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It sure would be nice if there was solid data on the ROI from government subsidized education loans (beyond the economic stimulus of the colleges operating off

• romwell 8y ago
  What's an ROI on a subsidy? The most problematic thing about college loans is not subsidy, anyway (that only applies to interest; the students are responsible for the loan amounts anyway), but the inability to write these loans off in a bankruptcy as you would with other debt. This makes these loans special; it takes the risk away from an inherently risky activity (investing/lending). Of course, this screws the whole ecosystem up. The banks are willing to give these loans to pretty much anyone, and the universities are incentivized to increase tuition because they won't see a drop in admissions since the students are all able to take on more loans - and will do so because one can't get anywhere without education these days. It's a positive feedback loop. We shouldn't have this for the same reasons that we don't have debtors' prisons anymore. It's a net loss for everyone in the long run.
  • deogeo 8y ago
    > we don't have debtors' prisons anymore. Sadly, the US brought them back: https://www.thenation.com/article/prosecutors-and-judges-have-brought-back-debtors-prisons/ https://www.thenation.com/article/prosecutors-and-judges-hav...