Something's got to give. Either higher education has to become cheaper — and drastically so — or we have to stop referring to it as a great vehicle for achieving the American Dream.
Earlier this year, tuition prices for all California state colleges rose nine percent. In Cal Poly's case, state funding has dropped to just 41 percent of the operating budget, so now student fees and tuition pay for about 59 percent of operating expenses. Annual tuition costs for undergraduates have jumped from $5,043 in 2008-2009 to $5,826 in 2009-2010 to $7,986 in 2011-2012, according to the 2011 Cal Poly Fees & Expenses Catalog.
To be fair, a Cal Poly education is still a whole lot cheaper than one from a UC. And compare it to say, Princeton, where annual tuition costs around $41,000, and Cal Poly students will start to feel that the chain of debt hanging around their necks is quite slimming.
The decision of going to college has been relegated to cost analysis reports. One must determine their own future break-even points to find out if the juice is worth the squeeze. The current economy seems to play a much larger role in this decision than it has in the past. This is not just because there are fewer jobs because of the recession — there have always been recessions — but because work in our technocratic consumer society usually means pointing and clicking. There are now fewer jobs because fewer people are necessary.
A college education is not solely about getting a lucrative job or about the capacity to think. It is about learning what to think about. It gives you the tools to decide what has meaning and what does not. That is crucial, especially considering the society we live in.
But as tuitions skyrocket and interest rates for college loans threaten to double by July 1st, higher education inches closer and closer to simply becoming a commodity for the wealthy.
On July 1st, if no congressional action is taken, the student loan interest rate will nearly double to 6.8%. The increase will impact 7.4 million American students, with each paying an average of $1,000 more as a result. (See Senate Republicans Blocking Bill to Prevent Student Interest Rates from Doubling) The Congressional Budget Office estimated that keeping the interest rate at 3.4% for another year would cost nearly $6 billion. Unless our politicians can come up with a way of raising the money, we young people, who were silly enough to want to go to school, will end up taking it on the chin.
But it may not just be those with student loans who end up footing the bill. The U.S. student loan debt is estimated to be at $870 billion, which surpasses both credit card ($693 billion) and car loan ($370 billion) debt. A recent report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that nearly one in four borrowers are struggling to repay their student loans. Some experts fear that the college student loan debt bubble could spark the next debt crisis.
Democrats and Republicans agree that the rates should not double. Democrats offered the solution of closing tax loopholes for lobbyists, consultants, and investment managers, while Republicans wanted to cut Obamacare spending that goes towards screening for breast and cervical cancer. In other words, both sides have gone for the one thing they know the other will not acquiesce on. This is not compromise-seeking behavior — it is operating with sabotage in mind.
Republican Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts offered a different solution: Using money the government already has but mistakenly spends. Brown, citing data from the Office of Management and Budget, wants to use part of the $115 billion in "improper payments made by the federal government" such as money sent to the wrong recipient, incorrect amounts, and improperly disbursed funds.
I know what you're thinking, if there is $115 billion of improper payments we're already screwed. And as of yet, there has been no vote on Brown's proposal.
One hopes that this is just another case of bureaucratic posturing because as the vituperative politicians in Washington go back and forth bickering like vindictive ex-spouses fighting over what they're fighting about, July 1st gets closer and closer.
