Here is a perspective on student loan debt. Per the College Board the average annual cost (2014) of a four year public university is $9500 for room and board and $8890 for tuition and fees for a total of $18,390. Over four years the cost of a public university 4 year degree is $73,560.
If a professor makes $100,000 a year at a public school it is reasonable for a taxpayer to expect her to be on campus working at least 8 hours a day, 5 days per week. That should allow the professor to teach 6 one hour classes per day and be in his/her office 2 hours per day (25% of her paid time) to meet with students or perform administrative tasks. Assuming each class has 20 students in it, the professor will be teaching 120 students per semester or 240 per year. Dividing $100,000 by 240 gives a cost per student per class of $416.66. Assuming the student takes 5 classes per semester, or 10 classes per year, the total cost of instruction for the student is $416.66 X 10 or $4166. The student is paying $8890 for tuition and fees meaning over half of the student’s tuition and fee bill is going for things other than instruction (buildings, library, recreation centers, groundskeeping, bureaucratic overhead).
Warren and others argue it isn’t fair for some students to be leaving college with $200,000 in loans to pay off. I disagree. Going to an expensive high cost ($50-$60,000 per year) private institution is a personal choice. There are less expensive alternatives as the state university example above indicates. All students have the opportunity to compete for ROTC scholarships, in return for military service after graduation, which will pay for full tuition. Students in urban and suburban areas can attend local universities and live at home to reduce costs. Students can also work 10 to 15 hours per week while going to college and many do.
Assuming heavy student debt load is a choice, not a requirement. The taxpayers have no responsibility to pay for poor choices.
The student loan program is essentially a way to route tax dollars (or created fake money depending on how you do the accounting) through universities to highly paid admins and profs who donate heavily to Democrats.