The government loan program was designed to make it easier to get a college educations but like a lot of things it seems to have done the opposite to some extent.
In the short term you can put yourself in hock for a few year's worth of wages and get a degree but the nagging question is that the value of the degree is questionable.
What has happened is that as the loan program grew the colleges realized that they could charge more for an education because people would take out loans to pay for the education.
It wasn't all that long ago that a young person with ambition could work their way through college and they could graduate from college debt free.
Enter the college loan program which made it a bit easier to get a degree. You simply floated a loan.
The colleges realized that this would enable them to raise tuition and did so cause in the inevitable spiral effect. No longer could an ambitious youngster get a degree the old fashioned way. Either one had to have wealthy parents or they had to put themselves into hock.
The amount of the average college loan seems to go up almost yearly as the colleges raise tuitions. Of course, the professors and college administrators see the colleges making more money and demand their piece of the pie and their wages go up.
It used to be that college professor types had an agreement with the colleges that permitted them to live lives of academics in academia for a few bucks and limited responsibilities. They knew the schools would take care of them.
As the schools started charging more the academics wanted more money and this, too added to the spiral effect.
It strikes me that if the college loan program hadn't been enacted that the collleges most likely would not be charging anywhere near what they are charging now and a college education would still be attainable for the average working kid without putting themselves into hock for a decade or two afterwards.
Sounds to me like another case of the government sticking their nose into things to make life easier for people and getting slammed with the unintended consequence of making life in the long haul even harder.
On the other hand, maybe they knew this and decided that it would be a good thing to shackle the young with a large debt to have to start paying off at an early age.
Then again maybe it makes sense to go to college overseas if the price is right. I would be interested to see how many people are doing just this or have contemplated it.
I'd also bet that if the entire college loan program went away the price of a college education would come back to earth in pretty short order. Few people can afford a college eduaction without a loan and without students the colleges would either be forced to lower tuition or close.
After all, colleges are also only businesses and will only charge what the market will bear.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html
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