I stopped paying attention on the Rotherham article, because it had no backing for the asserted statistic that less than a tenth of borrowers owe more than $54,000.

That’s either a lie or useless through carefully selecting definitions.

By my thinking, the only number that matters is the average debt at graduation.  That can’t be this, because that comes to about seven thousand bucks per semester, which would seem to imply that ninety percent of students go to state schools or pay most of their tuition out of pocket.  That strikes me as wildly improbable.

If, on the other hand, we mean “borrowers” as “anybody owing money on student debt,” that includes incomng freshmen to people about to make their last payment and only owe a couple hundred dollars.  It’s a valid statistic, but not one I can figure out how to use.  It’d be like calculating child mortality and miscarriage in average life span, which would be accurate, but tell you nothing about how long people live.

The average debt to post-secondary institutions for all borrowers, whether they graduate or not, is, I believe, the statistic we want, since the average American student today graduates from high school and enrolls in higher education but does not finish, which means that this average student owes over $25,000 (that’s the statistic I’ve seen most often, and is, I suppose, the mean as opposed to the median debt that is cited in the Time article) and has no degree to show for her or his efforts. That’s a bad way to enter adulthood. Better would be to have a qualification system like those they have in northern Europe, since these raise standards in secondary education and ensure taxpayers that the students being funded have well used the opportunities they’ve had to date.

I was watching former President Bill Clinton speak about a year ago and he said by 2014, student loans repayments will be based on income.  I doubt it will go retro, but that is interesting and good news.  I am a small business that works on these types of business cases - http://www.csadvocates.org.  I have seen several different student loan business cases and the best advice I can give people is to not ignore your student loans.  I overheard someone erroneously tell another person that private student lenders cannot garnish wages…so wrong.  So much mis-information out there and unfortunately, lots of people do not know where to turn.

The student loan bubble has many parallels to the housing bubble. I wrote about it here.
http://www.barbariancapital.net/2012/03/housing-bubble-vs-higher-ed-bubble.html

Most articles I read do not focus on the real problem—why has the cost of college skyrocketed so much more than the cost of everything else—even the cost of health care? I had gotten into an e-mail exchange a couple of years ago (2009) with a writer from Fortune, who was, like some of the writers cited above, trying to justify the cost as an investment in the future. At the time, general inflation had risen 273% since 1982, while the cost of tuition and fees had risen 783%. I’m sure it’s continued similarly since.

This past summer, I saw a number of the Occupy protesters vilifying banks for the student debt that they were carrying. Just exactly where did they think that money went? It went to the schools, not to the banks. If they want to know where it went, find out why the average school has tripled the number of administrators in the last 30 years in relation to faculty. Why they’ve expanded the number of degree programs by 50% (mostly in the” you will never get a job in that field category”). Why every dormitory they built in the last 15 years has to have suites, with kitchens, and en suite bathrooms. Why every college has to have a workout facility for students and staff that would put LA Fitness to shame. Why your average professor teaches three classes a week, keeps five office hours a week, for 30 weeks a year.

A federal law should be passed that every college should be required to feature prominently two financial metrics on their home page. The first is the percentage of the students who graduated four years before who have gone delinquent on their student loans. That’s is, anyone who has missed a payment qualifies as delinquent.

The second is, based on family income categories of the following: under $50,000; $50,000-$100,000; $100,000—$150,000; over $150,000—how much financial aid—IN GRANTS AND SCHOLARSHIPS ONLY—did the average student get from the college the year before. I emphasize grants and scholarships only, because everything else needs to be paid for by the students and their parents. Whether they pay for it out of pocket, or take loans, it’s their responsibility.

With those two metrics, people would find out a lot more about the financial cost of going to a particular school. Certainly a lot more than the college would ever want them to know.

It is interesting how many companies seem to write here:

“I am a small business that works on these types of business cases”

Here I would have guessed that the companies would hire representatives to write for them, but I guess they are getting more creative these days.

Brian Flanagan:

That is what the net price calculators are supposed to do, but people still don’t understand.

It isn’t the fault of the colleges, the banks or any other person but the consumer. No one forces you to go to college. No one twists your arm and puts a gun to your head. Don’t give me the typical “well you have to go to college to be successful” rhetoric. That is still your own personal choice and every fault you make is yours and yours alone.

So those Occupy idiots can shove their Bachelors of Arts in Eastern Culture up the place where the sun don’t shine because they only have themselves to blame for taking out $100,000 in loans for that degree.

I THINK IT STINKS THAT OUR NATION’S CHILDREN, THE FUTURE LEADERS OF AMERICA, COME OUT OF COLLEGE WITH LOANS OF ATLEAST 100K. I AM A DIVORCED MOM. THE JUDGE IN MY DIVORCE DID NOT FEEL IT WAS MY HUSBAND’S RESPONSIBILITYTO CONTRIBUTE TO HIS SON’S EDUCATION. MY EX-HUSBAND BY THE WAY, WAS A 32 YEAR UNITED PARCEL SERVICE DRIVER. I WAS A WAITRESS IN TWO SMALL CITIES, POPULATION UNDER 25,000 IN ONE CITY. THE OTHER CITY HAD A POPULATION OF LESS THAN 15,000. A CITY THAT LOST ITS STEEL INDUSTRY TO OVERSEAS. I ALSO WORKED AS A SUBSTITUTE TEACHER WHEN I WAS NEEDED, AT 60.00 A DAY. THE JUDGE FORGOT TO RULE ON SPOUSAL MAINTENANCE JUST AS HE FORGOT TO RULE ON EDUCATIONAL HELP FOR MY SON. I AM PROUD TO SAY MY SON WENT ON TO RECEIVE HIS MBA IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE. HE’S A VERY INTELLIGENT YOUNG MAN. AFTER ACCEPTING AN UNDERPAID JOB AT M&T BANK IN BUFFALO, NY, HE WAS FORCED TO SELL HIS CONDO (WHICH HE BOUGHT FOR 40K) AFTER HE WAS “LAID OFF” FROM HIS JOB. HE WAS ABLE TO FIND A JOB IN THE BOSTON AREA FOR 52K A YEAR. HE LIVES WITH RELATIVES AN HOUR AND A HALF AWAY BECAUSE HE CANNOT FIND AFFORDABLE SUITABLE HOUSING CLOSER TO WORK. THE ONLY GOOD THING ABOUT THIS IS THAT HE LOVES HIS JOB. I CANNOT SEE MY SON AS I WOULD LIKE. HE LIVES OVER 7 HOURS AWAY FROM ME. I AM ON SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY,  AND STILL FIGHTING FOR MY RIGHTS AND A PERMANENT SETTLEMENT AFTER OVER 6 YEARS. I CURRENTLY LIVE ON 535.00 A MONTH. I TOO AM FORCED TO LIVE WITH RELATIVES. WHERE IS THE AMERICAN DREAM? OUR MONEY IS BEING SENT TO HELP OTHERS OVERSEAS. AFTER 6 YEARS OF STRUGGLING, I GREW SO TIRED OF EATING OATMEAL TWICE A DAY, I FINALLY APPIED FOR FOOD STAMPS. TAKE MY CAR AND GO SEE MY SON? I SURRENDERED THAT YEARS AGO. WHEN I WORKED I DID HELP MY SON! I HELPED HIM FILL HIS HOUSE WITH A TELEVISION, POTS AND PANS, SILVERWARE, PLATES AND CUPS, SHEETS AND COMFORTERS. HE COULDN’T DO IT ALL ALONE. ALL THROUGH SCHOOL, HE HAD TO WORK FULL TIME. I TOOK HIM GROCERIES, MILK, AND MEDICINE WHEN HE WAS SICK. NO, THE GOVERNMENT AND HIS FATHER NEVER BOTHERED TO HELP. OH, I’M SORRY, DADDY GAVE HIM 40.00 EVERY CHRISTMAS. HIS POOR FATHER HAS NO MONEY, YET HE HAS A CAR AND A NEW TRUCK, A NICE SIZE FISHING BOAT LOADED WITH ALL THE TOYS LIKE DEPTH FINDERS AND EVERYTHING ELSE NEEDED TO RUN A BOAT ON A BIG LAKE, A SNOWMOBILE, A FOUR-WHEELER, ATLEAST 10 PISTOLS AND ATLEAST 15 -20 LONG GUNS, RIFLES, SEMI AUTO-MATIC RIFLES, AND ENOUGH AMMUNITION TO FIGHT THE APHGANISTAN ARMY; RANGE FINDERS, YOU NAME IT, HE HAS IT. YET MY SON SUFFERS JUST BECAUSE HE WAS INTELLIGENT TO OBTAIN AN EDUCATION AND WE PUSHED HE TO DO IT. IF HE DIDN’T GO TO COLLEGE WHERE WOULD HE BE NOW? WORKING FOR RETAILER TO RETAILER, HOPING THEY DON’T CLOSE? OR RESTAURANTS, GROCERY STORE? YOU MIGHT BE LUCKY TO GET A .25 RAISE FOR THE YEAR IF YOU ARE LUCKY. MY SON DID NOT RECEIVE FINANCIAL AID OR SCHOLARSHIPS. THE DORMS WERE TOO EXPENSIVE FOR HIM TO LIVE IN AND THE CONDITIONS OF MOST WEREN’T FIT FOR A DOG. MY SON QUALIFIED AT THE BEST SCHOOLS, NYU, DETROITSCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, RIT. WE HAD TO CHOOSE A SCHOOL THAT MY SON AND I COULD AFFORD. 99% OF THE TIME HE PACKED HIS LUNCH, SNACKS AND DRINKS. NO SIR, WE DID NOT GET HELP. MY INCOME WAS UNDER $4000.00 A YEAR. MANY NIGHTS HE WORKED DOUBLE SHIFTS, RAN HOME FOR A SHOWER AND WENT TO WORK. NO ONE CAN SAY THE GOVERNMENT OR THE DEAD BEAT GAVE MY SON ANYTHING TO MAKE HIS LIFE EASIER. HE WORKED FOR EVERYTHING HE EARNED. IN FACT NOW, TO WORK EXTRA HOURS, HE IS LEAVING THE HOUSE AT 330AM AND WORKING TIL 500PM. DON’T FORGET ITS AN HOUR AND A HALF DRIVE TO WORK!!!! THIS IS NOT AN LAZY AMERICAN CHILD LOOKING FOR A HANDOUT. AMERICA…HOME OF THE FREE…I DON’T THINK SO…..