"So the most talented of this country's youth should learn work at McDonald's or WalMart or wait tables (the kind of jobs students get) while they're trying to learn quantum field theory? "
My father has a PHD in Physics, and he mowed lawns and did just about every odd job you can think of while he was in school.
It didn't hurt him one bit.
Now this was before the student loan program, as we know it today, existed...and guess what...people found a way.
"The problem with student debt isn't the students. It's the predatory lenders"....I challenge you to ask yourself: "Who is the gatekeeper in this system?" Who is the seasoned and reasoned voice, who counsels the young student not to get too far in debt.
I can tell you who is NOT the reasoned voice, telling students not to get too involved with 'predatory' lenders - school officials. They are incentivized to get you to borrow as much money as possible, to spend on tuition. To them, you are nothing more than a warm body, a conduit through which loaned funds come to their school. They hope you pay for a few semesters, don't even go to class, and wash out...because they've overbooked all the lectures and labs, counting on your failure. So go ahead, and rail against the lenders...but there is another complicit partner in this scheme.
"Please, get some perspective on what is really going on here"....I don't know how old you are, but I suspect you may have a relative that is student age. Here's some advice, some 'perspective' really: life isn't fair. Its not. And not everybody will have an easy route through college. That's the perspective. The government could guarantee these loans at 2 points below prime, and they would still be a dangerous gamble for most students. Its really not beneath anyone to work at WalMart or McDonalds...or both at the same time. Its not fair...but that's some perspective on how the world really works.
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