If each state would actually review, audit, and take control of their state colleges....then you wouldn’t have this mess. The idea that twelve of your coaches for your one state college (football, baseball, soccer, basketball, etc) are pulling in $25 million in salary...ought to shock a state legislature. Or if you came to notice that twenty foreign professors are on the staff of the college and each makes $150k or more....ought to shock a state legislature. States need to stand up and review the mess that has been created.
I completely agree that the tuitions are needlessly high and there's plenty of waste at these universities. However, too many of these kids took out the *full amount* in tuition and room and board for their college stay. There was an article in the WSJ about young people struggling to pay their loans. There was a woman who graduated Kent State in the 2008 with 80,000 in student loans. WHAT??? Did she never have a summer job? Did she not work during school? Did her parents contribute absolutely nothing?
Maybe her parents didn't contribute anything and she was too disorganized/stupid to attend school while simultaneously holding down a part time job, but there is absolutely NO reason a healthy young person can't earn darn near ten thousand every summer. Minimum wage is 7 bucks an hour (maybe more, I don't know). I do know that when my kids were going to college back in the early 80's, our rule was they needed to contribuute at least 5k toward their tuition or we figured they didn't want it bad enough. Most of the time our kids actually contributed much more as they often paid for their own books, food, etc.
I do feel sorry for these kids mired in student loan debt and I believe the loans should bankruptible, but somebody needed to be smacking these kids upside the head while they were spending their student loan money on spring breaks and partying.
I have worked around a few of this type and for the most part it's a good thing. Big sports,not so much.