College Students Use Food Banks

A few college students have always used these resources, yes -- but the article cited a very large percentage increase. Food banks nationwide are noticing not only skyrocketing demand for their services, but new groups of people who didn't often use them before. It's different groups in different areas, too; this isn't the first one I've heard.

That's another whole problem. It used to be that a college education was reasonably priced, outside the most elite schools. Most college students were able to afford it; they might be on a shoestring budget, but not a monofilament budget. It was not oppresively hard to work your way through college, merely a little challenging, and plenty of people did that.

Now even the cheapest colleges are not very affordable. Many students rack up large amounts of debt. Then when they graduate, they may not be able to get a job commensurate with their education -- job quality is plummeting, so more and more graduates are stuck in menial or service jobs instead of skilled jobs. That makes it difficult or impossible for them to repay the loans. The result is that the sector of population that should be in its peak productivity, young adults, is instead saddled with crushing debt. This degrades family life, personal health, and the economy.

Since college education is now required for almost all skilled jobs, the way a high school diploma used to be the minimum, the system should be changed to provide higher education as part of the free public education. Community and state colleges should be free for residents, and you should only have to pay for college if you want to go somewhere distant or specialized. And there should be college education available without fear of being booted out just because a student is a slow learner; you don't get kicked out of grade school or high school for failing classes, although you'll probably lose privileges and may get held back a year.