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Skin in the game: Fixing higher education's student debt problem
- alephnerd 2y agoFrom the author's LinkedIn: "Dear Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Here's a proposal on how to solve a $1.73 trillion problem aka the world's most inefficient government-backed market. I'm talking about college student debt. Today: * Sellers (colleges) face zero consequences for failure * Buyers (students) can't discharge debt through bankruptcy * Taxpayers foot the bill for defaults Two simple market reforms would fix this: * Make student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy * Require universities to underwrite 80% of student loans and eat losses This would instantly: → Force colleges to care about graduate outcomes → Kill predatory programs that create no value → Drive down tuition costs naturally → Protect low-income students from exploitation → Create real accountability without complex regulations When drug companies sell ineffective treatments, they face consequences. Why do we let universities keep selling $200,000 "treatments" that don't work? Time to bring market discipline to higher education."