It costs a lot to run a college, and it costs a lot to educate someone in certain fields. I hate the term “useless” degrees because it implies that debt is only a problem if it’s in a field you think has poor job prospects or is societally useless.
Guess what- doctors go bankrupt. Engineers go bankrupt. CS majors default on their loans. Nurses discover that they’ve borrowed more than they can handle, even though there’s supposed to be a nursing shortage and everyone can get exactly the job they want at the salary they think they deserve.
Labor markets don’t work that way, and debt does not distinguish between the assistant curator at a museum in Cincinnati OH who is paying off his loans dutifully- every single month, with both a BA in Art History and a Masters vs. the software engineer or computer scientist living in Palo Alto who has to decide between food and loan payments every month.
It’s crazy season right now- as parents and kids make all sorts of irrational decisions about which college to choose and how to finance it. A young neighbor of mine- really, a terrific young man-- academics not his thing but a really sweet guy- whose parents are ready to mortgage their home to the hilt because he got into an engineering program (third tier program, private, expensive) which is “his best shot at becoming an engineer”.
I’ve known the kid forever. He’d make a great speech therapist or guidance counselor with far less time and almost no debt at the local state college. (and then a Master’s, also at a public). But no- engineering because “it’s a golden ticket and who doesn’t borrow for an engineering degree?” For sure on the 5 or 6 year plan for the BS which nobody has bothered to calculate in terms of his costs.
The cases that make the newspapers always have some underlying issue besides the loans. Like the young person got a great job offer in Atlanta but wouldn’t leave Boston, or took the dough for the first year of grad school and bought a car…
Makes good copy, not good public policy.