Our Debt for Diploma System

Our higher education institutions have become a debt for diploma sytem. The DM Register has a story today about how Iowa St. students average over $29,000 in debt.

The consequence of the debt is that fewer students are choosing lower-paying public interest careers, as they seek higher-paying jobs to pay off loans, said Chris Lindstrom, higher education program director for the Public Interest Research Group, which manages the student debt campaign.

She blames the debt on less federal and state aid, which results in higher tuition and fees. "Debt limits opportunity, which is counter to what higher education and affordable and accessible higher education is supposed to be about," she said.

I just finished reading a book on this subject called Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-somethings Can't Get Ahead. I heard the author on Al Franken and decided to pick the book up since I am a 20-something and just graduated.

The theme of the book is the debt for diploma system that getting a degree has become. In the 1960's and 1970's college was affordable because of financial aid (which is not student loans) and if you did not want to go to college you were able to get a decent job with just a high school degree. Now, the financial aid is mainly in student loans, tuition has skyrocketed and students who do graduate from college have dug themselves such a deep hole already. They then put off traditional markers of adulthood such as buying a house and having children until later in life. Worse, is that many students see the high tution costs and don't want loans, so they attend community colleges or don't go to school at all. The author calls this "downsizing your dreams."

Here in Iowa, tutition at our state universities have gone up something like 55% in the past five years. I applaud the current Governor for talking about the importance of pre-Kindergarten for our children. However, I feel instead of a K-12 education system, we need a K-12+ system that provides affordable community colleges and universities.