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I think a big factor in this discongruety between education and the job market is the fact that students cannot write off student loan debt in a bankruptsy. It

I think a big factor in this discongruety between education and the job market is the fact that students cannot write off student loan debt in a bankruptsy. It alleviates the banks from their due diligence of making sure their loan will create a return on investment. There is virtually no risk on their side. They can be certain. That no matter what you do or where you go you will have to pay them and the longer it takes is just more interest for them to collect. You can be certain that if student loans required the bank to take a risk there would be a lot more engineers coming out of colleges in america and a lot less degrees in ancient Greek philosophy. The banks would require people to choose majors that will pay enough.

sokoloff 13y ago
I agree that's a possible outcome, but I think an equally likely outcome is that banks would require parental co-signing of loans, from parents with income and credit ratings sufficient to mitigate the risks. Which overwhelmingly means that the economically disadvantaged (or those estranged from one or both parents) would be shut out, which would make "college degree required" a proxy for "upper middle class or better". I agree that it's a different outcome, but I don't agree that it's a better outcome. There are benefits to easy availability of student loans; with those benefits come some risks. You can't eliminate only the risks and leave all the benefits.
- king_jester 13y ago
  > Which overwhelmingly means that the economically disadvantaged (or those estranged from one or both parents) would be shut out, which would make "college degree required" a proxy for "upper middle class or better". Considering the overall education picture in the US, this is already true. Students from low income families already have a hard time getting to a point where they can apply and be accepted to a university. See http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/21/news/economy/income_college/index.htm http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/21/news/economy/income_college/...

sokoloff 13y ago

I agree that's a possible outcome, but I think an equally likely outcome is that banks would require parental co-signing of loans, from parents with income and credit ratings sufficient to mitigate the risks. Which overwhelmingly means that the economically disadvantaged (or those estranged from one or both parents) would be shut out, which would make "college degree required" a proxy for "upper middle class or better". I agree that it's a different outcome, but I don't agree that it's a better outcome. There are benefits to easy availability of student loans; with those benefits come some risks. You can't eliminate only the risks and leave all the benefits.

king_jester 13y ago
> Which overwhelmingly means that the economically disadvantaged (or those estranged from one or both parents) would be shut out, which would make "college degree required" a proxy for "upper middle class or better". Considering the overall education picture in the US, this is already true. Students from low income families already have a hard time getting to a point where they can apply and be accepted to a university. See http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/21/news/economy/income_college/index.htm http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/21/news/economy/income_college/...