6 ms·

What gets me is why isn’t major (as a proxy for future earnings) considered as part of approving student loans?

• hartator 6y ago
  Public guarantees.
• someguydave 6y ago
  Because the entire system is a scam to transmit federal subsidies to education employees.
• pengstrom 6y ago
  Well, the simplest reason I can imagine is that not all good things can be measured in dollars.
  • smegcicle 6y ago
    Crippling debt can be measured in dollars, and that's by far the most reliable outcome of state-guaranteed loans for non-marketable majors.
    • ddingus 6y ago
      That is more a function of our economic policy and national priorities than it is what people choose to study.
• lotsofpulp 6y ago
  Because taxpayers are guaranteeing it. It’s how you get elected by both “helping” students and keeping taxes low. Long term, you’re harming students and taxpayers, but short term the optics look like you helped and you don’t have a cash outlay for helping anyone so it doesn’t affect the budget.
  • wmeredith 6y ago
    Important note: defunding higher education also helps people get elected. It's been going for decades. My partner works for a state university system in a red a state and their budget has been cut every year since the 90's. People like to point at bloated administrative salaries and facilities when they talk about skyrocketing education costs, but the fact of the matter is that state schools receive a fraction of the funding they used to, and that makes for the majority of rising tuition costs.
• lern_too_spel 6y ago
  Bad policy.
• gcheong 6y ago
  For one because you want a society that isn’t purely optimized for immediate earning potential as breakthroughs and advances that push society forward can come from multiple areas. And for another perhaps you want to be able to provide the opportunity to study a subject regardless of whether you can pay for it outright or not.
  • pdonis 6y ago
    > advances that push society forward can come from multiple areas "Multiple areas" that could produce advances that can push society forward is still a much narrower category than "areas that are eligible for student loans". > perhaps you want to be able to provide the opportunity to study a subject regardless of whether you can pay for it outright or not Students can study any subject they want for free over the Internet. Major institutions have their entire curriculum available for free online. There is no reason why taxpayers should have to subsidize college tuition for that.
    • ddingus 6y ago
      Sure there is, and that reason is a well rounded, robust society. Plenty of nations fund higher education as a basic investment in the quality of their future people.
      • onecommentman 6y ago
        What is missing is data to support that, perhaps reasonable, assumption. Objective data not provided by those who stand to benefit from a positive result. Data that objectively identifies how that benefit is accrued and at what amount. The kind of data that guided the development of every major industrial and service sector over the last 50 to 100 years and is inexplicably lacking in higher education.
        • ddingus 6y ago
          This goes well beyond industry and service.