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I believe that the vast majority of student debt is not people going to an Ivy institution. The major concentration of serious debt issues has been in the priva

by sc68cal 14y ago

I believe that the vast majority of student debt is not people going to an Ivy institution. The major concentration of serious debt issues has been in the private-education-as-big-business sector from companies like University of Phoneix and DeVry, whose business models depend on government backed student loans, or loans from private companies that are subsidized/guaranteed by the government (before President Obama signed a law that allowed the government to manage student loans without requiring a private company to act as an intermediary). http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/09/gi-bill-for-profit-colleges http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/09/gi-bill-for-prof... "Last winter, the Department of Veterans Affairs tasked its newly hired blogger, a cantankerous Iraq vet named Alex Horton, with investigating the website GIBill.com, one of many official-looking links that come up when you Google terms like "GI Bill schools." With names like ArmedForcesEDU.com and UseYourGIBill.us, these sites purport to inform military veterans how to best use their education benefits. In reality, Horton found, they're run by marketing firms hired by for-profit colleges to extol the virtues of high-priced online or evening courses. He concluded that GIBill.com "serves little purpose other than to funnel student veterans and convince them their options for education are limited to their advertisers." http://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/08/explosive-growth-profit-higher-education-numbers http://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/08/explosive-growth-pr... "The for-profit higher education industry was the target of a bruising report issued last week. Based on a two-year effort, the report detailed high rates of loan default, aggressive recruiting, higher than average tuition, low retention rates, and little job placement assistance. It was spearheaded by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, a longtime critic of the industry. (ProPublica has written a number of pieces looking more closely at the explosive growth sector, including questionable recruiting and marketing.)" And finally - http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/11/university-phoenix-allegations-enrollment-abuses-persist http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/11/university-phoen... "After federal regulators accused the University of Phoenix of systematic enrollment abuses in 2004, the school's parent company paid out nearly $10 million to resolve the allegations. Phoenix allegedly had broken the law by tying recruiters' pay to enrollment numbers, U.S. Department of Education investigators found, creating pressure to sign up unqualified students. In the years since, Phoenix cemented its stature as the nation's largest for-profit school and the single biggest recipient of federal student aid. But some of the school's recruiters have continued to use high-pressure, deceptive tactics, according to a dozen current and former students and two former recruiters who spoke to ProPublica and Marketplace as part of a joint investigation."

tsotha 14y ago
>I believe that the vast majority of student debt is not people going to an Ivy institution. The difference is nobody goes into $200k debt studying at the University of Phoenix, whereas people who go to lower tier Ivies on student loans and get less marketable degrees have literally sold themselves into debt slavery.
- tilgovi 14y ago
  Except you're the one who brought up $200k as a number to begin with. And those people who sold themselves into debt slavery, by going to an extremely good school, may actually still hold jobs that will allow them to repay their loans eventually. Ignoring your arbitrary choice of debt number, we're looking at many people in debt and many of them without any college degree whatsoever. And talking about parents isn't helpful. Parents are the ones watching the State of the Union address where the President talks about higher education and competing with China and then go out in the town and talk to the other parents about where their children are going to college and what their children are doing with their degrees. Thinking that only 18-year-olds can be fooled into saddling themselves with excessive debt is nonsense.
  - tsotha 14y ago
    >Except you're the one who brought up $200k as a number to begin with. Yes. >And those people who sold themselves into debt slavery, by going to an extremely good school, may actually still hold jobs that will allow them to repay their loans eventually. Well then, there's no problem, is there? >Thinking that only 18-year-olds can be fooled into saddling themselves with excessive debt is nonsense. At some point people have to think for themselves.

by sc68cal 14y ago

tsotha 14y ago

>I believe that the vast majority of student debt is not people going to an Ivy institution. The difference is nobody goes into $200k debt studying at the University of Phoenix, whereas people who go to lower tier Ivies on student loans and get less marketable degrees have literally sold themselves into debt slavery.

tilgovi 14y ago
Except you're the one who brought up $200k as a number to begin with. And those people who sold themselves into debt slavery, by going to an extremely good school, may actually still hold jobs that will allow them to repay their loans eventually. Ignoring your arbitrary choice of debt number, we're looking at many people in debt and many of them without any college degree whatsoever. And talking about parents isn't helpful. Parents are the ones watching the State of the Union address where the President talks about higher education and competing with China and then go out in the town and talk to the other parents about where their children are going to college and what their children are doing with their degrees. Thinking that only 18-year-olds can be fooled into saddling themselves with excessive debt is nonsense.
- tsotha 14y ago
  >Except you're the one who brought up $200k as a number to begin with. Yes. >And those people who sold themselves into debt slavery, by going to an extremely good school, may actually still hold jobs that will allow them to repay their loans eventually. Well then, there's no problem, is there? >Thinking that only 18-year-olds can be fooled into saddling themselves with excessive debt is nonsense. At some point people have to think for themselves.