<p>“I also wish people would stop saying how great it is in other countries. If you actually meet people from those countries, you will see that it is very difficult to break out of the class you were born into (or to get that “low cost” education). It is in this country that you have the best chance of improving yourself. If it is so great elsewhere - go there. Oh, I forgot, you can’t just show up at any of these countries and get all these benefits.”</p>
<p>The problem Anothermom is that the current US educational funding system is driving conditions to a very rigid class paradigm, one in which the less affluent simply will not be able to partake of higher education and all the opportunities that implies. A point is not too distant in coming wherein if the less affluent do enter American higher education they could be committing economic suicide. </p>
<p>And the cause is largely the for profit aspects of the student loan situation, the ridiculous fees enhancing those profits and the denial of basic consumer protections vis a vie this industry. An affluent family can deal with these rising costs, albeit with some trouble. (although given the AMA’s recent attempt to beg the Bush DOE to restore deferments and forgiveness doesn’t bode well for the presumably affluent) </p>
<p>But the less well off, essentially have a very small margin of resources to compensate for these costs, and are easier to drive into economic despair when they fall behind. And some schools which operate in these areas, prey upon these populations using these loans. As a result the default rate for students from these type of votechs and online schools is about 20%. And when the enhanced fees often of 30%+ are applied for ‘remediation’ these students will never get out of debt. And they simply do not have the type of jobs wherein a garnishment will allow them enough to live on, nor will their employers keep them. And their economic status precludes hiring legal aid to confirm the few consumer rights that have been left within this situation. </p>
<p>So it is rapidly reaching a point where access to higher education in this country for the less affluent will be greatly restricted or become a fools game. For example, I currently work at a institution which serves a large proportion of less privileged students. Many of whom know they cannot pursue their education beyond a certain point. And many fear the costs of their education as much as they aspire to better themselves. </p>
<p>In the US it was the period from the establishment of the GI Bill until the incursion of the subsidized/privatized student loans when the US could genuinely claim that its higher education was indeed egalitarian. But given recent developments, claiming such is a sham, although academia has no other choice but to promote a condition which no longer exists. </p>
<p>“It’s the kids from lower class, never-been-to-college families who have the most trouble. Some of them just aren’t getting the support from their families, who regard anything above a HS education as getting above themselves. They come from generations of non-aspirational families…where they just don’t see the value of saving for the future, when you can spend on cars, clothes, hair, nails, and bling today and be cool and popular. So cool and popular that they end up pregnant and dropping out.” </p>
<p>Mommusic in some cases these first generation college students do have trouble for the aforementioned reasons. But greater proportions have no savings because what little resources they do have, are sent to friends and family who need them. With the hope that when the time comes the aid will be reciprocated. On reservations, which are the poorest areas of this country, this generosity is literally a survival strategy. </p>
<p>Plus since US overall savings rates are the lowest in generations we can’t get too lofty in our assessments of the lower class. And anyway given Elizabeth Warren’s very astute assessment of the troubles of the middle class, our society is driving the middle classes into their very own unique definition of poor. The costs of what allow them to be middle class (including education) are reaching the point where paying these same costs is becoming a diminishing return.</p>
<p>“That said, and with all due respect, it is the US that is viewed as the land of opportunity for those of all countries, not Britain.” </p>
<p>Anothermom2, that’s a condition which is rapidly fading. An increasing proportion of the educated people of my generation have left or are planning to leave the US. And so many US citizens have applied for Canadian teaching jobs that many provinces are now specifically stating that these jobs have a preferential hiring for Canadian nationals. </p>
<p>In border states such as Montana there have even been proposals to deny drivers licenses to people who’ve gotten behind on their student loans. Independent of the idiocy inherent to making it impossible to work and pay back what is owed- Largely the reason actually behind these proposals is that Canada has become too appealing for many US citizens living in such states.
And with recent Canadian reforms in regards to student loans and debt, its very probable millions here in the US will be longing for Canada. </p>
<p>And alas propaganda notwithstanding the US is losing any ability to soapbox about how wonderful we are, and how Horatio Alger lives on every street corner. Economic stratification in the US is now almost as marked as it was during the 30’s and god help us its becoming relatively equivalent to what it was back to the gilded age. The preeminent difference is although the common may have better shoes, they owe much more dues (debts). </p>
<p>And our elite, could arguably have even less moral credibility than such people as Rockefeller, Harriman, Brunel or Henry Ford. As nasty and cutthroat as these men where, they did produce wealth and actual systems which were productive and in some manner eventually benefited the country as a whole. </p>
<p>But elites such as the Enron crew, or Bear Stearns people cannot be defended on the same basis. Their ‘production’ was largely a transfer of wealth, which produced no lasting systems benefiting society. In that regard for every one Bill Gates (Who would be closest to our eras Rockefeller or Ford), we seem to have hundreds of Ken Lays, Albert Lords and Jimmie Caynes’s…</p>