Three Proposals to Lower College Costs & Promote Responsibility For Student Debts

7
123

Three Proposals to Lower College Costs

& Promote Responsibility For Student Debts

by James S. Soviero

College tuitions are sky high. Easy money loaned to eager undergraduates has allowed universities to raise the price of instruction to unheard levels. Over many years, colleges have raised costs at about six times the inflation rate. Tuition and fees have increased by 1,200% since 1980.

It’s way past time to propose common sense legislation requiring that colleges who want to continue receiving federal money enact three simple policies.

The actions should be designed to 1) honestly expose the financial risks related to student loans, 2) lowering tuitions, and 3) vastly improve graduates’ chances of getting good jobs.

First- As part of any Truth in Lending process, schools, along with the lenders, borrowers, and their families, must be made aware of the student’s credit score.

Institutions that accept dollars from loans given to applicants whose FICO is under 600 will be responsible for picking up the tab if those notes go bad.

Second- All courses taught by graduate students should be provided at greatly reduced prices or without charge. Given costs per credit, enrollees should have a minimum expectation of being taught by a professor.

What’s the educational rationale behind having someone a couple of years older than the coeds giving lectures? Universities that don’t want to put PhDs in front of classes should discount the courses they’re not teaching.

Third- When picking a major, every undergrad must be given a full-time employment rate and average salary in their chosen field. This would be done during mandated, recorded meetings with the department head. Discussions must include the percentage of alumni from a specific program finding work directly traceable to that major and how long it took them to get that position.

If undergraduates are not properly counseled and unable to find work, the institution becomes liable for the refund of all monies related to courses taken in their focused area of study.

We need to put an end to 19 and 20-year-olds being steered to useless majors that benefit a specific “woke” school of study much more than the young adults striving for financially successful, rewarding careers.

For decades, colleges and universities have been getting billions of nonrefundable dollars upfront without any accountability for what they’re producing.  That’s like handing a contractor the entire cost of a house to be built before he’s even cleared the land.

This madness has to stop.  Make “institutions of higher learning” have genuine skin in the game, or take away their ridiculously generous, taxpayer-funded, government teat.


PowerInbox
5 1 vote
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

7 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Popeye the Project Boy
Guest
Popeye the Project Boy
1 year ago

My youngest son never went to college. It’s not for everyone. Homeschool and good parenting is the way. They’ll figure the out the rest. My son is not only mechanically inclined, but he’ll run circles around most college grads. He went from working paper routes, grocery stores and coffee shops while completing home school. Worked at a bank for a couple years. He now sells real-estate and doing very well.

Last edited 1 year ago by Popeye the Project Boy
Harrison Pendleton
Guest
Harrison Pendleton
1 year ago

TRADE SCHOOLS, which provide marketable skills for a lifetime.

John Vieira
Guest
John Vieira
1 year ago

Greed and dumbed down politicians/bureaucrats…always a recipe for disaster…

GuvGeek
Guest
GuvGeek
1 year ago

The fix is simple, no government backed loans. Make Colleges back student loans. If colleges had to deal with defaults, colleges would be cheaper and there would no long be degrees in “Advanced Partying”.

We can fix the Grammar and High School system by doing away with Public School and providing a voucher to each child. Why is it that Private and Parochial Schools can better educate our children for half of what the Public School System spends. Public Grammar and High School is just another Government Bureaucracy boondoggle.

lalasayswhat
Guest
lalasayswhat
1 year ago

When Bill Clinton said everyone should go to college, that’s when it became a dumbed down business just to make money. My final year of college I had people in classes who could not read. That’s when I knew it was a joke. That was 40 years ago.

Popeye the Project Boy
Guest
Popeye the Project Boy
1 year ago
Reply to  lalasayswhat

My father-in-law graduated from high school back in the late 40’s. Never went to college but he could run circles around the best of them. Self taught.