Capitol Hill Blue Forums Life and Moral Issues Education College debt

I've used the Post-9/11 GI Bill: It covered my tuition, and provided a living stipend. Those benefits may even be expanded further, depending on an interesting court case.

It generally isn't possible to pay for college only by working in the summers anymore, unless you are attending a community college, or have put together an impressive array of scholarships.

In my hometown, I teach a financial class to high schoolers, built around a few basic principles, the main project of which is "pay for college without debt". It can be done.

Actually, I think your ideas on college debt are excellent. The only thing is, I would love to see a vigorously expanded program that offers seriously affordable tuition at all state O&O universities and community colleges, means tested, of course.

The job market is demanding advanced education for almost everything except trades and jobs that have nametags and hair nets.

We are IMPORTING highly trained and skilled STEM graduates, robotics grads and AI specialists because we have a very serious shortage over here.
We absolutely need to raise up a generation of kids who can master those specialties.

I'd like to see that incentivized for any poor kid who demonstrates the ability, desire and ambition.

Aside from that I like your ideas

My tuition at UCLA in 1982 was couch change.
I only needed one year to fill out my credits. The rest were transferred over from Brown Institute in Mpls, which at the time was owned by CBS. Also couch change.

My rent in Minneapolis was $110 a month for a tiny bachelor pad efficiency, a single room maybe about 18 feet by 14 feet, with a two burner kitchenette built into one wall and a tiny shower bathroom tucked into a corner at the other end.

I was able to afford that on dishwasher pay.
Why CAN'T we make that possible again?
It worked damn well and we are hurting due to the LACK thereof.
If education is thought to be expensive, wait till we get a load of what generational ignorance costs.

I would like to suggest a lot more federal loan forgiveness for people who work in a public service position using their degree. For example, teachers with Education degrees, nurses working in public hospitals, engineers working for the government, etc.

I agree. I worked in school nutrition for 10 years analyzing, planning, purchasing and preparing nutritious meals for children of all socioeconomic levels.

Forgive my student loan please.

I understand and agree with the intent of this - to maintain the option for all in society. I think that:

A) This is *mostly* already met; lower income kids can go to college (as you point out, community college is a far more affordable option) in a variety of ways. Much of our current income disparity, I would suggest, is because we have gotten much better at marrying potential talent with skill sets and education over the past half century.

B) To the extent that we need to reduce the price of our larger, more standard, Brick And Mortar University types, the competition that would come from having actual price pressure will bring the others down, even as instruction becomes more geared towards actually providing an ROI for students.


Employers are using college degrees as screening mechanisms for jobs that don't require them, though, so, I don't know the exact extent to which this is a result of changes to the job market v changes in hiring procedures that result from our creating an artificial glut in college students.

As for the trades - a majority of people aren't going to graduate college. If anything, I think, our K-12 education system should be set up primarily with them in mind, instead of the better-off minority who will end up with Bachelors or Advanced degrees. Sending a kid straight out of High School into a plumbers' apprenticeship is better than letting him rack up 2 years of student debt before he drops out of college and then winds up working at Waffle House.


Those are hard, though, and so we don't want to do them #HumanitiesBaby


I think there are lots more options for those tracks that will become viable once we turn off the mass, indiscriminate, firing of cheap debt at 18 year olds.

As an example - someone above mentioned the G.I. Bill. Well, the Defense Department needs lots of people who are smart at cyber, and has already shown it's willing to radically bend their own rules to get them. A program where you get your college paid for in return for 2 years of labor for every year paid for would fit well with those needs, and give systems-minded graduates instant jobs (and clearances) upon graduation. Just one idea, but I expect we would see lots of items like that arise, as employers try to fill needs and would-be-employees need to be trained.

This right here ^^^ is what our UNIONS should be helping out with.
Unions used to offer a very healthy apprenticeship program in almost every trade. Now a lot of them throw up barriers in the form of outrageously high initiation fees.

My own former union, IATSE Locals 600 and 700, wanted three thousand bucks CASH back in 1988 when I joined 700 (then called Local 776) and I ponied up the money. I had to, in order to get one of those $2,495 a week jobs.

I have whined about college debt for a long time. I remember when Obama proudly stated that gov was going to take it all over and it would be much better. Then interest was mentioned. Seems that gov charges something like twice as much as a regular bank loan. I have a heart specialist who had a debt. She and her husband saved up to make their first payment, of 100,000.00 dollars! It didn't even cover the interest charges. Her husband was also a heart specialist and a Canadian. He got his degree and license up there, did his public service and got his debt erased. I understand there are some programs, like this, down here but not easily found and, apparently, not readily available. My doctor owed so much that she couldn't even pay the interest. She gave up. They both moved to Canada and she is a lot happier and screw the debt. Canada has programs to encourage those getting degrees in stuff that they need people for and one of those was heart surgeons.

I know several who have created a college debt, then quit, but the debt continues to exist. Since the Republican re-write of the bankruptcy law you cannot banko out of bank or government debt - EVER! It follows you for a lifetime. Always also found that to be of passing interest.

Some of those I know of that now have college debt were absolutely clueless about incurring debt. All they really knew is that somebody was offering them money for which there was little they had to do (other than pay it back which was not stressed all that much when borrowing). Basically 'they' made it sound like charity with no down side.

If I have duplicated anything - apologies..........

I believe the rewrite of the student debt cancellation laws were a bipartisan effort between liberals and conservatives spanning decades.
The current democratic party front runner was a champion of the draconian rewrites.

How Biden Helped Strip Bankruptcy Protection From Millions Just Before a Recession

Not that context matters anymore. Opinions are now as relevant as historical record.