My purpose in writing Snippets is to provide context for current issues…how did we get here. This particular Snippet will be different since there are only a few decades over which this situation arose. There were no villains! There were well-meaning people who got it wrong, and we are now faced with a ‘ginormous’ problem.
Prior to World War II college was an abstraction for most Americans. Graduating high school students took jobs in factories or on farms. Women stayed home as homemakers. The Great Depression had put earning a living ‘today’ on the front burner. When the war came everything changed. Suddenly atomic energy, jet airplanes, Sputnik, and semiconductors existed. The country needed thousands of skilled engineers, teachers, and scientists.
The G.I. Bill encouraged more than two million young men and women to get a free college education. Attitudes changed…a college education was the path to success. You needed to go to college!
By the mid-1960’s, Baby Boomers’ were reaching college age. Women and minorities wanted to be part of that new wave. They flocked to campuses. In California a state Master Plan expanded the system of Junior Colleges, State Colleges, and Universities to satisfy the new demand. Fees were low. Student expenses were primarily dormitory and recreational fees. You were filled with pride being the first one in your family with a college diploma.
As college costs rose financial aid programs, including Pell Grants, were established to help defray costs for needy, but qualified, students. At first it was enough. In 1970 the average student graduated with $1,000 in debt. An easy obligation!
But college costs continued to soar. The number of students borrowing money without regard to a practical repayment plan climbed as well. Today there are more than 40 million Americans with college debt averaging more than $30,000. Thousands have debt exceeding $100,000.
Total student debt is $1.78 trillion. That’s “trillion.” 3x more than it was fifteen years ago. It exceeds any type of American debt except home mortgages…and it CANNOT be forgiven by bankruptcy. Worse, the trend line for the next decade shows it will continue to climb.
Two pragmatic programs need to be established. First, a fair resolution for those currently in debt with little hope of fully repaying their obligation. Second, a program is going forward so that today’s young people don’t face a similar bleak future.
The President hoped to erase billions of the existing debt with the wave of his pen but budget deficits and criticisms as to its fairness blocked his well-intentioned, but misguided, program. He has now found a small window, but its effect will be negligible.
There are solutions. Almost every European country offers free college tuition to American students and the larger countries, such as Germany and France, offer a wide array of classes in English. The downside to this is its potential to create a ‘brain-drain, an exodus of our best young people.
We have made some progress. Twenty states currently offer free tuition to two-year colleges. It should be expanded.
Beyond that, if your goal is a Bachelor’s or Advanced Degree, there should be a path, even if you don’t have the funds. Why not make it free in exchange for service? For years ROTC programs offered an education in exchange for military service. The Vietnam war, however, made that option unpopular although the concept was sound.
You want 2 more years of college? Give 1 year back to the military or AMER iCore, or perhaps an NGO such as Habitat for Humanity. You want a Master’s? Three years. No debt! No fuss!
In the past half-century, our feelings of obligation to our country have diminished. Perhaps if our young people were offered an opportunity to serve their country in exchange for a path to their goals, we would all benefit.