“Trump could get young people with a practical alternative that helped them avoid crippling debt. “
I’m listening. What do you suggest as practical other than student loan amnesty? West Point for all?
I’m not sure that I have “the” solution. The problem is obviously difficult.
I would suggest that many college degrees are pretty worthless and getting more businesses to offer apprentice programs or on-the-job-training would be good. Tax incentives might be possible.
I would also say that college with high tuition and large endowments should perhaps not be seen as “non-profits” that do not need to pay taxes. A lot of universities have luxurious dorms, splendid cafeterias, and bloated staffs of highly paid academics who do very little teaching. Kids go to these schools, pay $60,000 a year, go into debt, and graduate with (in some cases) no real skills. Perhaps the tax code for universities can be manipulated to tell schools: “live in the real world”.
My basic feeling is that modern culture says “everyone” should go to college and if you don’t have a degree, you must be a “dummy”. That’s just wrong. Some fields — such as STEM — need higher education. But a great many people can have wonderful careers without sacrificing 4+ years of their lives and going deeply into debt. We need a cultural change so that people understand it just doesn’t have to be that way.
Very simple. Require university funds be invested in student loans, so that teachers’ and administrators’ retirement depends on students voluntarily repaying the loans.
There would a lot fewer universities offering useless degrees and those that did would find it harder to hire and retain teachers.