Democrat presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are both touting free college, telling us that a college education is a right. And as you can imagine, they have a scheme for you and I to pay for it.
(Cartoon courtesy of zerohedge.com)
Meanwhile, yesterday’s Wall Street Journal sheds light on problems facing college students. An article inside, below the fold, describes a surge in applications to cancel student loans. Coincidentally, an op-ed in the same edition, “College Isn’t Always the Answer,” states that it makes little sense to send students to college when nearly half of new graduates are working in jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree.
The student loan piece reveals that the Obama administration is reviewing some 20,000 applications from students seeking the cancellation of their loans on the grounds they were deceived by colleges citing false statistics on the employment status and earnings of graduates.
You may not be aware that President Obama in 2010 took over the student loan program, long managed by the nation’s banks, and tucked it into the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) to assure passage. ACA passed without a single Republican vote. Isn’t that ironic? A failed program within a failed program.
Like ObamaCare itself, the student loan program has failed miserably and is a fiscal mess. Two years after the takeover, 35 percent of student loan borrowers were 90 days late in their payments. Eventually, we taxpayers will pick up the tab as President Obama has created a law that allows students to shirk their debts.
In case you missed it, the president’s 2016 budget proposal revealed a $21.8 billion shortfall in the student loan program last year, believed to be the largest ever recorded for any government credit program. And we’re still told how smart he is.
Those who opposed the fed takeover of student loans predicted it would go the way of all big government grand plans. “The trouble with Socialism (aka liberalism, progressivism) you eventually run out of other people’s money,” warned Margaret Thatcher.
Jeffrey J. Selingo
In the insightful op-ed written by Jeffrey J. Selingo, an Arizona State University professor, he suggests that alternate routes to the education and training required for high-quality jobs should be sought “rather than trying to shuffle young people off to college three months after they graduate from high school.” He cites a number of programs currently available.
“It might be helpful if more high school graduates took a ‘gap year’ before heading for college … time to explore careers and give them a sense of focus and purpose,” suggests Selingo.
“More colleges should embrace the idea of cooperative education” – the combination of education with relevant work experience – says Selingo.
I recall co-op programs from my high school days. Perhaps this is an old idea that needs to be resurrected.
(Cover art courtesy of marginalizingmorons.blogspot.com)
While admitting there is no silver bullet for reducing unemployment and reversing wage stagnation, Selingo believes that “Sending more high school graduates to get traditional bachelor’s degrees, free or not, isn’t the answer.”
When they eventually do get into college, it would be helpful if Friedrich Von Hayek’s book, Road to Serfdom, – a warning of how government control of economic decision-making leads to tyranny – was required reading.
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