The issue with some college programs is that they focus more on getting students to pay for degrees than on preparing them for the future. While I believe colleges can be extremely valuable, many of these programs are lacking.
Part of the problem might stem from how student loans are treated differently than other types of debt, without properly accounting for risk. It makes me wonder if there’s data on how many graduates from a given degree program actually enter a field related to their studies. With that kind of information, it might be possible to better assess the risk associated with student loans. Loans are just one part of the equation, but they’re a critical one.
Edit: In case it was not clear, I am arguing that the formula here is entities who are incentivized by churning students through programs and loans which are not being properly underwritten. Student loans should not be a special class of debt. We have gone over the line of improving upward mobility and created an industry that produces useless degrees with high debt loads. If student loan could be discharged easily via bankruptcy and the underwriting process could potentially reject applications based on risk, it might be easier to help funnel people through. Instead we allow young people to take on $30-50k for a masters degree that has little to no chance of being useful.
Part of the problem might stem from how student loans are treated differently than other types of debt, without properly accounting for risk. It makes me wonder if there’s data on how many graduates from a given degree program actually enter a field related to their studies. With that kind of information, it might be possible to better assess the risk associated with student loans. Loans are just one part of the equation, but they’re a critical one.
Edit: In case it was not clear, I am arguing that the formula here is entities who are incentivized by churning students through programs and loans which are not being properly underwritten. Student loans should not be a special class of debt. We have gone over the line of improving upward mobility and created an industry that produces useless degrees with high debt loads. If student loan could be discharged easily via bankruptcy and the underwriting process could potentially reject applications based on risk, it might be easier to help funnel people through. Instead we allow young people to take on $30-50k for a masters degree that has little to no chance of being useful.