We definitely need to reduce funding for Communist indoctrination. So, I therefore propose:
(1) All federal student loans, loan guarantees, and loan programs are ending, effective at the beginning of the next academic term. The federal treasury doesn’t have any money to lend. Borrowers must pay their loans according to the terms thereof. Effective at the beginning of the next academic term, any new private student loans are subject to discharge in bankruptcy seven years after the student earns a degree or ten years after the conclusion of the classes for which the student borrowed the money, whichever is earlier.
(2) All universities must reduce student payments to less than the take-home pay of a single independent adult person with no dependents or unusual tax circumstances (not blind or a senior citizen, no other income) from a full-time, year-round minimum wage job in the same state as the university campus where the student takes classes. The maximum student payment must include tuition, fees, room, board, books, supplies, and any other charges necessary to pursue a degree (including required health insurance if applicable). The university may charge the student only for weeks in the academic year and not for breaks. For example, if a 3-credit class meets for 60 minutes on 45 days during the semester and for a final examination, the university may charge tuition only for 16 weeks. At $400 per week and two semesters per year, that results in a maximum student charge of $12,800 (probably still too high, but much less than the $80,000 or more that some institutions now bill). The university must offer students enough classes with the maximum charge to graduate in four years.
Poor students can take a Pell grant of $6,345 and a federal supplemental equal opportunity grant of $4,000 and a federal work study of $5,000 per year. This combination covers essentially all their expenses. This plan therefore opens university to a diverse array of Americans and not just to the supremely rich and well connected.
How will universities comply with the new tuition-collection rules? That’s their decision, but they probably will have to slash their administrative bureaucracy, cancel the promotion of all manner of sexual impropriety, quit offering “safe spaces,” eliminate their diversity bureaucracies, rethink unnecessary construction projects, and restructure their super-luxury accommodations. They also can beg their alumni, donors, and state legislatures for funds.
I think if the government simply said that the max yearly loan amount will not exceed $10k a year, and actually set the pay-back schedule in front of the kid on day one of graduation...you’d change the whole game real quick.
I’d even make it interesting and let the engineer and science kids get the $15k a year loan because I’d be confident in their ability to get a decent job and pay the money back in ten to fifteen years.