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Actually, the biggest problem with loan defaults came from highly paid professionals. Lawyers topped the list. I haven’t followed it lately, but because the fed govt guaranteed the loans, the banks just accepted the default & had the govt pay up. THis went on for decades, and it is not rational to think that this didn’t contribute to tuition increases. The $$ continued to flow to the colleges, so they played the game. There were no penalties for the defaulters, so as that seems to have changed, you more than likely WILL see the builk of the defaulters coming from underemployed graduates or those who failed to graduate at all.</p>
<p>I think the author is focused more on the $50grand privates, including many lower tier schools with enormous COA approaching that figure.
The age old question…why do toll collectors on the NJ Turnpike earn more than firemen? Unionized typists in a government office more than dental hygienists? I stopped trying to get my mind around salaries & what I perceived as a job’s true worth a long time ago. Too many invisible hands mucking it up.</p>