Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Swimming with the Student Loan Sharks

Tags: activism, economics, education
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  • 17 comments
wolfbrotherjoe

wolfbrotherjoe

September 9 2010, 13:49:37 UTC 10 years ago Edited:  September 9 2010, 13:52:06 UTC

This is the obvious result of the idea that *everyone* should go to college, that the government has to help with it, without thinking about the money involved. It's a very logical progression of well-meaning ideas that suddenly run head-first into the brick wall of reality.

It's not some 'dark conspiracy' of corporate greed, like the page tries to make it out to be. It's just the standard run of unintended consequences resultant of an overactive, over-regulating government.
ysabetwordsmith

Hmm...

ysabetwordsmith

September 10 2010, 06:47:47 UTC 10 years ago

>>This is the obvious result of the idea that *everyone* should go to college,<<

I do not believe that everyone needs to go to college. Not all jobs require that kind of academic training. However, the business world disagrees with me, and has collectively made it necessary. Getting any kind of job now is difficult without a college degree; getting one that pays enough to live on, without a college degree is all but impossible.

I'm also disgusted with the hyperspecialization that makes most degrees of very limited use and requires much retraining to change jobs.

Of course, if the colleges continue to price themselves out of the market, the shadow economy will continue to grow. That could get ... interesting.

>> that the government has to help with it, without thinking about the money involved.<<

However much education is required in order to function as an adult, the government should provide, because otherwise people will not get it and duly educated citizens will not be available to those wishing to hire them. Inventing truly universal public education was one of America's most brilliant ideas. Everyone said it was a ridiculous idea, but it worked and the results were splendid. And then we let it fall apart. That makes me sick.

>>It's not some 'dark conspiracy' of corporate greed, like the page tries to make it out to be.<<

Based on my observations of Sallie Mae etc. destroying people's lives, I am inclined to judge them harshly. YMMV, according to your own experiences.
wolfbrotherjoe

Re: Hmm...

wolfbrotherjoe

September 10 2010, 14:00:06 UTC 10 years ago

"Getting any kind of job now is difficult without a college degree; getting one that pays enough to live on, without a college degree is all but impossible."

This isn't a cause, this is a result. This is the result of 'everyone should go to college', so that the market is so *glutted* with useless degrees that if you don't have one, it's like you're missing something standard. This is the result of the government trying to give everyone 'advanced education' in some well-meaning intent to ... well... do something unrealistic.

Universal education is magnificent... but that doesn't need to progress to the point of college. I agree that the government should help provide everyone the choice for the basic education you need to succeed as an adult ... but that doesn't include college.

However, the problem becomes that when the government *tried* to make that include college, it adversely affected the business world so that it *seemed* more like one needed a college education, making everything quite tangled up.

Based on my observations of Sallie Mae etc. destroying people's lives, I am inclined to judge them harshly. YMMV, according to your own experiences.

All right, that's fair enough... but seeing as Sallie Mae is an example of GOVERNMENT, not of business, why would you be blaming business? I mean, sure. As of 2004, it's a business in its own right, but for over 30 years prior to that, it was a 'government-sponsored' business, which was in the business of handing out *government* loans, ruled over by government oversight committees, and basically under government control.

The 2005 law making private student loans the same as government loans was in part a result of privatizing the main government loan granter, and leveling the playing field. I view this as a good thing, because with the damage now becoming more and more apparent, it's more likely the law will change for the better. Or at least, the law probably will change for the better, provided people sensibly blame the government regulations and charity that caused the problem, rather than senselessly blaming corporations.

You're absolutely right. Sallie Mae, the *government creation*, is the core example of what's ruining people's lives.

Which is why we shouldn't blame corporations for this.