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By Nicholas von Hoffman, The Nation. Posted March 23, 2006.
If students during the '60s had been saddled with the debts our present-day young people carry, there might not have been a civil rights movement.
The Democratic Party did not find her. The Hollywood liberals did not find her. The reactionaries are not looking for her. But the Chicago Tribune did find Margo Albert and did understand how significant her plight is.
The paper wrote, "Margo Alpert is on the 30-year plan. Every month between $500 and $600 is automatically deducted from her salary to pay off college loans. By the time the 29-year-old Chicago public-interest lawyer is in her mid-50s and thinking seriously about retirement, she will finally be free of college debt."
The newspaper also found Carrie Gevirtz, a 28-year-old social worker with a degree from the University of Chicago, a $55,000 school debt and an annual salary of $33,000. She is quoted as saying, "I can't afford my lifestyle. I'm not in a position to buy a place. I can't buy a condo and don't know when I would, unless my income changed dramatically. … I was not prepared for this. … It really freaked me out." To make ends meet after deducting her $250 monthly payment on her student loan, Gevirtz has a second job at a health club and does baby-sitting.
Starting July 1 the interest on student loans taken out by students will rise to just less than 7 percent. Loans taken out by parents for students will shoot up to 8.5 percent. The theory the Republican Congress works on is that increases in fees and interest payments from the white-collar masses are not the same as tax increases, some of which might have to be paid by our protected class of billionaire kleptocrats from whom, we are told, all blessings, especially our jobs, flow.
Whenever the subject of the high and ever mounting cost of tuitions and the student loans needed to pay for them comes up, the focus falls on individual financial hardship. We're invited to pity or empathize with Margo Alpert, and she certainly deserves it, but our attention is not drawn to the consequences of these arrangements. Nor is the discussion ever couched in terms of the social control implicit in high tuition and high student-loan interest rates.
The most important consequence of the financial hole the Margo Alperts are in, thanks to their education, is that many of them are going to be childless. Many others will have one child at most. How can a young couple, each with $40,000 or $50,000 of debt, think of having three or four kids? They will have to wait until they are in their late 30s to have a family and by then, when they think of college costs, they will feel compelled to limit themselves to one child.
There's a policy for you! While our legislators are up nights working on new tax gimmicks to further "capital flows," as they like to call their money-grabbing, they are also burning the midnight oil to throw up financial barriers that will keep the middle class from having children. Forget the cant about family values. Make that childless couple values.
There is social control in loading young people up with financial obligations. Burdened with debt and desperate to have and keep a job, there is no way they can take a wild year off, and there is certainly no time for protesting, organizing or causing the kind of social and political trouble young people cause from time to time.
How many young people turn away from low-paying but vital professions because they can't earn enough to pay back their loans? How many potential social workers, pro bono lawyers, journalists, environmentalists, teachers, artists, secondary medical professionals and community workers are we losing?
The two things that make most of us cringe are the thought of "1984" and "The Stepford Wives." In fiction both of those nightmares achieved reality through drugs or chemicals and voodooish alchemy. In actuality America can become a Stepford nation merely by adjusting the price of education and a few interest rates.
Will somebody get angry and start yelling?
Nicholas Von Hoffman is a columnist for the New York Observer and is the author, most recently, of "A Devil's Dictionary of Business" (Nation Books).
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In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." --Voltaire
The whole idea behind going to college and getting a degree is to be able to get a better job and earn more money. A 28 year old gal with a college degree who is only earning $33,000 a year means she either isn't using that degree in her employment or she picked the wrong thing to get a degree in.
We are all responsible for our own debts. Maybe the problem here is that the government makes it to easy for people to borrow money for college and some take advantage of that by trying to borrow enough to live off of also.
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“So I became a newspaperman. I hated to do it but I couldn’t find honest employment.” —Mark Twain
I think you are half right on that one. However, what is the dilemma that some students face? Here's a scenario:
A student from a low-income background who got through high school with a B average and was an average, at best, athlete in his sport of choice would most likely NOT be eligible for scholarships, right? Well, let's say this student, who wants to become the first in his family to earn a college degree, chooses to rise up and persevere, which you so often beat your chest on. This student doesn't have mommy and daddy's college fund to fall back on and his parents can't afford to put him through college on their blue-collar income. So, this student MUST get student loans. This student needs the loans for the books that cost $150 each and then he has to buy the suplements for the classes. This does not account for food during the day, transportation (bus or car), parking (if car), other school supplies, living expenses and beer (just kidding on that one).
What if this student was working a job and his income was at least partly used for the household? Now being in college, he has less time to work and less time to earn wages. What if this student is a young parent and returning student? What if this student chose to go back to school because his child motivated him? What if this student got a teaching degree and came out of college with $50K in debt and a $24K salary? Would you be so arrogant to say, "Well, sorry, son. You chose the wrong profession. Wallow in your own sh!t."? You can''t go with a black and white answer on every issue like you do. The above scenarios describe a lot more students than you'd like to admit.
On one hand you say that people from a less fortunate background should pull themselves up by their bootsraps and seize the American dream and then on the other hand, you say "Too bad on you" when they come out on the other end of that determination with little or nothing to show for it. You can't have it both ways.
People's attempts to grab the American dream is happening every day. Unfortunately, people's realizations that the dream is unattainable is also happening every day. For everyone that chooses to strive today, another will realize that it is unattainable for him, in spite of his efforts. You look at things from an observant point of view in a position of judgement. It don't always work the way you say it should....
I made it through 5 years of college by a combination of Pell Grants (prob 15% of my college costs) and working two jobs (30-50 hours/week) the entire time. I also went to community college for my first 2 years at a cost of $314 for 12+ credit hours per semester (10 years ago mind you). Then I went to state universities.
After 3 years in the workforce, I returned to school for my MBA and racked up $35k in student loan debt. That was my choice. I probably should have adjusted my lifestyle to pay for my tuition as I went.
I think the real failure is teaching high school and college kids about personal finance and the effect that $20 in pizza and $30 in beer on their credit card will have on their ability to purchase a car, get a job or finance a home.
The whole idea behind going to college and getting a degree is to be able to get a better job and earn more money. A 28 year old gal with a college degree who is only earning $33,000 a year means she either isn't using that degree in her employment or she picked the wrong thing to get a degree in.
We are all responsible for our own debts. Maybe the problem here is that the government makes it to easy for people to borrow money for college and some take advantage of that by trying to borrow enough to live off of also.
40, the average college graduate makes less than 37,000 per year for an entry level job... That is the norm and not the exception...
Also, When adjusted for inflation, the average college graduate is making the same amount of $$ they were making 20 years ago, yet the cost of an education has doubled when the same adjustment is figured in.
It's amazing how quickly debt can be paid off if you're really serious about eliminating it.
Most people go for a new HD flat screen tv, new car, etc rather than paying off their loans. Going further into debt does not help pay off student loans.
Quote:
She is quoted as saying, "I can't afford my lifestyle."
That says a lot right there. Paying off $55k when you earn $33k should not be that big of a hurdle with a little sacrifice. Most people just don't want to hunker down and be serious about eliminating debt.
__________________
"If Chuck is Solo, Larkin is his Fett!" - Morgan
I think you are half right on that one. However, what is the dilemma that some students face? Here's a scenario:
A student from a low-income background who got through high school with a B average and was an average, at best, athlete in his sport of choice would most likely NOT be eligible for scholarships, right? Well, let's say this student, who wants to become the first in his family to earn a college degree, chooses to rise up and persevere, which you so often beat your chest on. This student doesn't have mommy and daddy's college fund to fall back on and his parents can't afford to put him through college on their blue-collar income. So, this student MUST get student loans. This student needs the loans for the books that cost $150 each and then he has to buy the suplements for the classes. This does not account for food during the day, transportation (bus or car), parking (if car), other school supplies, living expenses and beer (just kidding on that one).
What if this student was working a job and his income was at least partly used for the household? Now being in college, he has less time to work and less time to earn wages. What if this student is a young parent and returning student? What if this student chose to go back to school because his child motivated him? What if this student got a teaching degree and came out of college with $50K in debt and a $24K salary? Would you be so arrogant to say, "Well, sorry, son. You chose the wrong profession. Wallow in your own sh!t."? You can''t go with a black and white answer on every issue like you do. The above scenarios describe a lot more students than you'd like to admit.
On one hand you say that people from a less fortunate background should pull themselves up by their bootsraps and seize the American dream and then on the other hand, you say "Too bad on you" when they come out on the other end of that determination with little or nothing to show for it. You can't have it both ways.
People's attempts to grab the American dream is happening every day. Unfortunately, people's realizations that the dream is unattainable is also happening every day. For everyone that chooses to strive today, another will realize that it is unattainable for him, in spite of his efforts. You look at things from an observant point of view in a position of judgement. It don't always work the way you say it should....
SOH, read Abombs reply. I applaud the fact that someone is willing to go to school to better themselves, but they need to keep student loans to a minimum and not cry about having to pay them back. Nothing in this life is free.
My parents couldn't afford to send me to college and I got a gal pregnant right out of high school and had to get married. I accepted that, went to night school at a JC for a couple of years and finished up by going to a trade school. I paid for these things as I did them.
Now I realize that back in the "olden days" things were a lot cheaper, but I was only making $3 an hour and still managed to have a place to live for me and my family and get enough education to carry me through.
I guess I'm just hard headed enough to expect people to function on their own without government help and maybe that's no longer possible because of the way they've been trained to expect that help.
__________________
“So I became a newspaperman. I hated to do it but I couldn’t find honest employment.” —Mark Twain
i agree the cost of education is fairly crazy - with that said there are very affordable options out there
i went to a fairly spendy private university, it was a 5 year program and I have the student debt to show for it
My dad is a carpenter and my mom works in the county clerks office - from a small town where wages are lifestyle are kept a lot lower
i graduated in '02 into a pretty bad job market, spent the summer unwinding and then moved to minnesota - i lived there for a year and was unable to get a job that wasn't a temp position and that paid more than $12.50 an hour
I rented a room and made the appropriate lifestyle adjustments - and yes, paid student loan debt, credit card debt, the works
I then moved to AZ and received my first full time job near the end of '03 - in a little over 2 years since having this job I was able to afford a car, a house, a wedding and eliminate most of my non-student debt
my degree is starting to pay off
i have little sympathy for a lawyer having high debt - you know going in it's going to be expensive - however I have a friend who just graduated from ASU with his law degree and started out at $75,000 - he can pay the bill
basically the bottom line is figure out what you are looking for - i agree that personal finance and responsibility needs to be emphasized more - there are community colleges where you can get all your basic stuff out of the way for cheap - state universities provide an economic solution as well
i probably could of went to the local community college while living at home and working a part time job paying $3k a year and then moved on to a local public school - the next two years factoring in tuition, fees, room & board, books, etc that would be about $15k per year
so for $36k I could of received a 4 year degree (and that is without financial aid, work study, part time jobs, etc)
right now for the school I went to tuition, fees, housing and meal plan would equal $38,660 per year
I made the choice to pay more and take on more debt - i'm not earning substantially higher than I would of taking a different path - but it was my personal decision to do it this way
someone 7 years removed from college with a 4 year degree should be getting more money unless in a field that doesn't pay that much
in that case you know the salary scale going in and have to determine if it's worth it
unless you come from a rich family it wouldn't make sense to go to an ivy league school to become a kindergarten teacher
make wise choices and the degree is very obtainable for anyone who wants it
I guess I'm just hard headed enough to expect people to function on their own without government help and maybe that's no longer possible because of the way they've been trained to expect that help.
Well said.
I went to ASU working full time and doing side work (mowing lawns, moving stuff for people, etc). Lived on my own, paid my own rent, tuition, books, etc. Made it through. It's just what you do.
__________________
"If Chuck is Solo, Larkin is his Fett!" - Morgan
40, the average college graduate makes less than 37,000 per year for an entry level job... That is the norm and not the exception...
Also, When adjusted for inflation, the average college graduate is making the same amount of $$ they were making 20 years ago, yet the cost of an education has doubled when the same adjustment is figured in.
It is a serious problem...
I agree with that. However, by the time you're 28, you should have realized some raises and be closer to 50 or 60 grand a year.
The fact that costs have doubled in the past 20 years just shows you how poorly most colleges are being run. Even with all that government funding, they still can't keep costs in line.
__________________
“So I became a newspaperman. I hated to do it but I couldn’t find honest employment.” —Mark Twain
Last year alone the minimum tuition increase was 3.5% and the highest was 24%. These increases are each year and that doesn't include the rise in cost of everything else.
I agree, pay your debt or don't borrow. But, the cost of education which should be high on our countries priorities to keep affordable has become criminal.
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