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The Long Road to the Student Debt Crisis

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Re: The Long Road to the Student Debt Crisis

#3
The statistics in this article aren't especially useful, and could easily have been made more so by breaking debt down by attainment. Students that leave postsecondary without a 4-year bachelor's degree on average apparently owe less than $10k; with a bachelor's, less than $25k; with a graduate degree, $45k.

Roughly 1/3 of all borrowers drop out, implying (I think?) that the majority of debt is held by people who complete degrees, a substantial minority of whom obtain graduate degrees.

If the student debt crisis is about rescuing people for whom college was of no benefit (for instance, because they attended a for-profit school and didn't obtain a bachelor's degree --- the overwhelming majority of low and middle SES quartile students at for-profit colleges do not), the intervention needed to solve that problem is radically different and less expensive than "forgiving all student debt".

Re: The Long Road to the Student Debt Crisis

#4
Interesting that there is no mention here of the drastically inflated number of administrators in colleges as compared to say 30 years ago.

“literally nobody knows who these people are or what they are doing”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinesimon/2017/09/05/bureau...

Re: The Long Road to the Student Debt Crisis

#5
> After years of projecting big profits from student lending, the federal government now acknowledges that taxpayers stand to lose $31.5 billion on the program over the next decade, and the losses are growing rapidly.

Most civilized countries offer free or close to free education for their young population instead of trying to profit off of this segment of the population that barely knows what it wants out of life. If they can do it, I'm sure we could. How about bailing out the people for one and ending this for profit loan system once and for all? How about investing in the future generations of Americans for once instead of trying to profit from them? Or we could continue on the path we're on and see just how much worse things get for the masses here. I wonder just how much they will put up with.

Re: The Long Road to the Student Debt Crisis

#6

Interesting that there is no mention here of the drastically inflated number of administrators in colleges as compared to say 30 years ago. “literally nobody knows who these people are or what they are doing” https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinesimon/2017/09/05/bureau...

It is fake jobs for women who didn't study anything useful and this phenomena is spilling into the rest of the economy. We hoped that the influx of women to higher education will help the economy but it is only a burden, the return on the money we spend on their education is abysmal, it hurts the whole economy and is part of the reason this debt crisis was created in the first place. Women almost don't start new businesses and they don't create jobs. Most innovations, technical jobs, dangerous jobs, physical jobs and creative jobs are done by men. Women fill up mostly secretarial roles with fancy names in the private sector. Those roles don't really need any education and it is a total waste of 3 or 4 years just to signal secretarial capabilities to employers. Armies around the world can figure this out with half a day test and can teach those jobs in 3 months max. The rest of the women work in care taking type of jobs in the public sector, funded mainly by our taxes. We wouldn't need those jobs had those women stayed at home and took care of their kids, their elders, their house and gardens. The education system is a good example of industry overrun by over educated women that is deteriorating and stagnating because there are not enough men to push it forward. So I think the first step we need to take is limit higher studies only for women who are exceptional and are willing to actually study and work in something productive. That's in itself will reduce the amount of people in the system and will solve a lot of the financial issues. There are also many men who don't have to be there, but the numbers are much lower.

Re: The Long Road to the Student Debt Crisis

#7
I think a lot of the student debt crisis is self-inflicted. No one is forcing you to attend a 4 year straight from high-school, go to a community college and then transfer to a state school/4 year. (I spent 3 years at a CC, but I graduated from a UC and paid off my student loans within a year)

Yes, college is expensive, but there is an existing alternative that everyone seems to forget about and it boggles my mind.

Re: The Long Road to the Student Debt Crisis

#8

I think a lot of the student debt crisis is self-inflicted. No one is forcing you to attend a 4 year straight from high-school, go to a community college and then transfer to a state school/4 year. (I spent 3 years at a CC, but I graduated from a UC and paid off my student loans within a year) Yes, college is expensive, but there is an existing alternative that everyone seems to forget about and it boggles my mind.

And that is studying in Europe.

Re: The Long Road to the Student Debt Crisis

#9

I think a lot of the student debt crisis is self-inflicted. No one is forcing you to attend a 4 year straight from high-school, go to a community college and then transfer to a state school/4 year. (I spent 3 years at a CC, but I graduated from a UC and paid off my student loans within a year) Yes, college is expensive, but there is an existing alternative that everyone seems to forget about and it boggles my mind.

I did 2 years at CC before going to a UC too. I don't think people are forgetting about it. There are many reasons people choose larger loans instead of transferring, most of which are unreasonable in hindsight once they enter the workforce.

Re: The Long Road to the Student Debt Crisis

#10
post #5

> After years of projecting big profits from student lending, the federal government now acknowledges that taxpayers stand to lose $31.5 billion on the program over the next decade, and the losses are growing rapidly. Most civilized countries offer free or close to free education for their young population instead of trying to profit off of this segment of the population that barely knows what it wants out of life. I…

I have yet to hear about a realistic plan to remove and replace. Anyone have recommended reading?
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