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In Defense of the Responsible
Over on Twitter today, my friend Phil Klein of the Washington Examiner is getting piled on for this piece:
New post: "Elizabeth Warren's plan to cancel student loan debt would be a slap in the face to all those who struggled to pay off their loans" https://t.co/4g6No2MRVm
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) April 22, 2019
College is really expensive. Too expensive. Especially when you consider the product you’re getting for the cost. Studies show students are spending less time than you can possibly imagine studying and learning, despite the fact that college is treated as a full-time job. There’s a reason why I was able to pull off working 40-50 hours per week to pay for (some) of college while I was also in school full-time.
That being said…
There seems to exist a misunderstanding about student loans vs. other kinds of loans. For some reason, they are thought of in very different ways. Car loans, credit card loans, home mortgage loans… There is an expectation that they need to be paid back by those who put their names on the dotted line. But for student loans, there are continual demands for these loans to be magically done away with, despite a promise made by the student that the loans would be repaid, often with interest.
But Republicans and conservatives need to do better on the cost of college and student loans than “you borrowed it, you pay it back.”
Over at National Review, Kevin Williamson has an interesting idea:
Here is a three-part plan for something practical the federal government could do to relieve college-loan debt. Step 1: The federal government should stop making college loans itself and cease guaranteeing any such loans. Step 2: It should prohibit educational lending by federally regulated financial institutions or, if that seems too heavy-handed, require the application of ordinary credit standards in any private educational lending, treating the student himself as the main credit risk in all cases, including those of secured or unsecured loans taken out by parents or other third parties for that student’s educational expenses. And 3: It should make student-loan debt dischargeable in ordinary bankruptcy procedures.
Why is college tuition so expensive? Because it can be. College has turned into a four-year party with state-of-the-art dorms, gyms, and facilities. Their administrative staffs have ballooned as well. And there have been no limits placed on the largess. They raise tuition to pay for the excess, and parents and the government (in the form of grants and loans) keep on shelling out the cash.
While college has become a prerequisite for a middle-class life, it has also become thought of as an absolute right. While college should be affordable, there are many ways to obtain a four-year degree, and they don’t necessarily involve spending four years away from home at a degree-granting resort. Community college and state schools provide a lower-cost option, especially for students looking to live at home and save money their first year or two of school. There’s also the option of only going to a school that offers a reasonable financial aid offer, and that requires hard work in high school to pull off. (This was a great story today in the LA Times about one such student).
Perhaps because I spent my first year of college at a low-cost and honestly bad school, perhaps because I chose to go to a state school that wasn’t anywhere near my dream school list, perhaps because I worked two jobs at 20 hours a week at each job while in school full-time, perhaps because I never missed a student loan payment in ten years after graduation, perhaps because I had friends with more money and similar test scores and grades get full-rides at better schools because of the color of their skin while I, an actual orphan, did not…. I’d pretty much be ready to riot in the streets if those who took out loans they couldn’t pay for because they thought they deserved to go wherever they wanted and study whatever they wanted to get bailed out.
I made responsible decisions, and if their loans are discharged, I will be penalized for them. I went to less rigorous, less prestigious schools and spent my time working as a waitress and cashier instead of networking or interning because I wanted to minimize my debt as much as possible. My opposition to the idea of discharging student debt (first floated by Elizabeth Warren) isn’t necessarily about fundamental anger about the unfairness with regards to money, but also the different decisions those of us who cared about walking away as debt-free as possible made.
Published in Education
Well, there’s no point in garnishing their Social Security payments. :D
Lesbian chambermaid, hater.
My concern is not incentivizing such behavior.
A story that sticks with me is a man who went to a very expensive college and took out large loans with the objective of becoming a social worker. And then he was complaining about the difficulty of paying down the loans. Well, he knew (or should have known) that social work doesn’t pay large salaries. So what business did he have incurring $175,000 in debt to go into a career with salaries that are unlikely to exceed $50,000? I’m sure there are colleges through which he could pursue his calling to social work that provide a higher probability of financial viability.
Without actively discouraging those like @amyschley and @ryanm (Hammer, The) who incur debt with a reasonable expectation of being able to pay off the debt.
Tim Pool has a reasonable idea that if there is a hardship deferral that interest does not accrue. Right now you can defer payments but interest accrues.
This seems a reasonable compromise.
Why did the ROI on higher education go down so much? That’s what happened, and that’s what you need to solve for.
Does it have any merit outside of the actual yield on what you pay for it?
Because expectation is virtually always for the high-end of earners in a particular job. So, in law for example, you pay the same amount to become a corporate lawyer or PI lawyer as to become a public defender. College in general is like this, same cost of tuition if you want to become a mechanical engineer as if you want to become a kindergarten teacher. Or, even, with degrees that have no use at all. If you want a history or literature degree (and what will you do with that?) you pay the same amount. I don’t know if there is really any way to correct for this – except, perhaps, to address the fact that higher education seems to be something of a racket. Get government out of it 100%, end any sort of federal or state funding, seriously revamp sports programs, etc… etc… and the market will sort itself out. Maybe you could pay much less for some lesser degree under a system like that. Also, if college is an experience rather than an education (which, quite frankly, it is for many, many people), then that’s what you’re paying for. That’s not an investment at all, and there maybe shouldn’t be loans for that. Perhaps loans should go 100% toward the actual costs of the education, and students can (rather than paying a set tuition) pick and choose what they’re getting and how much they’re going to pay for it.
@Hammer, The for Dictator Of Human Capital Development. 1,000,000 “likes’
#YANGGANG Get yo bag
Another anecdotal incident that influences my opinion is an acquaintance who told us he was using some of his college loan money for a spring break trip to Mexico.
Sure. By giving colleges more “free” money, which is what caused the inflation in the first place.
Indeed. So the loan giver does need to have skin in the game.
At risk of offending the teachers here, one used to be able to get a certificate in two years. And some states waive degrees entirely when they are suffering from a teacher shortage; so maybe divorce state teachers from the college degree system entirely.
And while they’re at it, quit letting people sue teachers/schools for nonsense.
Quick solution: eliminate teachers’ unions.
Bingo. The point of education is to steal from the students and taxpayers.