Student Debt Turning Public Against Universities

http://www.examiner.com/watchdog-politics-in-national/student-debt-turning-public-against-universities ^ | January 2, 2012 | Martha R Gore

[Stegall Tx]

There isn’t a college in this country that couldn’t unload half their professors and never miss them.

Too true. The sad truth is that a full-time schedule at one of the schools I work for is 7 courses - 21 hours. Yes, I do spend a lot of time preparing outside of class, but when you get it down the first time, then refine it the second time, every iteration beyond that is just to adjust to this year's text. Grading? Almost all my grading is done online and I can grade all the work turned in for one assignment in about one to two hours per class.

I never thought I would fall into another job as easy as working for the Telecomm industry. I was wrong. The pay isn't nearly as good, but the work is just as easy.

[grey_whiskers]

And just who has been running the Universities for the last 40 years?

Oh, *that*'s right.

The Koch brothers, Faux News, and Glenn Beck.

Cheers!

[grey_whiskers]

College Liberal

Cheers!

[eyedigress]

So the little idiots are finally figuring out 6 and 7 digit salarys are paid out of their student loans?

[trapped_in_LA]

Yes, that was a neat little trick, it’s a good way to keep the “education” party going as you now never really need to worry about repaying that $200,000 dollar loan to get an ivy league degree in navel gazing. Just don’t marry someone with this kind of debt if you have a good paying job and everything will work out fine ... except for us the tax payers who will be on the hook for all this defaulted debt. Kind of bugs me that my tax dollars are going to yet another group of over feed liberal parasites but it’s nothing new and I have yet to figure out how to get out of it short of becoming a liberal parasite.

[Mr. K]

Well, they will offer a course on “occupy wall street” and then learn how to protest for the government to pay their bill

[Lorianne]

I agree. The taxpayers are ultimately on the hook for all this debt and that is by design.

What TPTB really need to be worried about is a taxpayer revolt.

[Mr. K]

The government took over the student loan industry- so they will just give out student loans to nice compliant leftists, who then will be hired by leftists in the government.

[blueunicorn6]

Say, isn’t that my feminist studies professor driving that BMW?

[kabar]

There was a reason why the Obamacare bill was 2700 pages. The Dems used it as a vehicle to insert all kinds of fees and taxes that had nothing to do with health care, but rather, as a way to help fund it and get the CBO to score it the right way.

2013

Taxes and fees

 New Medicare taxes on individuals earning more than $200,000 a year and couples filing jointly earning more than $250,000 a year.

 Tax on wages rises to 2.35% from 1.45%.

 New 3.8% tax on unearned income such as dividends and interest.

 Excise tax of 2.9% imposed on sale of medical devices.

[blueunicorn6]

Sheila Stearns, commissioner of higher education in Montana, earned her $200,000 a year salary last year by recommending that all freshman courses in Montana universities have course numbers in the 100s...............wow. That and she’s a Democrat.

[kabar]

[Lorianne]

Universities and colleges aren’t robbing students, students (and their hapless parents) are robbing themselves. No one is holding a gun to their heads making them pay such high tuition and fees.

But they will expect taxpayers to ‘make them whole’ just like people who bought more house than they could afford or re-mortgaged their house to buy more stuff than they could afford.

[kabar]

There is a reason why Obama and his fellow Marxists took over the student loan program. They eventually want to have the government excuse most or all student loans to make college free based on some sort of means tested program. They will buy votes and continue to subsidize their supporters at colleges and universities.

It is the same way they took over health care on an incremental basis culminating in Obamacare that insures what Medicare and Medicaid doesn't. Then we will move to a single payer national health care system run by the government.

[PapaBear3625]

Under Income Based Repayment, any balance is forgiven after 25 years, or after 10 years if the student works in the public sector. This will create a big incentive for students with large debts in useless subjects to try for any public sector job they can get.

[PapaBear3625]

One thing that would put a cap on it: have the universities underwrite the student loan debt, with the feds administering repayment. If the student defaults or otherwise does not wind up repaying the loan, the college eats it.

Overnight, colleges would stop admitting people who really are not going to benefit from colleges, and stop offering courses that do not measurably prepare students for jobs.

[kabar]

Obamacare changes the time to excuse student debt to 20 years.

[Mariner]

Of the 70+ IT Engineers that work for me, only 3-4 have a Bachelors Degree and none above that. Approximately 12 have not graduated from high school PROPER, but did get their GED.

None makes less than $25/hr and more than 20 are over $75/hr.

My top 10 make $90+/hr.

Tell me again what makes college so valuable? And who, pray tell, is stupid enough to believe a professional educator?

[cynwoody]

Of the 70+ IT Engineers that work for me, only 3-4 have a Bachelors Degree and none above that. Approximately 12 have not graduated from high school PROPER, but did get their GED.

Two of the top IT guys in history, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, never graduated.

[cynwoody]

I’ve long maintained that a condition of student loans be that the recipient is enrolled in a course of study that is of value to society

Who decides what's valuable?

I think it should be the lender, and the lender should not be the government. Nor should any special laws apply to student debt.

Why do you suppose the costs of health care and education far outpace general inflation?