Student Loans

Although well down the list of critical issues in America, the Student Loan arguments have irritated me just enough to warrant a spot in today's topic.

The Democrats are using the issue to attack Republicans, which of course is nothing new.  But it is interesting that I've heard and read virtually nothing from the Republican side about where they stand on the subject.

Once again, the Democrats use their typical distract and divide strategy rather than honestly deal with the core problem.  They claim that if nothing is done immediately, interest rates on student loans will double.  The first proof that they're misleading us on their claim is that those rates only double on government-subsidized Stafford loans.  Those loans are a relatively small component of the average college graduate's total student loan debt.

Since the Democrat congress passed the law nationalizing Student Loans, the most irritating result I get to experience personally is the aggressive collection efforts made by Sallie Mae.  All it takes is for my college-graduate son to be a day late on a payment, and collection calls come to my home phone and cell phone every day until they process his payment.  I no longer answer those calls, as I now recognize the number on the caller ID and let it go to voicemail, where I delete it without listening.

So it's offensive to my conservative sensibilities that the government chose to nationalize student loan processing and has implemented abusive collection practices.  But that's nothing compared to the underlying problem that same federal government has encouraged in the University system.

The underlying problem is skyrocketing college costs.  The federal government has encouraged universities across the country to hike their tuition and fees beyond anything that might be affordable for the average American family.  The attitude of Democrats in Washington seems to be, "Just get more student loans".

So college grads are facing the weakest employment outlook in 30 to 40 years and are being asked to make $400 to $600 monthly payments against starting salaries in the 20's and 30's.  They're delaying marriage, can't buy cars, and have to live with their parents because they can't afford to be self-sufficient in the government-imposed double whammy of record student loan debt in a horrible economy.

Can't we at least put caps on student indebtedness, perhaps indexed to the student's major?  Art History and Elementary Education majors shouldn't be allowed to borrow more than, say, $20K.  So if those students can't afford the astronomical tuition at their chosen school, maybe they need to transfer to a more affordable university.

Maybe if student indebtedness were capped based on their projected career earnings, they would make their college choices based on what they can afford rather than what's the most prestigious or "cool" place to go to school.

It's not about the interest rates, but at what point borrowing becomes insane.  Maybe if there were caps on the loans, schools would work a little harder to make their fees a bit more affordable.  Maybe quality and affordability should be the measure of a good university instead of how well regarded the school is among the cultural elites.

The truth of the matter is that young students don't really care much about how much debt they're incurring while they're in college.  They're too busy having a great time.  The debt's sort of an abstraction until they leave school and the bills start coming in.  It's a very tough way for a young adult to start their working life.