A simple rule about higher education:
If a school advertises during the Jerry Springer Show....it is not a good school.
I hate that the taxpayer has to foot the bad loans. Make the for-profit schools eat the loans...and stop the welfare program for the for-profit schools
The law-school scam is far bigger than anything these for-profits could dream of. Tuition approaching 40k a year at third tier schools and lies by nearly everyone of the law schools about salary and employment percentage.
Also, my understanding of my loans (grad plus loans) is that unless I die, the only way out is repayment, so I do not know what these “defaults” are.
This article has what I think are a few misrepresentations. One is that taxpayers get stuck with the bad loans, at least for the federal student loan program. That was the case for a very long time, but within the past 10 years or so, the law was changed so that those students will, at some point in their lives, have to pay them back. They are loans that do not go away. The govt will collect if they have to garnish any income the student makes.
I also found the industry rep’s story about a community college student having $90K in loans unbelievable. That is $45K/year for a 2 year program? Most community colleges charge @ $100/credit. Few students carry more than 15 or maybe 18 credits in a semester. So, let’s say a student is carrying 18 credits for three semesters, and let’s say s/he attends a more expensive community college that charges $150/credit. That’s $8100. Throw in $1200/semester for books and another $1K for activity fees. You’re up to $12,700. But the govt is lending this student $45K ?? That’s a pretty healthy amount left over for living expenses.
I think there ARE restrictions on how much the govt will lend a student, based on the school’s tuition and costs. They also require that the studies be concluded within X amt of tim, something like 150% of the time it takes under ideal conditions (full time, no dropping classes, changing majors, etc). So that $90K debt from community college story just doesn’t add up.
Given the offerings at Community Colleges, I can’t imagine why a student would go to one of these expensive for-profit programs in any case. At least our community colleges offer an enormously broad program of studies. And in VA, and most other states I’ve heard of, the state universities’ 4 year schools will accept a graduate of the community college, with certain requirements that the four year college sets. Some of the 4 year school require a higher GPA than others; some are fussier about which credits they will transfer, etc. But it sure sounds like a community college grad will have better prospects after completion than the students featured in the article