If the state and federal government supported higher education at the same level as when the Boomers went it would not be an issue.
Well, if you want to know what I think...
we're going about it all wrong. I mean, if you're watching this system from Mars, you'd think "What in the fuck are they doing? An 18 y/o taking out $100K in loans???" It is ridiculous from any standpoint. My thought is that I'm stunned this system has survived for as long as it has given that education isn't an option in this day and age...its a necessity. The days of making your living tending a field or as a blacksmith are long gone. Even the trades have a heavy educational component these days.
What I think we should do is take a system like we have with Social Security and reverse the flow. In SS, you pay every week or so during your work life and when you retire, you get money paid back to you the rest of your life. Its become a cornerstone of retirement planning for generations.
We should pay citizens to go to trade school or college/universities up front and then, over their work life, deduct the up front monies they used from their paycheck. No qualifying. No credit check. No stipulation that you have to go full-time. No limit on where you spend it except you have to go to a public school if one is nearby and offers your course of study...if not, you go to a school of your choice. No age limits though on the "back end", the younger you are, the less you pay each paycheck. The older you are, the more you have to pay. It covers everything... tuition, fees, study materials, and a set-aside for tutoring (not housing or transportation). Payments go directly to the schools so the students don't get a debit card to use to buy Call of Duty 50 or take a trip to Cabo. It bypasses the predatory lending by banks who have made an art out of getting kids on the hook for these ridiculous loans. It is flexible and you can use it anyway you like regardless of were you are in your life journey. I would put a minimum age limit on the low end at 16 (with conditions) or 18 for everyone else. You pay back whatever you spend with a small amount of interest. Cap the repayment at $50 a paycheck.
Each citizen gets 60 hours of trade school/college paid for up front. (I keep listing "trade school" first because right wing posters on here don't seem to understand what I write when I list it second). You can use that however you want. The amount you get paid is the average of the ten closest Institutions of higher education to your home. So someone in Manhattan NY will have a higher number, probably, than someone in Manhattan, Kansas. Here are some examples:
A1. Again, I have to list trade schools first--otherwise some won't understand. Take a classic graduating senior... Someone who doesn't want to get a college degree can use the stipend to pay for direct training. They can take welding, dance, truck driving, nail technician, culinary trades, hospitality, AC tech, auto mechanics, or decide to take dodge ball and pickle ball classes. Its up to them. Just know that over your work life, regardless of what you take, you’re going to have money deducted from every paycheck...you may want to pump the brakes on the dodgeball.
A2. A kid just graduating HS. The first 2 years of college are paid for. Or, if they are smart, they pay for the first 2 years and may decide--if the numbers line up--to use the money to pay for the last 2 years of college if they are going for 4 year degree.
B. If you're into your career like I am and maybe you want to take courses to get ahead, you can do that too. Or if you just want to take a class in art history or botany...or languages. Yep. You can do that too. Now, someone like me will have to pay back more than a Spring chicken every paycheck because I'm older than dirt.
C. If you're hoping to change careers...you can use that money to do that too. This would need some tweaking to the system because it's likely that you'd be not getting a paycheck at the time you're getting the new training. You may be on unemployment when this takes place (I'm picturing layoffs)...would it get deducted??? Hard to say.
Anyway, that is the outline. Whatever the system is..it can't be worse than what we have now with kids who have never worked a serious job in their lives being on the hook for thousands of dollars in loans. It's nuts.
www.amortization.org
