There are two ways to handle the crushing cost of college: opt for simpler campuses or come up with more creative accounting. The US is moving toward the second, no doubt pushed by college presidents who pump up a scary picture of a next generation that moves on to take its place in the work world without the benefits of deconstructing literature or learning calculus. So the Feds are boosting the Pell grants and coming up with new tax breaks. In essence, they’re saying, “The taxpayer would rather take on more debt than cut back on the costs of college.”
But here’s the problem: everyone ends up paying the price in any case. It may look like the big rich uncle Sam will pick up the tab for the poor, starving college students. But who’s going to pay off Uncle Sam’s credit card? That’s right. Those same poor starving college students. These grants and tax breaks are just hidden college loans taken out by society.
I would be a bigger supporter of the education if it weren’t so terribly wasteful. Most students use little of their education when they graduate. While I’m a big believer in learning for the sake of learning, I don’t think we should be saddling ourselves with tons of debt to indulge our curiousity. Let people be curious as a hobby. Don’t run up tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt just to build a talent for comparative literature.
Related posts:
- Uh oh. Pell grants running low.
- Just say “No” to credit cards!
- Uh, avoid those credit cards too
- One view of a college crisis in Mississippi
- NYT discussion on College Costs
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