<p>National Bureau of Economic Research findings in the wake of highly selective university “no-loans” policies suggest students do not follow the standard life-cycle model and are averse to borrowing against future earnings: </p>
<p>Attention grabbing title that one is not. More yawn inducing reading material: two other studies out on the state of education. The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education’s random survey of parents “Squeeze Play: How Parents and the Public Look at Higher Education Today” concludes that while “college is perceived as more necessary than ever before, it is also perceived as less available” because of rising costs and heavy loan burdens and that “most Americans reject many of academias conventional ideas about quality and the relationship of cost and quality.”</p>
<p>In our case, the issue seems to be stated a little backwards. It’s not that My S chose his future career based on the need to earn enought to repay student loans, it’s that he wouldn’t have considered going to a school where he had to get a loan in the first place if he didn’t think his chosen career would allow him to earn enough repay the loan.</p>
<p>It’s a pretty basic, simple economic decision after all. Under what conditions is it ratinal to borrow $120,000 to get a BA in English (picking on English only because of the “Avenue Q” song on the subject, of course.)?</p>
<p>Of course, many kids really don’t know what career they will end up with when they are in high school. Heck, I have a rising senior in college who doesn’t know what her future will bring.</p>