The Burden of Student Debt: Can They Outlive It?

Eliminating current student debt will NOT solve the problem! What’s needed is a complex examination of all the factors that created the issue, and correcting them.

The question needs to be rephrased to “How did student debt get to be the problem for so many that it is?” The following is a potpourri of suggestions to contribute to an answer as well as some background information.

Why are tuition and student costs so high? Not just Harvard at $72,391 for 2020-21 a year, but small, private Harvey Mudd College, which is close to $80,000/year for 2020-21. These numbers include tuition, room and board, and some required fees and are from public sources of both schools.

When the demand outstrips the supply, costs go up. Why are so many students applying to 4-year colleges and then many dropping out? Part of the answer is status, inadequate high school counseling, parents. As a result there was a proliferation several years ago of new colleges and universities that most of us never heard of. But then the pandemic hit.

“The pandemic seems to have exposed and perhaps worsened a recent trend in college admissions: Selective universities have seen extraordinary interest from applicants this year, after waiving test scores. But smaller and less recognizable schools are extending deadlines and expanding outreach to attract students. Students from less advantaged backgrounds are, predictably, being left behind.” [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/us/a-college-admissions-rat-race.html]

A college president since 2003, S. Georgia Nugent said recently that in those years she has seen student requirements for a higher education degree shift to currently being predominantly about getting a job. But colleges were never meant to be vocational schools. The whole structure needs to be changed. Perhaps the first 2 years are about becoming an educated and responsible citizen of our democratic Republic. Then the next 2 years focusing on a professional position requiring at least a 4-year degree. [Ignoring grammatical rules, I’m using numerals only for space considerations.]

Another consideration is to lower college costs for those in public service, such as teachers, nurses, skilled medical caregivers, imaging technicians. There costs can be subsidized by the service they commit to upon graduation and the value of that to the country, not from their paychecks.

“With higher education facing average revenue losses of 14% or more due to Covid-19, the pandemic presents an existential challenge for the hundreds, maybe thousands, of colleges that entered last March with already precarious finances. Every week or so seems to bring new headlines about institutions making jaw-dropping cuts. Concordia University Chicago, a private institution, for example, announced in December that it would be laying off 51 faculty and staff members, about 7% of its work force, and shuttering 15 academic programs after a two-year “prioritization” process….But slashing budgets alone, experts agree, isn’t enough to survive. Struggling colleges must cut strategically and adapt to a new way of operating, in order to find a way to eventually grow and thrive.” [The Chronicle of Higher Education, “The Great Contraction” by Lee Gardner, Feb 15, 2021  www.chronicle.com/article/the-great-contraction]

How each college is funded needs to be examined from an “out-of-the-box” perspective. New paradigms are critical. Perhaps some of those 4-year colleges should be 2-year schools or vocational schools instead. “…We are guaranteed to multiply the racial inequity that the pandemic produced if we attempt to do the financial recovery in a raceless way. Inequity is one of many factors that contributed to the plight colleges found themselves in during the pandemic, and it’s one of the many factors that leaders must be mindful of as they plan how to emerge stronger.” Shaun R. Harper, professor of management and organization and executive director of the Race and Equity Center at the University of Southern California quoted in www.chronicle.com/article/the-great-contraction

One issue of a college’s high costs is that of the administrative staff salaries, which have outpaced professorial salaries and numbers of instructors at all levels required to teach reasonably sized classes. One aspect of this, especially brought on by the pandemic, is the need for counseling. Improving the connection with each student will be more and more critically important to keep every student admitted in a college through graduation. Colleges with good retention rates have increased these counseling/mentoring/guiding programs. As well, such staff can assist with necessary moves to increased equity, such as racial, ethnic, and gender. This does not change the issue of senior administration, who, just as with corporate CEOs, often make more than they are actually worth to the success of the school.

Subsidizing athletics is a serious problem. Coaches of winning college teams usually make what most of us would consider astronomical salaries and bonuses. “On the campuses of major athletic conferences, the football and basketball head coaches are the highest paid school employees. At public universities, these coaches are the highest paid employees in 40 of 50 states” [https://www.collegesportsscholarships.com/college-coaches-earnings.htm]  For example, according to USA Today, Nick Saban, University of Alabama’s head football coach, made $9.3 million in 2020 and head basketball coach John Calipari at Kentucky made $8.16 million in 2020. [https://sports.usatoday.com].The majority of college coach salaries are much less, however. The major college sports could be subsidized by a consortium of the pro teams for hat sport. They’re the ones who profit from this college “training ground” for their sports.

Because of their budget crunch, small, non-revenue-generating athletic programs may be cut. This, in spite of the fact that many small colleges recruit students by offering the same sports they played in high school. The cost of college sports is expensive beyond just salaries for coaching staff: equipment, travel, maintenance of spaces where the sports are played all add up.

The concept of community colleges also needs new thinking. They should be integrated into the public education system, thus free for all with a valid high school diploma, and offer 2-year programs geared to job markets. Many of these programs could be subsidized by the industries students are preparing for. Possibly specific companies could sponsor and pay for a financially needy student who them commits to working as an apprentice for that company for a specified period of time.

There are many good-paying jobs that don’t require a 4-year college degree. For example, there aren’t enough plumbers, electricians, skilled construction workers, and green industry jobs, all of whom make close to the same amount as someone with a 4-year degree and white collar job. Yet, these jobs have no debt attached. Private trade schools could also supplement preparation for more jobs. Again these programs would come with lower tuition and costs. They might include internships that are supported in part by the institutions for which the students are interning, which would work for both the public service as well as other job-oriented areas, such as customer service online assistance for various products, bank tellers, tourist industry positions, chefs. The list could be quite long. As well, these educational programs could (perhaps should) include shortened humanities programs.

On a separate note, interest on student loans needs to lowered and centralized or, at least, controlled to reasonable levels. Depending on the student’s circumstances and field of expertise, some student loans could be forsaken in exchange for work in the public sector or by employers. There can be extenuating circumstances in a specific student’s ability to repay their debt. Perhaps a review committee could be established to provide solutions to extreme cases of hardship.

Is this what happens when you think about your student debt?  <<<

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My grandson (rear right) and some of his friends, many of whom are burdened with student debt.