As college tuitions rocket into the stratosphere, it was really good to see a story in the Wall Street Journal that schools are reacting to pressure from Washington by dipping into their rich endowments to help families afford tuition.
It's infuriating to me that students so often begin their adult lives with $50,000 or more in student loans to pay back. The Record of Hacksensack, NJ, in a recent story said the Project on Student Debt has tabulated that nearly two-thirds of graduates of four-year schools have debt, with the average being $20,000. That's the equivalent of a home mortgage down payment on their backs before they even enter the workplace.
Those debts can delay their ability to buy homes, which is not good for them or their families or the economy. It also can impair the ability of parents to save for their retirement. Financial gurus are warning parents to let the kids carry their own student loans if it means delaying contributions for retirement. Even though the folks may think they are helping their children by paying for their education, the scene can be very troublesome down the road if the parents cannot support themselves when they are older.
Congress is on the right track here:
Members of Congress -- from both sides of the aisle -- are prodding schools to spend more of their endowments. Many colleges have seen enormous growth in recent years in their endowments, which are donated funds that colleges invest and use the proceeds to support the school's mission. Surveys of hundreds of schools by the National Association of College and University Business Officers show that the percentage of schools with endowments valued at over $1 billion has doubled since 1996, to 8%.
Read the full story by clicking here.
I agree that something needs to be done to make college more reasonably priced so kids can afford to go. When I married my husband still had $25,000 in student losns after being in the workforce for 10 years and he was able to live at home so he didn't have to borrow for living expenses. We are prepared to help pay for our dasughters education but are trying to instill in her that she has to work hard in school to make scholarships more assessible as well. She can then take out loans in which we will help her pay back if she can qualify for the grants and loans as they do go by the parents income as well making it harder for her to get the loans. She aspires to go to an Ivy League School so I hope they are willing to help students out.
Isn't it all about choices.A lot of success can be achieved outside of college.Take that 100K you'd spend and all that time and start a business and be your own boss. There is little preperation for those that choose another path. Most of the money and angst is spent on so called higher learning.From the numbers in the article college sounds like a racket with it's own rules.College is a choice-not a right.You pay to play.
I agree that college isn't for everyone, nor is it a requirement for success. I went to college and my brother didn't, and he makes more money than I do (although I'm not doing too bad).
I also agree that choice is important. But the choice to go to college shouldn't be only for the financially well-off, and the choice to go to a good college shouldn't only be for the rich.
That is, unless we like the idea of an increasingly-stratified society, and the need to import even more of our engineers and scientists from other nations in the future.