College students in this country are a trillion dollars in debt.
94% of students working for a B.A. borrow money, up 45% since 1993. The average
debt in 2011 was $23,000 with 10% owning over $54,000 and 3% over $100,000.
This all began in the 1980s when tuition rose faster than family
incomes. The for-profit colleges also began aggressive marketing for students; “come
on in and worry about the debt later.” It has a great similarity to the
mortgage borrowing mess.
E. Gordon Gee, president of Ohio State University and sees and
writes about the need to change higher education attitudes and procedures in
the rising costs of higher education. We’ll see what happens.
It seems like a catch 22 event. To get higher incomes you need
higher education, but they plunge you into huge debt. The amount of debt is
rising yearly but graduates are struggling to pay off this debt. Only 38% of
students owing on these loans are making payments; it was 46% five years ago.
Politicians are beginning to balk at all this funding and want
to cut loans and grants as they face national debt. So we have educators
blaming legislatures and visa versa. Congress and state legislatures seem to be
preoccupied with corporation aid more than educational concerns.
Here’s numbers from Ohio. In the late 1970s Ohio put 17% of
their budget into higher education, now it is 11%. Prisons on the other hand
went from 4% to 8%. I’m not sure what moral to draw from that.
But the problem remains, if you want higher education you’re
going to have to borrow. Garrison Keilor of Prairie
Home Companion fame I remember talking about when he was in college, anyone
could go to college and pay for it as they went with part-time jobs. He went to
the University of Minnesota. I remember in 1960 the total cost of everything I
spent during my freshman year in college was $1,000. I fail to understand why
similar conditions cannot exist today.
It may mean we coddle students less; they don’t need individual
rooms for each student, or a car, etc. Schools could build cheaper without
lessening educational opportunities. Students need to understand they are in a
period of sacrifice to reach their goals and have live more spartanly than they
did at home. And government has to make a greater commitment. Colleges and
students and parents need more realistic counseling in decisions for higher
education. I remember even my seminary encouraging second career students with
families to support to come on to seminary and take on debt knowing full well
most of them would graduate with jobs that would not pay for those costs.
Maybe students will have to do what some did in the past; work a
while and save, go to school, stop work awhile, earn money and save and go back
to school. In a borrow borrow borrow social mentality it is hard to understand,
only buy what you can pay for. Otherwise just the banks get rich and we know
their track record today.
I certainly don’t know all the answers but we need to look at
countries that manage higher education costs more effectively. Sweden comes to
mind along with a number of European and Near and Far Eastern countries. We
need to get serious about this issue.
Now don’t let me get started on the content of college education
today which turns out more technical school graduates types than liberal arts
widely educated students who have a better grasp of the world and are better
long range problem solvers.
Material
from this article was primarily gathered from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/business/student-loans-weighing-down-a-generation-with-heavy-debt.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
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