We could begin with shifting the mindset towards a default position of public college attendance,as we do for secondary school. This appears to be already happening in some places with parents concerned about ROI on the college choice and costs at or approaching $80k yearly ( which will likely be 90k within 5 years at those schools). Most people attend local public high schools; some will always choose private secondary schools, but it is a small percentage. Perhaps that should be a similar expectation at the college level.
No then the people who can afford it will go to private schools and those who can’t will be at public schools like in high school. This just puts lower class students at a disadvantage and widens the wealth gap.
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Something wrong with public schools???
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I do not think that going to public uni vs private uni necessarily puts anyone at a disadvantage and widens the wealth gap.
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If the $3500 federal student loan will pay the student portion of a private school education, why refuse to let them have it? A $3500 loan is a $3500 loan no matter where you spend it. If low income students are effectively barred from private colleges it would open up more spots for wealthy families. Some people might prefer that, but it doesn’t make it right.
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Was the cancellation of student debt a campaign promise? I’m sorry, I did not follow the election…
Absolutely not!!! But if people with money were attending schools separately from lower class students (which is what would happen) which schools are going to be seen as more prestigious? Which schools will employers prefer??
Hmm, lets see…UCLA, Cal, University of Texas Austin, etc.
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Universal Health Care is OT to this thread. Please focus.
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Actually, I do not “understand that the main reason that college costs have increased at a pace so far exceeding inflation is due to the fact that the government got more involved in the student loan process.” Opinion is just that, and yours is certainly not mine. I began working in financial aid in 1987, when the maximum annual loan was $2,625. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average cost of tuition in 1985, in constant 2017-18 dollars (the first year of the statistics) was $12,551 ($8,798 public; $21,042 private). In 2007-2008, the annual loan limit for freshman was increased to $3,500. The average cost of tuition that year was $22,696 ($15,739 public; $35,426 private)… clearly, tuition rose before loans were increased. In 2008-2009, the annual loan limit increased to $5,500, the current annual maximum. The average cost of tuition that year was $23,536 ($16,428 public; $36,102 private). In 2017-2018, the last year of statistics, the average cost of tuition was $27,357 ($20,050 public; $43,139 private). I am just not seeing the correlation between loan limits and rising tuition. The cart can be found here: Fast Facts: Tuition costs of colleges and universities (76).
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-updated.
Oops! Good catch, @PPofEngrDr. I updated it.
Yes a lot of the best colleges are public schools I know that. But I’m just saying that by making public schools the norm it feels like we’re saying low income students aren’t welcome at private schools
Low income students don’t face finance problem at private as just by nature privates are with big endowment and provides generous aid that public univ won’t even be able to match.
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I know that in hs it’s free vs paying so it’s not a great comparison but public hs is the norm unless you can pay and we all know which schools are viewed as “better” (even if they aren’t). I do not want this to carry into the college system
Not just my opinion…
How Government-Guaranteed Student Loans Killed the American Dream for Millions - Foundation for Economic Education (fee.org)
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Still not buying the “link.” I think the article advances an opinion, and I don’t believe it makes a case based in reality. Guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree.
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Financially, it makes no sense to take out a $165,000 loan for a master’s degree that leads to a job where the average annual salary is $38,000—yet thousands of young people are making this choice.
Key word in that sentence is CHOICE.
And schools do contribute financially…need based FA as well as scholarships/merit awards. If schools have to also be lenders that adds more administrative expense that add to the overall cost.
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I think it is pretty well accepted among economists that the easy availability of student loans triggered the enormous spending spree among colleges for both capital projects and amenities to entice those students to attend. Unfortunately, many of those students had not fully understood the consequences in accepting such loans and made what economists would call irrational decisions, which often involved attendance at a pricey private college when fine public alternatives exist. Perhaps they chose Lehigh with substantial loans rather than Penn State with no or minimal loans, for example. Or they went to NYU at enormous debt for a social work degree. All fine schools, but some are offering a luxury experience with little financial ROI compared to cheaper alternatives. Should taxpayers help fund the difference, and if so, why?
Students loans were never primarily about helping students. They help colleges, usually private, retain their customer base.
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Many students can only go to a private college because they are using Pell grants, SEOG, federal loans and other public money. My daughter went to a private school because the school gave her a merit away, an athletic award, and a couple other other grants. Then the state gave her Bright Futures and a resident grant, and the feds chipped in with a Pell grant, SEOG, and the loans. Much cheaper for her than a public school would have been.
If she couldn’t have used federal grants and loans at a private school, she would have been at a public school along with a lot of other students. The public schools don’t have the capacity to educate every hs grad. States expect some students to go to private, to OOS schools, even to for-profits. In fact, the Florida resident grant was 40% of instate tuition because the state wanted to keep good students in state but the state knew it just didn’t have the room at public schools. It also included 2 private schools for the Benacquisto funds. The state needs those private schools to educate its citizens.
Not all private schools have the big bucks to cover the federal loans for students. Not all private schools have sky high tuition. In Florida, Flagler college tuition was about $16k when my kids were applying. At the time, the resident grant was about $3000, BF was $2300 or $3000 (much more now), the school often gave $5000 so so in grants, so it wasn’t any more expensive than most public schools.
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