firecat

Damage done by student loans

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/ripping-off-young-america-the-college-loan-scandal-20130815?print=true

Student debt is bigger than credit card debt, and most of it is owed to the government, which has unprecedented powers of collection. Because most students get loans, schools have little incentive to keep costs down, and keep raising tuition.

(emphasis mine)

Another debtor, a 38-year-old attorney who suffered a pulmonary embolism and went into default as a result, is now more than $100,000 in debt. Bedridden and fully disabled, he accepts he will likely be in debt until his death. He asked that his name be withheld because he doesn't want to incur the wrath of the government by disclosing the awful punch line to his story: After he qualified for federal disability payments in 2009, the Department of Education quickly began garnishing $170 a month from his disability check.
...
The massive earnings the government gets on student-loan programs amount to a crude backdoor tax increase disguised by cynical legislators (who hesitate to ask constituents with more powerful lobbies to help cut the deficit) as an investment in America's youth.

"It's basically a $185 billion tax hike on middle-income and low-income citizens and their families," says Warren Gunnels, senior policy adviser for Vermont's Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of the few legislators critical of the recent congressional student-loan compromise.
...
There's a particularly dark twist to the education story, which is tied to the collapse of the middle class and the overall shittening of our economic landscape: College degrees are actually considered to be more essential than ever. The New York Times did a story earlier this year declaring the college degree to be the "new high school diploma," describing it as essentially a minimum job requirement.

So what can be done about this? Are there any organizations pushing back on it?

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/809964.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

megpie71

I read this, and I'm caught between relief at the way that the Australian system is set up differently (over here, the government sets the amount of funding the universities are going to get, and collects through the tax system - once you're earning above a certain threshold, you pay an extra amount of income tax to cover the cost of your university education) and fear that we're not going to stay set up differently for much longer (we're facing a federal election, and our conservative parties are looking likely to get in at this stage). Unfortunately, the Australian conservative coalition (the Liberals and Nationals) tend to have a very bad case of "good little colonial lackey" syndrome, and so they'll latch onto a colonial overlord and imitate them slavishly. Which means we're likely to see more changes which bring our medical and education systems into line with the USA's. How nice.

From:

firecat

I'm sorry we're providing such a bad example. I hope you-all can manage to throw out the conservative lackeys and save what sounds like a pretty civilized education system.

From:

lilacsigil

In the case of the medical system we're actually doing okay - last time the US tried to dismantle our system was during the Howard government and they failed miserably. Eternal vigilance! /person who works in medical system

From:

flarenut

There are some organizations pushing back, but it's a slog because there's so much money involved. But it's actually a little worse than this: some of the money is owed to the government, but most of it is owed to the same big banks as usual. These are federally-guaranteed loans, so the government only steps in if you default on the usurious rates. Whee.

Also: some of the horror is tuition increases (also the result of reduced state education budgets) but a lot of the worst misery is caused by for-profit loan mills that don't actually bother educating students, getting them to graduate, or helping them get jobs. There most recent student-loan reform bill wanted to put special scrutiny on schools that graduate fewer than 40% of their students, but lobbying said nuh-uh.

From:

firecat

Yes, the for-profit loan mills were mentioned. Ugh.

From:

silveradept

The people behind things like MOOCs are trying something like that - they want to have affordable college courses and the like, but they're running into the problem of being unable to get accreditation or any sort of credentialing for those courses.

The best thing would be for diploma mills to be sent off and for our required schooling to actually be able to prepare us for the working world. But that won't be popular, because that would mean actually investing tax dollars in education, instead of profiting on student debt.

From:

firecat

I love MOOCs and I am taking all the MOOCs I can get my hands on because I want the idea to succeed. (And because even if they don't offer credentials, they do offer knowledge.)

From:

ysabetwordsmith

Every individual and every business can push back by hiring people, when you need them, based on skill rather than paper.

From:

cappyhead.livejournal.com

My partner dropped off a resume for a job at an indoor dog park. The job was basically picking up poop and refilling water bowls. He has over 10 years of experience working with animals as a vet tech. The business owner flipped through his resume and said "What, no college degree??"

Yeah.