The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer just did two reports on rising college costs. The segments did not go so as far as comparing Americans graduating deep in debt to the systems of other industrial nations but many of the facts and figures given point to a failing nation.
The first segment aired Monday evening with John Merrow on location at a state university. There is a video available of his findings at UMass Boston called College Cost Rising at Unprecedented Rate.
The ending pointed out the state of this nation. After an interview with Rep. George Miller where he stated the only sign of optimism is the students, John Merrow closed the first of the two segments with;
The National student debt now tops over $500 billion. That's just what owed to the government. Nobody knows what's owed to private lenders. With unemployment projected to climb to 8 percent; recent collage graduates, the most heavily indebted generation in American history, face tough times.
The full quote of George Miller who is apparently a Kossack and the chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor was;
The only optimism I see is that of the students. They show a lot of confidence in the future, a lot of optimism to take on that kind of debt and believe that it's worth it and two that they'll overcome it. It's quite an amazing decision that these students are making in terms of their faith in this country.
So how did America get to a point where a leading representative can only show confidence in those Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one that face a future of scrambling to make good on interest payments? That's how the segment began.
About sixty percent of students at four year colleges go to public institutions like this one The University of Massachusetts Boston. These colleges are relativity inexpensive but that doesn't mean they are cheap.
Then a classroom is shown with almost a unanimous show of hands from students who will graduate in debt. Starting of their carriers anywhere from $25,000 to $65,000 in the hole and this is a public institution. The show didn't even mention the fact that these young adults will also need medical coverage when they go out into the world but that is a whole different story.
UMass Boston isn't unique. You would hear similar answers on just about every collage campus in America. I heard them twenty-two years ago when I reported for what was then called The MacNeil Lehrer News Hour but it's not just déjà vu all over again, it's worse.
This twenty-five year trend points the squeeze being placed on Americans as higher education moves towards luxury and most of the rising costs are caused by less government aid.
Another disturbing graphic followed as it was pointed out that with the state of the economy further cuts in government support are sure to follow.
With state spending decreasing almost everywhere, the students have already become the main source of income for public colleges. More students are borrowing more than ever before from federal and private lenders and entering the work force further in debt than previous generations.
The first segment didn't look for too many answers and focused more on personal student stories and a few brief interviews with professionals. Patrick Callan who is the president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education offered the fact that without higher education young Americans will be punished "You can't even get in the queue for a job that will get you in the middle class." George Miller also mentioned "We know now that we think there's about 250,000 students every year who are fully qualified to go to college that now decide not to because of financial reasons."
The first student to speak was one of George Miller's optimist. A 24 year old student named Ian Witherby who will graduate this spring with at least $65,000 in federal and private loans. He is hoping the dept will be payed of by the time he is 44.
Do what you love and the rest will follow.
Next up was Annabella Rosario who had the same attitude as Ian but after graduating with mostly private debt of $67,000 she is feeling the pain. Because of her payments she works two jobs and has been unable to move away from her parents home. Her loan payments will soon total $900 per month and if she continues to make minimum payments her debt could swell to over $100,000.
You know you have those kids who their parents, they were fortunate enough to have their parents, their grandparents pay for their education. And then you have those kids who their parents were below the income level and the state payed for them. They couldn't pay for it and the state payed for them. And then you have people in the middle who get stuck paying the loans and all these outrageous bills. It's just. it's just not fair.
Then an interview with Alyson Karakouzian who put off education to start a family and because of the cost almost put it off for life but then she got lucky. Her husband's business tanked and with a family income of only $24,000 she became eligible for aid. So with maxim aid and at 32 Alyson enrolled as a freshman at UMass Boston but even with maximum aid she still had to borrow $9,000 for this year in low interest loans and expects to graduate with an outstanding debt of between $40,000 and $50,000. Once again, the youthful optimist. When asked "Does that scare you?"
It does. But going into debt for education is building yourself up, and it's building the ladder that you have available to climb.
The final interview was with Delphinia Diba, a young student who worked 64 hours a week while going to a less expensive community college full-time and saved for the last two years at UMass Boston. That's an awful lot of pressure at any age.
JOHN MERROW: Although she was only 18, Delphina wasn't getting any help from her family. And with few exceptions, until a student turns 24, the amount of aid students receive is based entirely on parent's income, even when the student, like Delphina, is on her own.
In a nation where you can sign up to go die in a war at 18 and your parents medical insurance company can drop you at 21 why would you have to wait till 24 to be emancipated from your parents income? But even with working and schooling round the clock young Delphinia graduated owing about $25,000.
They make it so hard for you to go to school. They wonder why so many people are not in school and trying to better themselves, but then you have to think about how much money you're paying for school, you know, and the prices keep going up and up and up and up.
In the video for the second segment Rising Cost, Less Financial Aid Squeezes Students John Tulenko did look for answers but there were not any good ones. Now with middle class parents having watched the money they set aside for their children's education disappear on the stock market and states facing less income there are few places to turn.
In a segment that pointed out how overcrowded our public universities are becoming and students not being to go to the classes they want to attend there was a lot of finger pointing.
The shift, though gradual, is significant. In 1988, 50 percent of Montclair's financing came from the state. Tuition made up 17 percent. Today, money from students, not the state, provides most of the funds.
Tuition and fees here total nearly $10,000 a year, double what they were in 2000. Similar increases are happening almost everywhere.
Alongside of the interviews with professors who have 130 student per class and adjunct professors who receive one quarter of the pay Rep. George Miller came back on to blame the states but no state representative was asked about the federal cuts in other places that the states have to make up for.
But while it is the state that has cut so much spending;
It's not just New Jersey. Twenty-one states have announced cuts in funding for higher education. Thirty-five states spend less per college student today than they did in 2002.
The second segment was at Montclair State University and cuts in state spending have gotten many of these institutions in the same place as their students, deep in debt. When John Tulenko decided to blame changes in collage spending, he picked the wrong women to interview. Dr. Susan Cole the president of the university was having non of that.
SUSAN COLE: It is not indulgent. Students in New Jersey live in the densest population in the country. They don't feel healthy. They should have a place where they can work out, where they can do aerobics. This is not a luxury; this is critical to a healthy life.
JOHN TULENKO: To Susan Cole, the real problem is that New Jersey has been unwilling to pay for gyms or classrooms, forcing colleges like hers to borrow.
SUSAN COLE: We have a choice. We can say, "We'll either let students come to this campus and study in chemistry labs that were built a half-a-century ago or we will build them ourselves and borrow for it."
The University did not borrow money for a new gym but to update an existing facility. Is is really sad that in this debt obsessed nation even the public institutes of higher learning are borrowing money for basic upkeep and our elected officials are saying "It's not my fault, he did it."
With middle class students graduating owing $65,000 and poor students owing $25,000 the future signs all point to the debt going up. Sadly just like in so many areas where our government should be protecting us and placing the nation's future first, higher education has become a private sector investment opportunity in the U.S.A.
Instead of our elected officials viewing the education of our youth as part of the public good education is rapidly becoming a privilege. Instead of a vibrant source for new ideas, new technologies, additional incomes, and increased revenues towards a prosperous future, it’s just business.
The interview with Susan Cole ended with a future prediction.
SUSAN COLE: You can ask the fellow who takes the tolls on the highway, the guy who works in the 7-Eleven, you can ask your doctor or your lawyer, do you think your children should go to college? Everybody's answer will be yes.
But over the long term, if the state continues to default, then we will have an impact on who it is that can afford to seek a higher education. It will change. Ultimately, it will change the demographics of the institution. That's very dangerous for society.
JOHN TULENKO: Who will be able to come in that future scenario?
SUSAN COLE: Those who can afford it.
JOHN TULENKO: And everyone else?
At that she shrugged her shoulders. With matter only getting worse, once again, the present number of Americans who are locked out from higher education;
"We know now that we think there's about 250,000 students every year who are fully qualified to go to college that now decide not to because of financial reasons."
Will Barack Obama be able to address this issue or will the blame game continue and the numbers of Americans who cannot afford an education continue to rise? There seem to be way too many issues facing America today but our young Americans still have that optimism.
In the seemingly endless debate between big and small government it is rarely pointed out that America has the biggest of governments because out tax dollars are going somewhere but all evidence points to a big spending government unwilling to provide services for the people.
It's hard not to think about those overtaxed French. Unlike the stressed out American who just graduated with twenty years of servicing a debt and scouring for medical insurance to look forward to, the French have only their living expenses to worry about in a nation where education and medical insurance are considered a right. When you compare the two the American with all those bills and the French with far less stress who has the higher tax?
A little update: Transcripts for Student Debt Rising as College Costs Continue to Climb and Colleges Students Squeezed by Rising Costs, Less Aid. Also this was cross posted at Progressive Blue.