Can Washington fix this? Is this the same Washington that gave us the housing crash, foreign wars, enless laws and can't compromise on anyhting? Why do 'we' keep going to Washington to solve our problems? Are we nitwits rthat can't take care of ourselves? Then I don't think so. 'Higher Education" has become 'big business' with every special interest and social engineering group 'in the classroom'. the students are not considered at all.
Only if they STOP providing government funded student loans.
People should have to borrow for college from normal credit funding sources......and NOT the government. The government loan program, has actually CAUSED the rise of college costs.
I interview a lot of College graduates for jobs. They aren't prepared. They tell me horror stories of how they had to take Diversity classes and Classical Music to get a degree in Information Technology. One I talked to was truly pondering how much hotter it must be at the top of the Empire State Building because it was so much closer to the sun. You just can't make that up. "Big Education" is just a con at this point. I could take a high school grad (who can barely read), and teach him what he needs to know.
can the government do anything probably not. But the universities sure can. Look at the ratio of administrative/support staff to faculty. It is enormous why do they need all those people who don't teach? It did not use to be like this. Universities need to look to themselves and say what do I have now I didn't 40 years ago and is it really necessary. Students do not need luxury they need an education.
This article dealt with two themes: 1) How to help us graduate students with skills sets we need for our workforce in the least amount of time & 2) Why is the tuition is so high - 900% since 1988.
The following comment is on item #2.
We have young adults who went to college by taking a personal loan that will take on average 20 years to pay off. We need to take some immediate action now on the student loan policies. Obama did not correct the problem with his new policies on student loans this last year. He forgot to cap the loans - there are no limits. Good try. No cigar this time. Why are the current student loan financial laws causing high tuition rates?
The housing and the school loans have the same problem - they don't have limits anymore. In the 60s, to get a house loan the rules were simple - 1 week of salary for one person only, 10% down. If we had kept to this former law, we wouldn't have had the housing bust created by former President Clinton ease of housing loans policy, which has created most of the unemployment by stopping small businesses getting loans, because they can't use their house equity for collateral to obtain loans. Small business loans allow you to open a business, buy inventory, and grow. Small businesses create 70 to 80% of the jobs. Without loans, our small businesses are paralyzed.
Now let's look the student loan issue. We have two main problems (1) Administrator salaries are too high - no one should make more salary than the State Governor and (2) The average tuition rate has risen 900% since 1978. That figure should set off some bells and whistles. Something is very wrong. What have we done? Essentially, the federal government has changed the student loan criteria laws to cause this fiasco. It used to be that student loans were either underwritten by the U.S. federal government or financially back-up by their parents. No loan was given to student without collateral. Many of my friends and myself basically worked their way through college. This is the way it was. This is the way it should be now.
What is really disturbing is that currently, we, as a nation, are destroying the base of the next future small businesses owners. Instead of them saving up for a house and using the equity to start a new business, the current young generation is now paying off excessive loans. This generation will not be the next homeowners. They will be renting instead. The colleges are just going to keep increasing their tuition, and the banks knowing that the students can't file bankruptcy, loan it. This practice needs to outlawed. There is no difference between the housing loans being made to people who can't pay the mortgages, then making loans to students who have no collateral, and are forced over the next 20 years to pay off these loans. This policy will have a big impact on our economy, causing low housing prices, and a continued lack of jobs. It might be the final nail in the coffin of finally destroying the middle class in the long run.
Ok let me clarify these Government funded loans. They are very miniscule per student. Roughly $3,000 per student per year. And what is the interest rate?? Pretty close to the same as your individual/local bank......
The government loans were meant to supplement individual student loans. These are not the problem for this generation.
It's the enormous amount all colleges are charging.
For a four year degree my son ONLY has $15,000 in government loans, he has close to $100,000 in educational loans. It's not the government loans that need reform, it's the colleges paying their admininistration hefty salaries. Check out what the president's of colleges (not just the big name colleges, community college and state colleges also) are making. Also, he cannot file bankruptcy on these loans, but we all can file bankruptcy on our homes, credit cards, and all other loans. We are putting these kids so far into debt they will never be able to buy a house, a new car or afford to have children. And when they default and this bubble hits, we will have to protest, because I for one will not tolerate the banks getting a bailout this time.
No, it won't. If anything, those loans are keeping the tuition down from where they really should be.
The biggest problem with 'higher education' is that people are required to take classes that are not part of their 'career path'. Such as people who want a psychology degree being required to take math classes, history classes, etc.
Thing totally unrelated to their degree when it comes down to brass tacks. It's time to get rid of that and have college do a 'quick and dirty' degree that only encompasses classes that relate to your future career.
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People should have to borrow for college from normal credit funding sources......and NOT the government. The government loan program, has actually CAUSED the rise of college costs.
http://www.onlinecheck.com/small_business_loans.html
The following comment is on item #2.
We have young adults who went to college by taking a personal loan that will take on average 20 years to pay off. We need to take some immediate action now on the student loan policies. Obama did not correct the problem with his new policies on student loans this last year. He forgot to cap the loans - there are no limits. Good try. No cigar this time. Why are the current student loan financial laws causing high tuition rates?
The housing and the school loans have the same problem - they don't have limits anymore. In the 60s, to get a house loan the rules were simple - 1 week of salary for one person only, 10% down. If we had kept to this former law, we wouldn't have had the housing bust created by former President Clinton ease of housing loans policy, which has created most of the unemployment by stopping small businesses getting loans, because they can't use their house equity for collateral to obtain loans. Small business loans allow you to open a business, buy inventory, and grow. Small businesses create 70 to 80% of the jobs. Without loans, our small businesses are paralyzed.
Now let's look the student loan issue. We have two main problems (1) Administrator salaries are too high - no one should make more salary than the State Governor and (2) The average tuition rate has risen 900% since 1978. That figure should set off some bells and whistles. Something is very wrong. What have we done? Essentially, the federal government has changed the student loan criteria laws to cause this fiasco. It used to be that student loans were either underwritten by the U.S. federal government or financially back-up by their parents. No loan was given to student without collateral. Many of my friends and myself basically worked their way through college. This is the way it was. This is the way it should be now.
What is really disturbing is that currently, we, as a nation, are destroying the base of the next future small businesses owners. Instead of them saving up for a house and using the equity to start a new business, the current young generation is now paying off excessive loans. This generation will not be the next homeowners. They will be renting instead. The colleges are just going to keep increasing their tuition, and the banks knowing that the students can't file bankruptcy, loan it. This practice needs to outlawed. There is no difference between the housing loans being made to people who can't pay the mortgages, then making loans to students who have no collateral, and are forced over the next 20 years to pay off these loans. This policy will have a big impact on our economy, causing low housing prices, and a continued lack of jobs. It might be the final nail in the coffin of finally destroying the middle class in the long run.
so, what do we as concerned citizens do???
The government loans were meant to supplement individual student loans. These are not the problem for this generation.
It's the enormous amount all colleges are charging.
STOP government student loans. That simply forces the cost of education up, and uses tax dollars improperly.
If students need to borrow money for college, they need to go to regular financial sources for the loans, and NOT the government.
Halt government backed loans for students.
That will bring tuition down. Guaranteed.
The biggest problem with 'higher education' is that people are required to take classes that are not part of their 'career path'. Such as people who want a psychology degree being required to take math classes, history classes, etc.
Thing totally unrelated to their degree when it comes down to brass tacks. It's time to get rid of that and have college do a 'quick and dirty' degree that only encompasses classes that relate to your future career.