Quote:All I was implying is that maybe student debt wouldn't be such an issue if borrowers lived more within their means and were more responsible. 

 

How does one put a price on a credit hour anyway? I am assuming it has to be enough to cover the cost of faculty, maintenance, etc. If the gov't starts funding these institutions to make the first 2 years "free", where exactly do you think that money is coming from?

 

Edit: Also, what about the people already up to debt to their eyes? Is the gov't going to mandate the banks to forgive the loans? How is that going to work?

So first off, all your points are pretty valid.


My experience was that the minority, and I'm talking maybe 5 of the students I helped enroll, used their grants or loans for something other than for tuition or books or costs of going to school full time. I remember one dummy going to Vegas with his pell grant disbursement. I worked as an advisor for almost 5 years, I enrolled on average about 75 to 100 students each quarter... I saw the 1040s of every family i enrolled, and I knew what they were doing with their disbursements. Yes, like I said, maybe 3-10% of those using grants and loans are abusing the system. But, when you consider the cost of tuition and books, and the fact that you have to enroll for at least 4 classes per semester to qualify for grants and loans, it's hard to waste your money on anything but school and possibly housing, depending on your financial situation. And remember, these disbursements only come out to you twice a year, and usually the tuition amount is already carved out. Which usually only allows for a few hundred bucks left over that the student actually sees...


The argument you make regarding the costs of a university as it relates to cost per credit hour is something we debated in that other thread a few months back. The problem is, in my opinion, that there is not a single solution to get us back to a reasonable tuition cost to families. Those on the right mention that as loans go up, the administration of the schools begin to increase their costs. While I think that's partially true, I think that there are studies that show other factors that also affect rising costs---including the decreasing support of state funding to state universities as well as the increasing drive to use a business model by the universities for what should be considered a public good.


And the question regarding those graduates that already are swimming in debt, my wife and I are about to be one of those types. My wife is graduating in February having earned her bachelors and masters in education. She will start working as a teacher in 2017 with a starting salary of $32,000 a year. She will have a $53,000 student loan debt that we will be strapped with. Will I be super stoked if her loan sticks and subsequent students will have a lesser cost? Heck no. But... Nobody said life was fair. And at least my kids and grand kids won't be strapped like my wife and I was. It's the movement towards progress that's important. But in politics there are compromises that need to be made in order to move forward. And I'm ok with that.

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