Being limited to the 1st 2 years of post secondary "Higher Learning" costs, it served the purpose of luring in marginal students to 'try out' for those high-paying college graduate jobs. It could not be used for technical or direct skills training courses. Thus students (or parents) are encouraged into "Higher Learning" but with little regard as to what the end expense may be.
Strange thing about "Higher Learning" costs in the past several decades, no matter what the inflation rate or cost of living indexes may show, the tuition/residence/materials cost goes up. In the 1986-2011 time frame, the CPI went up 115% while Tuition went up 498%. Add to this is the fact that the "Higher Learning" employed financial advisors are there to KEEP THE SEATS FILLED and not for the financial benefit of the student.
Is "Higher Learning" a racket? /sarcasm
Is College a liberal stalking horse to destroy our culture? /sarcasm
Why make government the prime source for student loans?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/05/AR2010030502972.html
Obama Breaks Down Student Loan Overhaul
http://whitehouse.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/03/30/obama-breaks-down-student-loan-overhaul/
He will also talk about the provision’s less controversial expansion of Pell Grants, as well as supporting historically black and minority institutions and caps on student loan repayments.
According to the White House, “New borrowers who assume loans after July 1, 2014, will be able to cap their student loan repayments at 10 percent of their discretionary income and, if they keep up with their payments over time, will have the balance forgiven after 20 years.”
(Excerpt)
So basically, you need to make sure you buy or rent a living space expensive enough to maximize your non-discretionary spending, so you make the absolute minimum student loan payments for 20 years. Then the debt disappears!
Or more acurately, your debt gets paid by other Americans, which is “free money” to you.
And again I say, those of us who pay off our loans and debts sure look like chumps.
These investments complement President Obama’s broader agenda for higher education and will help us reach his goal of America having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/10326-higher-ed.pdf
(with absolutely no thought given to QUALITY)
Public service workers such as teachers, nurses, and those in military service will see any remaining debt forgiven after just 10 years.