[dropcap]M[/dropcap]assive student loan debt is a symptom. The real problem is the ballooning cost of college beyond what most people can pay, and beyond what many see as reasonable. Colleges have billions of dollars in endowments (savings investments), their executive ranks are growing, and their real estate portfolios expanding. Yet many are relying more heavily on cheaper adjunct professors and grad students to teach, and are increasing their portfolio of stunning hidden fees. It's so bad that some students are turning to paid sex to make ends meet. A surprising story you won't see anywhere else Sunday on Full Measure.
That's student debt--there's also a serious problem with the nation's debt, which grew to record levels under President Obama. Will President Trump's plans put the U.S. farther under water, or pull us out?
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The source of the student loan problem is the same as what caused the financial crisis, Syrian crisis, healthcare crisis, and most every crisis we face - career politicians that live on their knees to protect their jobs, perks, and power. Case in point, Rand Paul thinks it's a good idea to officially exempt the healthcare industry from the anti-trust laws, which is the biggest reason costs are on the parabolic portion of the exponential growth curve.
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=231812
Granted, students should know how to do basic math and critical thinking, which would tell them the ROI on their loan is terrible, but this is also the result of govt's grip on education.
I've said for years that the higher education system is corrupt. Thanks for bringing this to the forefront.
I also came to realize how corrupt the higher education system is while working on my doctorate a couple of decades ago. Realizing that my colleagues and mentors were all being inculcated into abandoning clean ethics in order to receive and retain academic teaching positions--as a way of sustaining a money-grubbing corporate system that is fed on student loans, I personally decided I did not want to spend the rest of my adult life participating in the system. This has been at great personal cost.
I am so glad you have finally brought the tip of the iceberg about this to light. Please continue to pursue the topic--looking at how being enslaved by school debt prevents academics from telling the truth in their classes---and the greater societal implications of an educational system that claims to educate but inculcates students into participating in questionable ethics.
Eco 101. Too many dollars chasing too few seats raise the price of the seats.
Government dollars loans and grants etc., "cheap" loans ,,,
In 1965 my tuition was $1800.oo. The government offered the Pell Grant of $250.oo in 1966.
My tuition for that you can guess,,,$2050.oo. it has continued at an ever-increasing rate for fifty years.
Cut out the federal money and prices will fall like a rock.
AND
Perhaps only those who should go to college will. Then will have the tradesmen we need.
Free college has existed in this country for decades if you serve in the military. Remove the loans that enslave these kids for years and years and the prices will free fall to truly affordable levels. It will also cut out a whole lot of fat at the administration level in colleges around the country.