Full Disclosure I went to college, but I didn’t graduate. And I didn’t go to any fancy ass state or private college, I went to community college. As long as I passed, my parents carried the minor freight of my tuition and books, for which I am eternally grateful. Midway through my second year, with pre-law as my major, and law enforcement as my minor, I left college to get a job and start caring for the family that was on the way.
My brother was different. When he graduated high school, he went to work full time for United Airlines as a ramp rat, a baggage handler. It was a union job that paid well. While working, he went to college, first for his A&P or airframe and powerplant license, and then his R&E ort radio and electronics license. He retired after more than 30 years.
But so many more kids, especially marginally financed kids, choose to go to college right after high school. They tend to pick and apply for state or privately run universities, for the prestige the diploma brings. And they pay through the nose for it. And for those who don’t have the good fortune of moderately or better well off parents, that means student loans.
The insanity of the situation hit me between the eyes earlier this week, when Joy Ann Reid of MSNBC had a segment on this very subject. And she made a very personal, and to me startling admission on the air. Now, Joy Reid is pretty successful, but she admitted that it took her forever to pay off her student loans. And even now, either raising, or having raised a family, they are still paying off her husband’s student loan debt. This is insane.
So I did a little research, as much as my feeble eyes could handle. And came to find that the average student loan debt in this country is anywhere between $80,000-150,000 or higher. And that started me thinking, on a parallel track.
About 35 years ago, when I bought my house in Illinois, using a personal injury check as collateral, I got a FHA funded loan on $89,000. I spread that bad boy out over 30 years, and I was making decent scratch, but it still meant making some cuts to non necessary spending. But I wanted my kids to grow up in a house.
Which led to my quantum leap. Sweet Jesus! When your average 22-24 year old graduates from college, before he or she even finds a job, they already have to make a mortgage payment every month to their student loan lender. Even if they land a job quickly, how does anybody expect them to be able to afford an apartment or decent car, much less a house, when they’re already saddled with a mortgage payment to a lender? Especially when they’re starting out an entry level wages, whatever the job.
But as bad as that is, it’s not the worst. Right now, there are millions of men and women out there that took out student loans to go to college, but for whatever personal reason, were forced to quit before graduation before getting a diploma to get a job. Which means an even lower paying, non college entry level job. But they’re still looking at likely anywhere from $25,000-60,000 of college debt. How the hell do they swing that?
But the issue of student loan debt is also heavily skewed by racial and gender lines. Women vastly tend to have a higher load of student debt than men. And black women have by far the highest share of student loan debt. Well, gee. Shock and awe. The majority of student loan debt in this country is held by the two classes that historically end up starting out at the shittiest face of the pay totem pole, regardless of their education.
Biden recently signed an executive order mandating a student loan debt moratorium until the end of August, to let people catch their breath. It isn’t enough. There is pressure on for Biden to sign an executive order cancelling $50,000 of student debt for each student with outstanding loans. This would be life saving for people who had to drop out before finishing college, since their debts are lower. But it isn’t enough. Progressive activists like AOC want a full blown cancellation of all student debt in this country. But that’s misguided, and won’t fix the core problem. It will just generate a new generation of out of control student loan debt.
The problem is basically systemic, and on two fronts. First are the student loan lenders themselves. Nationwide, student loans tend to carry an interest rate far higher than qualified people pay for a mortgage, car loan, or credit card. And once the kid signs off on the loan, the lender owns them. Because the interest normally starts piling up from the time the money is delivered. Which means that the average college student piles up 4 years of interest on his freshman year before he even graduates.
Financial pitbull Senator Elizabeth Warren has a great plan, Tie college student loan interest rates to the same rate that everybody else pays for their car, mortgage, or credit card loans. This would allow college students to exit college with loans totalling tens of thousands of dollars less than they carry under the current system. Personally, I like that plan. Students shouldn’t necessarily get a free ride for an education, but they shouldn’t pay predatory rates either.
But the second systemic problem is the universities themselves. Let’s be honest, the average football mill university like Ohio State, or Florida State, or Notre Dame, or USC, can make more money off of boosters, alumni, and NCAA television and ad revenue to damn near give everybody else a free ride. But they won’t do it, because that wouldn’t line their pockets or coffers. Instead, they jack up their tuition and residence rates as a prestige university. And it isn’t just football. You have universities like Appalachian State, and Florida State, and San Diego State that have premier baseball programs. And places like North Dakota State, Boston College, and others that thrive on hockey revenue. And don’t even get me started on places like North Carolina, Duke, Gonzaga, and UCLA that suck college basketball revenue dry.
So, it’s up to Biden and the Democrats to make this a cause celebre. If Biden cancels as much student debt as he’s comfortable with, he gives the Democrats a powerful cudgel to use going into November. But at some point, congress is going to have to get up off of its fat lazy ass, and deal with the systemic problems. Because if they don’t, all the loan forgiveness in the world won’t help. Because the next generation of loan debt victims will be coming right behind. Here endeth the rant.
If education to make thinking people possible is too expensive, people won’t get educated, and society will be the poorer for it, with an uneducated electorate deprived of critical thinking skills unable to choose sensible candidates or policies.
What happens next?
Exhibit A. The United States Of America.
Public schools sopped teaching or indeed encouraging critical thinking skills decades ago and universities transmogrified into training factories for business and “education,” producing business graduates as compliant middle managers, and teachers more skilled in paperwork that in giving a useful classroom experience. As an adjunct English professor at a public university, I saw no useful opportunities for majors and a department virtually at the mercy of the school of business to crank out just enough information for their students to write a coherent business letter or report. These students always seemed resentful that they had to “waste time” taking a “stupid English class.” Between my experiences in teaching and financial aid. I developed a pretty cynical view of the future of critical thinking and love of learning in the rising generations.
PS. Sorry for typos
I respectfully disagree, sir. In 2017, Trump and both legislative houses basically forgave rich donors taxes…a shameless giveaway. There should be no hesitation on the part of President Biden to forgive all student debt. This frees these once debtors to be able to invest in their future. So, Mr. President, if you’re listening, it’s hero time.
Comments
I worked for the student loan division of a huge bank for a number of years, and despite my job to get loans for the bank, I always advised students never to borrow more than they actually needed. But, as a student financial aid counselor before that, I advised them to work rather than get a loan if it was at all possible. Most just took the money. One thing is clear. There is a student aid corollary to Parkinson’s Law. “In the world of higher education, the cost of attendance rises in direct proportion to the amount of federal/state funding available to students.” Since higher education has become an industry, there is no wonder this is true. A lot of schools now have CEO-types presiding, rather than real educators, and liberal arts colleges have added graduate level business and education factories to allow them to become “universities” and compete with the big guys. There simply is no end to what capitalism will do to keep the bucks flowing, no matter how much they prostitute the mission for gain, none of which flows to faculty, who are a majority adjunct, with paltry salaries and no benefits or protections.