I will say it as many times as I need to, and shout it from the mountains, and across the lands that I never went to college to come out making it rich. I never thought that was necessary. I really and truly just wanted to help others--to teach them the power of education, because as cliche as it sounds, it's truth. So I went--I went for ten years. I worked hard--damn hard--and I came out of it with a Master's degree...and no job.
Sure, I have a job, and I love that job but educational debt is crippling. Any debt is crippling, but as some may know, and most that don't, educational debt is unlike any other debt. While Fedloan would like you to believe that they make it accessible and even nearly easy for you to work out repayment plans and even options for complete debt expungement, they fail to mention their list of borderline illegal tactics in retrieving their money back for your highly over priced and under valued college education.
Now, I'm not a financial officer, or an economist, but I do know a little bit about the free market, capitalist economy that our nation is based on. In any good free market, a business is ran by its competitor thus, keeping prices down. Sure, I guess you could say that there is educational competition here in the states, and even abroad. Choice is available between attending a for-profit private institution, or a non-profit public institution. Breaking it down even further, there are a multitude of options in the institution index for private and public colleges and universities. In the good ole' days an education wasn't the price of a mortgage...While still being majorly funded by our tax dollars, the cost of an education was so attainable that parents were able to sacrifice enough to pay the bill. Yes, people still got student loans, and yes there was still student debt, but the cost was manageable.
Our own government has increasingly removed its funding hand from educational costs, and has set itself up as a financial lender for continued learning. The average cost of a four-year degree in an in-state institution is an average of around $40k, while the for-profit, private average is around $80k--reflecting a 439% increase since 1982 and only a 149% increase in income . For the free market system to truly work there has to be more than one competitor so as to keep the cost of the product down. When it comes to the educational standards that are offered--there is one choice--when it comes to the cost, and how you are going to pay for those costs--there is one choice. The government owns the financial services that provide the so-called low interest loans that so graciously allow students to attend college, and when those funds aren't enough, don't worry--you can head straight over to corporate scum lenders like Sallie Mae, who are essentially puppeteered by none other, than our own American government.
With the government running a monopoly all over educational funding, there has been no way to control costs and thus our government has run amuck hiking tuition costs despite the lack of income and benefit increases. In fact, the consensus seems to be that these hefty tuition investments, and remember, the price of the product has gone up, and when prices go up, quality goes up (right?) more times than not, receive no real staggering return. In fact, the more money you make, the more money the Fedloan sharks will take, even pressing towards the extremes of garnishing your wages and keeping your tax refunds--with no other loan is this legal.
All investments are risky, and all investments require you to have something, to get something. But there is always an out--our very own government is designed to provide reprieve from extreme financial burden so as to avoid crippling European-esque debt collection tactics--tactics that would take physical prisoners and prevent individuals from persuing mobility. I can go out today and upon proving a successful business plan, I can receive a government loan to start a business. Any loan is a risk--there are two ways the investment can go--either the business will be successful, and my investment will grow, or the business will fail, and my investment will be lost. By our own, American written laws, individuals are allowed to file for bankruptcy in order to alleviate burdensome debt. Yes, there are consequences to filing bankruptcy, but after a period of time the results of bankruptcy are vanquished and essentially, that bad investment is wiped clean.
Unlike any other debt, student loans are barred from being filed for bankruptcy on. If your $60k investment in learning and career advancement fails to return, which many do, the ability to file for bankruptcy is unavailable. In fact, as previously mentioned, the government lenders can go as far as garnishing wages and government refunds. This sounds like a horror story from an archaic seventeenth century monarchal, feudal society. This is not the America our fore-fathers envisioned when they set in motion the now mythic American Dream. In fact, Thomas Jefferson was constantly reminding the newly forming democracy in America that it needed to ensure the education of everyone. Most famously he has noted that
"No other sure foundation can be devised, for the preservation of freedom and happiness...Preach, my dear Sir, a crusade against ignorance; establish and improve the law for educating the common people. Let our countrymen know that the people alone can protect us against these evils [tyranny, oppression, etc.] and that the tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance" (Thomas Jefferson).
See, Thomas Jefferson knew what we have all been taught by those that have come before us--education is freedom--education is power--and education is democracy. Jefferson didn't just believe in the education of the elite, he believed in the education of the common man--the common man is the person who works in Walmart, it's the person you get your coffee from at Starbucks, it's the person who grows your vegetables, and it's the person who protects your families. Now the very thing [education] that we have been made to believe keeps us from poverty, has been the very beast to place us in stagnant and even crippling financial circumstances.
Problems this big don't have easy solutions, but I know that if you hold any kind of degree, you also hold some kind of student debt--and as long as we keep letting them, the government will continue to run its monopoly over education and it's funding, because don't forget--the government is getting a return on its investment in you--look around you and decide if you like where your money is going and start standing up to the continual increase in educational costs, the lack of movement in wages, and the negative ROI in your degree.
