From the editor: What's really behind the student-loan bailout plan?
Middlebury — President Obama came out last week to announce that he wants to help America’s in-debt college students. It’s essentially a college-loan bailout that’s no different than the various bailout schemes we’ve seen in recent years.
Outstanding U.S. student loans will reach $1 trillion before the end of the year according to many news reports. The President’s new measures are supposed to ease the debt burden on those trying to repay their federal college loans.
Called “Pay As You Earn”, Obama’s plan would lower monthly student loan payments (guess who’s picking up the tab?). That may be fine and dandy for supporters of the plan, but what about the fat-cat colleges and universities that caused the financial pain in the first place?
When it comes to paying more taxes, the President has asked all of us rich folks to sacrifice and ante up, yet I didn’t hear him call upon wealthy campuses to sacrifice, too. How about trimming campus fat in order to help deflate the nation’s astronomical tuition-loan debt balloon?
It’s time for college and university administrators to start addressing the issue: Why does Big Education—unlike Big Oil, Big Phrama, and Big Finance—get a pass when it comes to assigning blame for being part of the problem of our national financial distress? If health care costs are such a national concern why not the costs of higher education?
I can think of a few things on campus to eliminate to help reduce the hyper cost of education. Such trimming would save we the taxpayers the cost of picking up Obama’s federal-loan tab for helping ease student payments.
Here are few cost-reduction ideas right off the top of my head—
Who needs cushy student e-lounges and upscale restaurant-style dining facilities? Let students go to a dorm room or library to surf the Net. And what’s wrong with old-style, no-frills cafeteria dining?
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