<p>^^I agree 100% that it should not be a waste of stamps! What the article that I just read regarding doing away the subsidized Stafford Loan said was that a middle class kid will not lose out on his/her education if it is taken away and how that is not the case for a low income student who qualifies for a Pell grant. The middle class loses again. None of this matters to wealthy, so we will just take from the middle class student while state schools are no longer kept affordable middle class families in many states anymore anyway, and somehow they will just make it work!! When does the last straw break that camel’s back? </p>
<p>Our instate flagship cost of attendance is now over 29,000 per year per child!</p>
<p>I think I could still manage school if they only cut interest, but it will be a massive inconvenience for many students. For some students that may mean major cuts in their budgets. I don’t think politicians realize that a lot of students live in situated poverty.</p>
<p>yiehtk, I assume you mean that you could make it if they did away with subsidized Staffords? The interest rate is actually scheduled to go up next year from 3.4% this year to 6.8% next year.</p>
<p>Northeast, I think that “straw” is already breaking. I am saddened by how many kids are not going to school, at least right now, or have dropped out due to finances. They just can’t afford it, they do not receive non-loan aid, and they are too petrified to take on loans now. Even my own son considered not going (he is going to, because he will not have to take on loans this year, but next year is another story). However, my older son has had to take the full amount for 3 years running and it scares us to death. That is why it angers me to see someone who truly doesn’t need aid and it won’t affect their financial situation, wrangling the family set-up to get it anyway.</p>
<p>friedpasta, I am sorry that your children need to feel that way. </p>
<p>My son is beginning to question whether the debt is really worth it as well. I don’t think he is serious, but he has thought through the pros and cons out loud with me. He is questioning the cost of a college degree and what it is or might be worth. He told me that he spoke with somone he works with who did not go to college. This person was bragging that with his two PT jobs and no loans he is “a head of” the new college graduate without a job who is currently saddled with a bunch of loans.</p>
<p>According to Kantrowitz, eliminating the subsidized interest benefits would increase the amount of debt at graduation by about 8%, but would NOT have much impact on “increasing the number of students who enroll in college or who graduate from college”. Apparently this is the prevailing view, backed up by data, I would hope. I’ve never seen any data that backs this up, but my gut tells me that this is correct. I think students who need the loans to attend college don’t worry too much about the actual amount they’ll have to pay back upon graduation. They focus more on getting the loan money now.</p>
<p>I should add that only recently have more students and parents begun to worry about the debt burden upon graduation.</p>
<p>Its going to be difficult for this country to keep spending $2.00 for every $1.00 it takes in. You don’t need AP calculus to figure out that this practice will lead to a different kind of “Greek” system in the very near future.</p>
<p>^^Agreed. You also don’t need a degree in math either to understand that instate tuition soaring the way it has can’t be paid for by middle America much longer. Our instate cost of attendance at our flagship is now over 29,000 per year per child.</p>
<p>Northeast, your comment (sorry, had to cut and paste it) “He is questioning the cost of a college degree and what it is or might be worth. He told me that he spoke with someone he works with who did not go to college. This person was bragging that with his two PT jobs and no loans he is “a head of” the new college graduate without a job who is currently saddled with a bunch of loans.” -</p>
<p>Yes, exactly what I am hearing in my job and with my own kids, and what many are choosing. My younger son has a summer job in a local food plant, and is making almost as much as I am - he with a hs diploma, and I with a degree +. The recent hs grads have been schooled to avoid borrowing at all costs - and so they aren’t going at all. And if their best skills and aptitude aren’t in math or science, they also don’t see the point.</p>
<p>Sounds like there is a higher education bubble that could pop. The problem is the abruptness of the change. There’s no chance for the market (system) to react in a rational way. The uncertainty is unsettling, but it extends to many areas of the economy, not just higher education. Sometimes the government’s best intentions become cruel promises that are not kept. I have great sympathy for those hit hard by the fairness gaps in the present system and great admiration for those that are able to overcome them.</p>
<p>Think about it this way: we pay for these sorts of programs through taxes(or through debt we will have to pay back later). Cutting spending by eliminating subsidized loans(or any other special interest program) will hurt a certain group of people. However, it will save taxpayers as a whole more money than the benefits it gave, due to lack of administration fees.</p>
<p>Special interest programs are easily created, since support from beneficiaries far outweighs the indifference of other taxpayers. Most taxpayers would probably not care much if their taxes or their debt rose by a few dollars for a “good cause”. The beneficiaries, however, would see huge benefits, like hundreds or thousands of dollars; their adamant political support and power far outweigh those of any deficit-cutting opponents.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to say all special interest programs are bad; many, such as the environmental, disability, or inequality special interests are important. Most Americans are truly willing to contribute a few dollars to save the environment or help the disabled or poor. However, the necessity of some special interests, such as the Pell Grants and subsidized loans, are questionable. Shouldn’t parents have the responsibility to save money for college? How great is society’s return on investment for subsidized college loans compared to the return on investment on infrastructure, or research? Is college even for everyone? Just some questions to think about.</p>
<p>You do know that one of the most important reasons for America’s rise to economic dominance and technological leadership is our highly-educated workforce, right?</p>
<p>If you want to create a permanent underclass in this nation, just put college further out of reach of the average American. Then sit back and watch the total lack of social mobility, growing unrest and societal instability.</p>
<p>You get the same thing if the economy can’t absorb the college graduates that are produced. We have always taken it for granted that college graduates will get good jobs because they are needed. What happens if that is no longer true? Look at Egypt.
<p>If you want to create a permanent underclass in this country keep piling on the backs of the hardworking truly middleclass taxpayers(those who make a little too much for any need based aid but cannot afford college for their own children)</p>
<p>Nobody said a college degree is a golden ticket. But it’s pretty much a prerequisite for a decent-paying career today.</p>
<p>The days of being able to make a career out of low-skill factory work are gone, at least in the United States. Those jobs quite simply don’t exist anymore.</p>
<p>Fact: The unemployment rate for college graduates is 4.4 percent, 6 points lower than it is for those without a college degree and 10 points lower than those without a high school diploma.</p>
<p>Watch this get worse when the government changes the age one should be able to get SS and medicare (assuming it remains as is for a decade other than the age one receives benefits). If you have millions of folks who are not retiring because they must work past age 65 but otherwise would have retired, how do you think the job market will look for the 21-25 year old? I think that the job market will look far worse for the new college graduate than it is now!</p>
<p>schools need to lower their prices. the reason schools can raise it every year is because they know they can and students will just get more loans. a lot of public colleges are raising their tuition and fees but they are building new infrastructures and other unnecessary things. i mean if you have the funds go ahead but a lot dont. GA state just built a new fancy student housing that cost more than $1 million which they got from the fed. a lot of privates are spending $ to build and spread green instead of keeping cost down. its so frustrating when you see coa almost 56k and growing and yet the college is building another “green” park next year -_-</p>
<p>Yes, many indications of a “higher education bubble”. Some believe it has been fueled by the government’s largess in providing financial aid for increasingly more students to attend college, even if they are unprepared for college-level work. Depending on the sources cited, about 25-35% of college students take remedial courses. I don’t think it makes sense for taxpayers to be paying for this, at least not in most cases.</p>