Students Borrow More Than Ever for College [Bail-Outs On the Horizon?]

Wall St. Journal ^ | September 03, 2009

[Steelfish]

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

Students Borrow More Than Ever for College Heavy Debt Loads Mean Many Young People Can't Live Life They Expected

By ANNE MARIE CHAKER

Students are borrowing dramatically more to pay for college, accelerating a trend that has wide-ranging implications for a generation of young people.

New numbers from the U.S. Education Department show that federal student-loan disbursements—the total amount borrowed by students and received by schools—in the 2008-09 academic year grew about 25% over the previous year, to $75.1 billion. The amount of money students borrow has long been on the rise.

But last year far surpassed past increases, which ranged from as low as 1.7% in the 1998-99 school year to almost 17% in 1994-95, according to figures used in President Barack Obama's proposed 2010 budget.

[pnh102]

No sympathy. College might be expensive but it is not that expensive and students are perfectly free to work during school to pay for part of the costs.

[elpadre]

community colleges do a good job

[TexasFreeper2009]

Seriously waaaaaay too many people go to college. If you were in the bottom 1/3 of your high school graduating class, you are probably seriously wasting your time and money going to college.

Go learn a trade and start your own trade related business after working for someone a few years and mastering your craft. You can have a good life and be very comfortable financially.

[John123]

Bail-Outs On the Horizon?

Absolutely... small-minded liberal art students is our future! /s

[dawn53]

College might be expensive but it is not that expensive and students are perfectly free to work during school to pay for part of the costs

My kid will earn his Master's in December (he's done it all on scholarship, and tuition reimbursement for being a GA in grad school.) That being said, he could not have carried a full load and worked enough hours to pay for his schooling. We were fortunate, we live near several colleges, so he lived at home and would commute to college, so his scholarships paid his tuition, but his books alone, each semester, run between 500 and 700 dollars.

Now in grad school, he works at a "real" job three days a week, works as a GA 2 days a week to cover his tuition, and goes to classes 3 nights a week. If it weren't for the GA position, he would not be able to make enough money, even working full time, to cover his classes, his books, and his living expenses.

Back in our day, his father and I both worked our way through college. It just isn't possible anymore, if you take a full load.

[Richard Kimball]

I was a Fine Arts major in the 70s, and graduated from the University of Texas with no debt.
My degree helped me a lot. I teach at a Community College now, and we’re having an explosion of students. We are an inverse indicator of the economy. When times are good, people go to the more expensive colleges and are out working. When times are hard, we get the students that can’t afford the expensive schools and the people who have lost their jobs come back to retool.

[Steelfish]

“we’re having an explosion of students.”

That’s only because of virtually free tuition, books, and dorm loans offered courtesy of the US taxpayers.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Basically, college now costs more than it’s worth.

[Chode]

no sympathy... took me ten years to pay mine off.