I wanted to share a link that supports my comments so it is not just my hot air.
“A 2017 study from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that the average tuition increase associated with expansion of student loans is as much as 60 cents per dollar. That is, more federal aid to students enables colleges to raise tuition more.”
An 18 year old is an adult for nearly all purposes except, strangely, buying alcohol (a person is old enough at 18 to give their life and take lives in combat, and to be drafted to do both, but not buy a beer: go figure).
At age 22 I started taking out a lot of law school loans.
Paid them all between 1997 and 2003.
Again, pay the debts you voluntarily assume.
Accept the consequences if you don’t.
And don’t take on debt you can’t reasonably expect to pay off.
I think many 18 year olds are overly optimistic and undereducated about their future ability to repay the loans.
I think the lenders have much more experience and knowledge, and they should be making better business decisions. I have little sympathy for them making bad business decisions when they should know better.
The overwhelming bulk of student loan debt is issued by the Federal Government, not private lenders. Actual banks aren’t stupid enough to give tens of thousands of dollars in unsecured loans to 18 year olds with zero credit history, and we as a society have decided we want kids from less wealthy backgrounds to be able to attend college. It’s also issued at well below competitive rates for unsecured debt more broadly. (Even with perfect credit, you’re almost certainly not getting below what we’re charging students. Try getting a bank to offer you a personal loan that you don’t pay on for four years and see how far you get.)
The government (under most administrations, anyway) makes it extremely easy to afford federal student loans. Deferments, income-based repayment plans, and loan forgiveness for public servants are all available as options for paying back probably the cheapest and highest-risk debt a student is going to get in their life. In exchange for an absolute sweetheart deal, we ask students to at least mostly try to pay back their loans. I think that’s reasonable.
(Private student loans generally require the student to either have existing credit or, more likely, a co-signer with good credit, and at that point someone who should know better than to take out a loan they can’t pay back is involved.)
Texas used to restrict how much tuition could be increased per year. Since that restriction was taken away costs have skyrocketed.
State universities are government entities and should be closely monitored to keep costs down. The State of Texas has failed in that regard and the failure has been going on for two decades.
I would think the engineering and architecture degrees would qualify as professional degrees as would other degrees like accounting. Degrees that lead to a professional license or certification in the accounting field should surely be professional degrees. One doesn’t need a masters degree to be a licensed professional engineer or certified public account.
