re: The student loan industrial complex

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If private lenders gave out the loans, they'd look at whether they were likely to be paid back. They'd ask questions like: "What will you study? You really think majoring in dance will lead to a job that will pay you enough to allow you to pay us back?

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I don't remember this being the case before the federalization of student loans. Why should I think this would change if private lenders had more control?

This line of thinking would also impact undeclared students or ones who switch majors after their first semester or more. Would the private lender suddenly halt the loan if someone switched from a business major to an economics major? Or to an education major? This seems like it would force students to stick with majors they may not excel in or care about. Or limit their opportunity to switch majors to complete any degree. Yes, lenders can choose who they want to lend money to but successful ones will squeeze out competition and become too big to fail.

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Thanks Obama

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I remember Arnie Duncan who was the first Sec of Education under Obama saying that it was their goal for EVERY person to go to college. I thought “Why the hell would we want that?”

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If private lenders gave out the loans, they'd look at whether they were likely to be paid back. They'd ask questions like: "What will you study? You really think majoring in dance will lead to a job that will pay you enough to allow you to pay us back?

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LOL no.

The only question they would ask is the same question that private student loan lenders ask now, and that is... what's your credit look like?

The vast majority of students would need a co-sigher. That's fine if your parents have good credik. But for a lot of students, that is not the case.

TOPS is a good system. It should be in every state. The standards are low. If you want more than that, pay it yourself. But at least if you are of even basic intelligence, you get a degree for basically free.

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Tuition would plummet because the demand at current prices would evaporate.

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No. Stop saying this.

What will happen is a bunch of colleges would cease to exist. There would be a demand drop followed by an immediate or simultanous supply drop. The market would quickly find balance and prices would remain the same.

So you would end up with a system with much fewer students and options, the same prices, and the inabiity for the majority of high school grads to access that system.

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There would also be a large number of borderline college ready graduates going into the workforce or to trade/2 year schools to figure their shite out until they could afford a 4 year degree.

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I'm all for expanding community colleges. But, too many jobs "require" a 4 year degree as nothing more than a screening device.

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any time the govt tries to make something affordable it gets more expensive.

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Students loans don't make college "more affordable"

They simply spread the cost over a longer period.

It's no different than car sales. People have stopped paying attention to the actual cost, and only pay attention to the monthly payment amount.

Does the government now make car loans? No.

The problem is all the carmakers, and all the colleges, are going the same way. More, more, more excess that drives prices higher.

Carmakers can make a cheap no frills car and there can be a cheap no frills college. You know, like community college. But our society does not properly value community colleges, and that's a big part of the problem.

When everyone is telling you that you need to go to a 4 year college to be successful, of course that's where you are going to want to go. Damn the cost.

You should be able to go to college and take classes for only your major. My son going for engineering shouldn't have to take and pay for BS psych, sociology and a foreign language class he will never need. If the crap classes were cut out most kids could finish in 2-3 years max.

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I don't remember this being the case before the federalization of student loans. Why should I think this would change if private lenders had more control?

This line of thinking would also impact undeclared students or ones who switch majors after their first semester or more. Would the private lender suddenly halt the loan if someone switched from a business major to an economics major? Or to an education major? This seems like it would force students to stick with majors they may not excel in or care about. Or limit their opportunity to switch majors to complete any degree. Yes, lenders can choose who they want to lend money to but successful ones will squeeze out competition and become too big to fail.

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I don't think private lenders are doing this, but they ought to. No different than assessing the credit worthiness of a new car or home buyer or a credit card recipient. They should be taking into account performance in highschool, performance in college, and, yes, switching majors. If someone switches from STEM to philosophy after their freshman year, then, yeah, there needs to be a serious look at credit worthiness.

This is a major issue with student lending and the cost of education. Students are going to college for anything and everything under the premise that if you don't have a degree, you won't do well. Well, we have millions that do have degrees in jobs that don't pay anything close to being worth the cost that want to be bailed out. They aren't doing much better than if they hadn't gone at all.

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You should be able to go to college and take classes for only your major.

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Except you wouldn't be "educated," you'd just be trained.

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Back to my earlier point. College is about discoving yourself and becoming well rounded.

Not that I agree or disagree, but that's the issue.

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The things is, one can become well rounded and pursue a degree that is worth the cost.

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You should be able to go to college and take classes for only your major. My son going for engineering shouldn't have to take and pay for BS psych, sociology and a foreign language class he will never need. If the crap classes were cut out most kids could finish in 2-3 years max.

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I understand the sentiment about paying for side classes that don't relate to their major, but those represented 15 out of 133 credit hours for my engineering major at the time. That's barely 10%. 15 credit hours is one semester out of 8. Personally, taking college level sociology and history were worthwhile and a small break from the engineering grind. Not sure what else you would throw out, but reducing engineering college time to 2-3 years means testing out of pre-reqs (Calculus, physics, chemistry) and going to summer school. Don't say drop English Comp. Engineers need to know how to communicate in writing.

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You should be able to go to college and take classes for only your major.

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Do you want job training or an education?