Obama Media Group.
Nothing to see here.
Move along.
Posted on 10/26/2011 8:29:47 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Two-thirds of all college students now graduate with debt, and owe an average of $24,000, as student loans are quickly becoming the only way many Americans can afford a college education.
As a result, thousands of young people -- who are also facing high unemployment -- are forced to tackle mountains of debt immediately after graduating, and many are uncertain about their futures.
Shannon Johnson, who has been a lawyer at a small, family-owned firm in North Dakota for two years, said she owes more than $150,000 from her undergraduate degree and law school.
"Because of my choice to attend college and law school, I live every day paycheck to paycheck and am forced to rely on credit cards to get by," she said. "I don't feel like I will ever be able to get to a better place, buy a home or start a family."
Others are wondering if going to college was worth the cost.
"I cannot find a well paying job," said Robin Snyder of Perkasie, Pa. "I equate it to the housing market crash -- I now owe more on my education than it's worth."
The total U.S. student loan debt is quickly approaching the $1 trillion mark, and last year it surpassed credit cards as the highest debt that Americans carry. That is in part because the cost of education has skyrocketed in the past 30 years, up 900 percent since 1978.
Shockingly, one of the biggest jumps in college costs came in the last decade. According to CollegeBoard, tuition and fees at four-year public colleges and universities increased 5.6 percent each year beyond the rate of general inflation.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Quite the contrary.
What I meant to imply was that student loans should be illegal.
That would do more to bring higher-education costs down than anything.
College costs have gone up 900% since I was in college in 1978.
The ONLY reason they exploded like that was because 18-year olds who didn't know any better were enticed into burying themselves in debt for their educations.
I paid as I went. Never had dime of education debt, and I have three degrees. Worked the entire time.
I think Buckeye McFrog nailed it in post#17.
Meanwhile, college endowments are rising too...
Harvard: $27.5 billion
Yale: $16.6 billion
Princeton: $14.4 billion
Univ. of Texas system: $14 billion
Stanford: $13.8 billion
MIT: $13.3 billion
Univ. of Michigan: $6.6 billion
Columbia: $6.5 billion
Northwestern: $6.8 billion
Texas A&M: $5.7 billion
Univ. of Penn: $5.7 billion
Univ. of Chicago: $5.6 billion
Univ. of Calif. system: $5.4 billion
All tax free.
Information a friend emailed me. The only information verified is the Stafford Loan program. Seems OWS still doesn’t know where to direct their frustration.
“what is it about Student Loans that have individuals upset at Wall Street?
After all the greatest lender since 1965 has been... .gov through Stafford Loans - etc. In fact there were so many individuals discharging Student Loans through bankruptcy that .gov passed ruling that these are one of the only types of loans that cannot be “forgiven”.
Since 1965 the average per year cost of higher education has risen 6.7%. Before .gov stepped in, the cost was 1.3% per year tied closely to the inflation rate. In effect .gov is driving the additional cost increases by indicating that “everyone” should attend college, providing the “free” money for them to do so, and mandating entry requirements to College via various diversity programs.
Doesn’t that mean that students should be marching on their own Universities and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?”
RE: All tax free.
Makes me wonder how many percent of those tax free endownment are used to help students pay their tuition.
I see this as a money laundering scam.
1. Student pays exorbitant tuition fees to attend college.
2. College professors receive increasingly higher salaries and benefits.
3. Student loans are forgiven by government.
4. College professors very active in donating to election campaigns .
5. Taxpayers pick up the tab for higher education of an increasing number of fanciful liberal arts majors.
Obama Media Group.
Nothing to see here.
Move along.
RE: I’m very confused about why I’m supposed to care about this....
If you’re a tax payer, then you’ll be paying for this.
Correction:
MIT: $8.3 billion
Northwestern: $5.9 billion
Once again there is an expectation that someone is supposed to ride in and rescue people from the consequences of their choices. This article is silent about which colleges the young lady with $150,000 of debt attended. Were they the best value? Also, did her family not help at all? What kind of housing choices did she make? Did she work part time? Did she work summers? Why are taxpayers supposed to bail her out now?
And don’t even get me started on the way that colleges have ratcheted up their tuition rates above inflation whenever financial aid from the government increased. Talk about a conspiracy worthy of the Occupy movement. Why isn’t there an Occupy Education or Occupy University movement? They are the ones trying to make this generation a bunch of debt slaves.
The IRS needs to go after these rich, bloated universities and make them pay their fair share!
Occupy Academia!!!
The very intelligent young man who services my heat pump has a bachelor’s degree in sociology. Then he learned a useful trade and started his own business. He just bought a new truck and hired an assistant.
Except for certain professions, the American system of higher education is a black hole, lined with debt and indoctrination.
START
1.) Government offers loans with no preconditions or limits
2.) Government outlaws private student loans.
LOOP UNTIL CRISIS OCCURS AND RIDICULOUSLY LARGE LOANS ARE MANDATED TO ATTEND COLLEGE.
BEGIN LOOP
a.) Students take huge loans and give to liberal colleges
b.) Colleges hire more liberal employees and expand facilities
c.) Colleges raise tuition
d.) Students never pay off loans and blame conservatives
e.) Liberals pander to skulls of mush offering to fix problem they created, loan forgiveness, etc.
END LOOP
3.) Students vote for liberals to forgive loans.
4.) Colleges subsidized by government so professor salaries do not drop
END
I see we think alike...
You can still graduate cheap. Go to a community college for the first two years and work a job. Then transfer to a 4-year school.
I also know some kids that went to community college while living with parents or family AND have a job. It ends up being TENS OF THOUSANDS of dollars in savings even if you pay rent to your folks.
And the really terrible news is that a vast percentage of those exorbitantly expensive "degrees" are in subjects that are worthless as training for working in a productive, capitalist society...
Of course, that is not news; we "hard scientists" who struggled with time-devouring lab sciences and rigorous math courses have long been disdainful of folks who coast through majors in "social basket weaving" subjects.
Many "women's studies", etc. majors fit their victims only for leftist government jobs -- or worse, the incestuous ("never held a real, productive job in their entire life") positions that increasingly infest academia.
No wonder the Far Easterners are kicking our economic butts!!!
The degree major has nothing to do with it. We are talking about how much the tuition has increased astronomically over the past 10 years. Much, much faster than the rate of inflation.
Also “entry level” doesnt exist anymore. Go open up a newspaper and try to find an entry level job that doesnt require multiple years of experience. Companies don’t want to train employees anymore.
RE: Were they the best value?
We had a whole thread at FR showing the Top Value Colleges in the Country.
See here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2718908/posts
PROBLEM IS, Most people don’t even consider many of these colleges.
They’d rather pay above $50,000/year for the glamour of going to NYU or Columbia or (name your own expensive preppie college here ).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.