field but can't get an interview (we're trying to move south) because I don't have a degree.

[BobL]

“It would have probably been the end of me. The temptation would have been too great.”

In my case, I replace the word “probably” with “definitely”. There is no way I could have gotten through.

Unfortunately, I see the same thing with my oldest boy...easy to distract, have to ride on him to do his schoolwork and study (in lieu of video games...that almost sank him late last year, when we tried easing up), and needless to say, Facebook.

So, I have two choices, drug him (Ritalin) or stay out of the dorms. Since he’s never been drugged in his life (we chose to spank him instead, much cheaper), you know my decision.

[luckystarmom]

He has stated that he would like to be able to still come home on the weekends. He’s been heavily into theater at his high school, and he has little sisters that will also be in theater. He really wants to be able to see their shows and come home easily for the holidays.

I’m guessing he’ll go to a UC school. It will be liberal, but he’s not easily swayed. He went to a very liberal public middle school and hated it. I think his private Christian high school has really trained him up for college and beyond. (I think they’ve done better than his dad and I).

My daughters are totally different. One of them has special needs. She’s doing well in school and will go to college, but she’s looking at our local college (San Jose State). I don’t think she would like living in the dorms. It would be too loud and crazy for her. She likes calm and quiet.

My other daughter thinks she wants to major in music. I’ve told her we won’t pay to send her away to get a major in music because it is too hard to get a job. There’s a good flute teacher at San Jose State, so my daughter is thinking she may just live at home also and go to school. I’d be okay with her doing that. I’m not convinced she’ll end up majoring in music and she’ll can still take her core classes.

[Dems_R_Losers]

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.

Carnegie Mellon is unbelievable! Apparently they don't give money to ANYONE. Several of my son's friends got in there but none are goung there because of the cost. One of them got $25k from NYU and is going there.

My son is going to Belmont University this fall. He wants to be a music composer for films, TV, video games, etc. Belmont has one of the few commercial music programs in the country and is the most affordable of those that do. He also got accepted at Berklee College of Music, which is nearly $50,000 a year. We will end up paying less than $10k a year for him to go to Belmont. And it is a small Christian college with no liberal indoctrination.

[Dems_R_Losers]

My other daughter thinks she wants to major in music. I’ve told her we won’t pay to send her away to get a major in music because it is too hard to get a job. There’s a good flute teacher at San Jose State, so my daughter is thinking she may just live at home also and go to school. I’d be okay with her doing that. I’m not convinced she’ll end up majoring in music and she’ll can still take her core classes.

UCLA has a fantastic school of music too. But with music it is most important to visit several schools, and try to get a sample lesson with the instrumental instructor. Do not pay a lot of money or go into huge debt for a music performance degree! There are substantial music scholarships at most colleges based on auditions.

[dhs12345]

School requires a bit of maturity. It is a very long haul with many sacrifices. It is overwhelming if you are not prepared.

It gets very old towards the end. It is a four/five year marathon. The boot camp analogy works, too.

Distractions need to be minimized. Does he have a quiet place to study?

And maybe working Summers in low end, minimum wage, jobs will motivate your son. That is the quickest way for someone to mature.

Good luck.

[kearnyirish2]

“Wonder how many people work while going to school.”

I’d think a lot more than previously, since we’re in a horrible economy where there is no other help available, but at the same time that makes those jobs more scarce (or taken by illegal aliens - I was a janitor).

[Kickass Conservative]

Sarah Palin worked her way through College.

We Taxpayers paid for Obama’s Education and look where it got us.

[MagnoliaB]

Are you sure? I thought BO’s college was paid for by a Saudi Prince.

[The Bronze Titan]

I don’t disagree with some of the responses I received to my posting, but to put forth my thoughts on this a bit more clearly:

- the ‘college degree’ does not guarantee anything (it’s only a ticket) only a chance to get your name into the sorting. It’s still a ‘ticket’ - which really does not provide anything meaningful to what you need to do to earn a living, considering the $60k to $100k you need to pay to get it.

- I would rather hire a “HS” degree graduate with a verifiable “4 years” on the job experience for the position I am hiring-for, than having to train an ‘unproven’ individual with a 3.5 GPA from You Name It University.

I just think that unless you are going for a ‘Science’ or ‘Specialized’ field requiring additional technical knowledge, the 4 years of additional schooling versus ‘real on the job experience’ is not worth it.... looking at it from a functional perspective.

[CharacterCounts]

How to get a college education with no student debt and money in the bank

Yes, it not only possible- but simplistically easy. First, you have to decide whether you want an education or a social experience.

My son is just completing his first year of college. He is not going away to college at a cost of $20,000 per year, Rather, he is attending the local community college. The tuition cost is $2,700 per year and the federal government gives a tax credit of about $2,500 to cover that. The net cost is $500 per year plus books. Meanwhile, he is living at home and has a part time job which earns him about $10,000 per year. He is banking most of this money to pay for the final two years at a local university. (all of the credits he is earning at the community college transfer to the four year university.

If he decide to go to the local university and continues to live at home, the tuition will be about $9,000 per year instead of the $20,000 for the privilege of living in a crappy dorm. If he continues to work part time, the tuition is just about covered and when he graduates he should have more than $20,000 banked as well as real world job experience.

[central_va]

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

A highly trained cat is not gonna pass engineering classes.

[central_va]

Well there’s a reason for that, which is accreditation (something you don’t find in high schools).

That is not the real reason. Duke Power vs. Griggs