Student loans and wine tasting

I caught a CNBC special on student loan debt. Part of the special featured student aid at the University of North Dakota. The university disbursed excess aid through a debit card administered by Higher One.

Higher One sponsors financial aid workshops offering wine tasting as part of the activities.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/40777957

Does it piss anyone else off about this story? College costs are rising because schools know that loans and grants are easier to get than actually getting admitted.

 

Not in the slightest.

Without student loans being easily obtainable, upward mobility in this country would be severely endangered.

And students need living expenses. Particularly graduate students who are no longer financially connected to their parents.

 

Student loans can be as much of a drag on upward mobility as they are a boon.

 

It seems as if college costs rose dramatically because of the availability of student loans. Why strive to keep costs down when someone else pays the bills? It's the reason why the University of Phoenix and other for-profit schools charge so much.

 

And people are going to be fucked in 5-10 years... mainly my generation... the 20-25 year olds. I can't tell you how many friends I have that have no work experience, or decided the best way to get off the unemployment line was to back into some crappy local law school or get in MBA after sitting around doing nothing for 2-3 years. For some it will work, for many it will not, and they will have huge piles of debt.

 

I can't disagree with you guys on some of these points.

A lot of schools are running what amount to rackets.

But student loans can be a great thing. I just don't feel that every middle-class student should be sentenced to the school that will give him/her a scholarship, while every upper-class student gets to go to the Ivy League or equivalent. Middle- and lower-class students deserve a shot at top schools, too, and student loans make that dream attainable.

 

There are better ways to make that dream available than handing out large amounts of student loans like candy to anyone who can wander onto a college campus and sign a sheet of paper.

 

Unfortunately, the population wants things both ways, or so they say. They want cheap college tuition, good grade schools and good roads. But ask people if they want higher taxes, they say not.

It reminds me of The Simpsons episode where the teachers strike. Mrs. Krabappel says what about your kids and Principal Skinner says it''s going to cost you.

 

Like what?

"Networking"?

"Bootstraps"?

Please.

 

If my kid had two offers on the table, one to Mediocre State U for a full-ride scholarship, and one to Yale for full-price with student loans, with limited exceptions (like a graduate student tied to a certain area or obligations), I'm advising Yale seven days a week and twice on Sunday.

 

You can tie student loans to:

1) Choice of major, encouraging students to go into fields that are likely to be lucrative and that society actually needs more of.

2) Performance. If the best you can do is Cs at community college or Directional State U (both of which I attended, before anyone howls), then maybe it won't hurt for you to work your way through school rather than live on loans.

 

Okay. So we offer student loans to kids accepted to Yale. That doesn't justify the entire system.