The Student Loan Dilemma

Sometimes I wonder: Was going to Journalism School really the best way to learn how to be a writer? When it comes to reporting, on-the-ground experience is the very best education and honestly, you don’t get much of that in J-School. I certainly don’t regret going to college. It was a great experience, but as a privileged, middle class kid, it was a luxury I could afford without major monetary stress. I helped pay off my school loans after college, but my parents footed a significant portion of the bill. 

These days, college is even more expensive than it was then – and often, it’s producing a less-equipped student population. It brings me back to the modern-day question: Is college necessary? For some professions, like medicine or law, it is obviously a requirement. But for others – like journalism or even prospective business owners – that may not be the case. 

I’m thinking about this question now specifically because of President Biden’s recent decision to “forgive” up to $10,000 in student loans for borrowers (and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients.) Did all of these people really need to go to college? That may not be the right question. Rather, was it smarter of the 63 percent of Americans who did not attend college to take that route? And, should that 67% be responsible for paying off any portion of the loans for the 37 percent that decided to get a higher education knowing they would undertake large loan debt?

In the U.S. we’ve been trained to believe that a college education is the only path to success. We know that your lifetime earnings are set to be higher with a college degree, but it’s certainly not the only way to get a job. As Mike Rowe has pointed out, the problem really begins in high school, where they have removed shop classes and failed to show students non-traditional options like apprenticeships and trade schools. 

“We made it crystal clear that all of the jobs that votech [vocational-technical school] presaged were not worth having,” said Rowe.

Ironically, some of these jobs are the best-paying ones in America right now. Plumbers, for example, can make up to $75k/year, while college-educated teachers often do not. 

The problem may also lie with education bias. If companies and businesses were willing to take a chance on those without college degrees, they might produce and shape some incredible workers. 

Ultimately, however, it goes back to having the choice. Shouldn’t we all be able to choose whether or not we want to go to college? The answer is not “make college free” (as we all know free is never free). The answer is to hold these major universities accountable for their exorbitant prices and find a way to make them compete for business. If they don’t need to lower their rates to get students, they don’t. The government paying down these loans only makes it easier for them to stay where they are with this insane pricing. 

Moving forward, here’s how we might think about this dilemma: 

1. Showcase a diverse variety of potential job paths in high schools. Bring back shop class and trade school options for seniors. Have speakers come in from various professions to discuss how and why they do what they do. 

2. Stop glamorizing certain colleges and universities. In the end, it really doesn’t matter where you go to college. Sure, it’s cool to go to Georgetown, but if you get your degree from the local community college, it’s still a degree. Get the education you need and forget about the expensive street cred. 

3. Eliminate or lower the importance of having a college degree. Not everyone or every company can do this, but let’s look at skills, experience, ambition and character as highly as we look at a college degree. 

4. Use all the grants and scholarships. There is $100 million in unclaimed college scholarship money every year. How can we find ways to get this advertised to the right people that need it?

5. Lower interest rates. This is where the killer is. How can we lower college loan interest rates, which is truly the main problem where? How can we hold banks and colleges accountable here? 

There is no quick-fix to this problem, but we must start thinking about it from a larger perspective. Bailing out people or businesses with government money is never going to be a good, long-term solution. Let’s get innovative and smart about this so we don’t run into this problem at double proportions in 20 years.

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