Education is a powerful entity. It has the power to make individuals better off by increasing the amount of money they can earn during a lifetime. Most importantly, education can transform the individual and their mind.
The goal of every American being able to obtain an affordable post-secondary education is in dire danger. In fact, just last year student loan debt in the U.S. reached over $1 trillion and 25 percent of U.S. government student loans ended up in default.
There is only one comprehensive solution to fixing America’s problem of funding higher education: a tuition-free education funded by the U.S. government.
Education transforms the human mind. Without it, the potential of a person may never be reached. I know that this is true for me.
I have taken many classes in political science and economics at Northern. Without these classes, I wouldn’t have nearly the amount of knowledge and understanding of these subjects that I do today. Without this knowledge, this column may not even exist.
Every American citizen deserves to have access to higher education. Price should never be a barrier.
Yet, many Americans don’t attend a university because of the debt incurred by student loans. With a government student loan default rate at 25 percent, I understand the fear of possible default.
In the past, companies such as Sallie Mae, who ironically denied me a student loan, issued student loans to higher education students. These loans were fully backed by the U.S. government.
When a student defaulted on a loan, Sallie Mae made even more money. Sallie Mae was paid the entire loan amount by the federal government. Then, the federal government sent the General Revenue Corporation, which was also owned by Sallie Mae, to collect the debt that the student owed the federal government.
The GRC would add a 25 percent collection fee onto the student’s loans and would also receive a 28-percent commission on what the student paid back to the government.
This type of practice was ended when Obama passed his Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
This law stopped the federal government’s role in backing federal loans through companies such as Sallie Mae. Instead, the federal government now distributes its student loans directly.
It’s a good start, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough, especially with past actions of the Republican Party.
Just last December, House Republicans proposed to cut $900 million from the Pell Grant program, which would have forced one million students out of the program.
We need a strong, resilient program that Republicans won’t be able to touch in the future, like Social Security today.
In 2005, President George Bush and congressional Republicans tried to partially privatize Social Security, but congressional Democrats and the American people stood in the way.
Countries like Denmark and Finland spend 7.8 and 5.9 percent of their GDP, respectively, on their educational systems. They spend that amount, but also provide universal tuition-free education through all stages of education.
The U.S. only spends 5.5 percent of its GDP on education. In spending less than Denmark and Finland on education, our country falls behind in other factors, such as the amount of student loan debt.
In Denmark and Finland, there are no 25-percent default rates on student loans. That is because there is no tuition.
In those countries, students don’t have to worry about backbreaking student loan debt after college.
In the United States, having high student loan debt is the norm, with the possibility of even defaulting on your student loan.
The U.S. government would only have to invest a few more percentage points of our GDP on post-secondary education to tear down all financial barriers and provide tuition-free education to all its citizens.
No longer would students have to worry about loans being so big that they would default and be forced into bankruptcy.
No longer would outstanding student loan debt surpass that of credit card debt in the United States.
Instead, students could dream about their potential in the future without fear, knowing that nothing could stop them from obtaining an education.
It’s time that the U.S. follows the educational model of other nations like Denmark and provides tuition-free higher education to all its citizens.
Bob • Feb 7, 2012 at 5:21 pm
Tuition should not be free. A cost like this should NEVER be passed along to the taxpayer.
There are too many people attending college that shouldn’t, their reading level, study skills
whatever. The idea of free tuition is about as RETARDED as the presidents healthcare bill.
Quit crying and pay up!
Thomas • Feb 5, 2012 at 5:05 pm
Must say…paragraphs 5 and 6 of Danny’s post pretty much sums it up. It is also something that the North Wind paper pretty much ignores. If you are in student gov’t and want letters or rec from higher up people in the univ then shut up and go along with the program. If you write for the North Wind and want letters of rec and an easy time of things then shut up and don’t cause any big waves.
Thomas • Feb 5, 2012 at 11:24 am
Good points from Danny although implying that people can just go start Microsoft, Facebook, etc is a statement to be marveled. People don’t need a college degree; just go form a business? If Apple or Facebook had failed those guys would have finished their degree and gotten a good job.
The basic premise of Aaron’s article I agree with. Tuition should be nearly free in this country. There are too many reasons that support this opinion. (If you want to reasons go research it btw, or you could just go look for info that supports whatever opinion you might have.)
The most beautiful fact about this article is the fact that it was on page 8, and on the front page there was the headline about Starbucks’ patio. All news is opinion. It’s your opinion which news to present and which facts to include/exclude about the story. I think the article about college tuition should have been front page.
David • Feb 4, 2012 at 11:59 am
After I retired from the US Navy in 2009 I transferred the credits from the two associates degrees I earned on active duty to NMU and began pursuing a bachelors. I left after the winter 2010 semester, without having graduated, when I accepted a position with US Steel that is typically only offered to mechanical or electrical engineers earning more than the average NMU graduate (I did the research). I left without graduating for three reasons really. First, I learned that I didn’t NEED a four year degree to land a solid 6 figure income job with unlimited growth potential. My military experience got me in the door, my abilities, dedication to duty, attention to detail, and integrity will keep me here. The second reason I left was a combination of boredom (school has ALWAYS been boring for me) and the fact that I was finding myself becoming increasingly impatient with my fellow students.
To help understand some of my impatients please keep in mind that I was roughly twice the age of the average college student, so I have far different perspective on life that can only come from age and a 20 year military career. But much of my impatients stemmed from a general attitude of entitlement that is endemic of the generation that the vast majority of college students are part of. The feeling that you are owed something, whether it be free housing, free medical care, free food, or free college educations, simply because you have a heart beat and draw breath without having to put any personal effort into to actually earn is really rather naive at best, arrogant and selfish at worst.
This brings me to my third reason for leaving NMU before I graduated. I have three daughters and it is important to me that I can pay for their college educations when the time comes. I was given a great opportunity with my current position and I jumped on it, assuring their future as well as mine hopefully. But my daughters are not getting any free lunches. They will have to have jobs and contribute to their daily needs while in school as well. My oldest has to pay her phone bill and for her own car insurance (she also had to pay for half of her first car) and she is still in high school. As a parent, I am making sure that she fully understands the value of a dollar and just exactly how hard they are to earn.
The GI Bill is an amazing opportunity for veterans and I find it sad that it is the only way that a young person can perform a service to our nation and get an educational benefit. I am a huge supporter of an idea to create a type of service related organization that would allow young people the opportunity to earn a GI Bill like educational benefit without have to spend time in the military. I realize and fully understand that the military is not for everyone and I wold like to see another option. To that end I have written letters to all of Michigan’s Congressional members asking them to create a non-military service related option to give people an option to actually earn a college education as an alternative to the “free college education for all” idea. Perhaps if enough college students picked up on the idea of asking for the opportunity to earn your college degrees rather than demanding that the government pay for it, it might just go somewhere.
Danny • Feb 2, 2012 at 10:11 pm
While I agree that college has gotten way too costly, I have to disagree with the author’s view that it should be free. Rather it should be cheaper but far more selective on who is admitted. There are many flaws with free college tuition. If it were free, students would not value it since they are not paying for it (by the way, it would never be really free. Someone, namely the taxpayers in society, would have to pay for it,. Since most college students are not paying federal taxes, they could care less about sticking someone else with the bill). In Europe where you have free college tuition, you also have higher drop out rates and lower graduation rates. Students really don’t care that much about it since its given to them care of the very high tax rates in the European social welfare states, most of which are now in serious financial trouble. Paying for something makes you value it. Plus having to work summers or after school to earn money for college builds work skills and some character than helps in finding future employment.
But there’s another problem. Frankly, not all college students are college material. We all know this. Look around in any given class at the students sleeping, Facebooking, staring at the wall, etc. Some students belong in college, They have the desire and skills to succeed and the need to obtain knowledge necessary for their future career. This is not the majority of students though. Many high school students go to college either because they don’t know what to do after graduating high school; or they think it is what they need to do, or they can’t or don’t want to work. NMU and other schools actively recruit anyone and everyone to fill the ranks since its funding is in part influenced by enrollment numbers. Next time your in class and the guy next to you is watching YouTube videos, you’ll see I’m right. Frankly, there are too many people in college who would be better off working. Remember, the founders of Apple, Microsoft and Facebook never finished college. They were motivate and hard working and became successful. Learn a trade, get a skill, start your own business, join the military, etc. You can succeed with hard work. You don’t need college to succeed.
Far too many students also take longer than four years to graduate. Why? Mainly due to flunking courses, changing majors due to lack of direction or goofing off. There’s no excuse for that. If you took longer than four years to graduate and ran up extra debt and lost earnings, you only have yourself to blame for the cost. Every additional year your spend in college is not only a cost due to tuition but a loss of wages for the time not working.
And don’t get me started on college majors. I still can’t believe that students are majoring in English, psychology, sociology, philosophy, etc. They are buying a very expensive ticket to unemployment. Major in IT, engineering, health care. You’ll be wealthy.
But getting back to the idea of free tuition. The problem with author does not address is why tuition keeps going up at a rate far higher than inflation. Car prices don’t increase anywhere near the rate of college tuition. Why? Are you getting more for your money? Are you getting more and better programs to choose from? Are you getting smaller classes? Are you getting classes all taught by professors with Ph.D.s The answer to all of these is NO. Universities are cutting programs to save money. Universities are hiring more teaching assistants, adjuncts and part time faculty with only bachelors and masters degrees in place of full time professors with doctorates and extensive experience. Ever get a class taught by a TA. It’s malpractice. Here’s someone barely older than the typical college student practicing how to teach at our expense. The department hired him because he works for peanuts compared to a professor. But you get what you pay for. Universities are also increasing the size of classes. But what are the universities spending all their additional tuition and state money on? Well, its new buildings whether or not they need them, sports programs, lots of new administrators like new vice provosts, assistant deans, directors, lawyers, assistant coaches, and the like, and new initiatives. All the latter grow the administration at the cost of the degree programs. Welcome to higher education in America. Its a business.
Ever notice that when NMU or any other college raises its tuition, it always comes back and tells students that it is making more financial aid available to them. How nice. We the university are ripping you off for a few hundred or thousand more this year so we can hire more administrators, but we will be very happy to lend you more so you can go even deeper in debt. So thoughtful of them isn’t it.
The solution is to get the universities back to their central mandate – educating the students that truly belong in college. Stricter HS g.p.a. and SAT score requirements, smaller classes taught by real professors, sufficient numbers of up to date programs, etc. Stop running restaurants, golf courses, expensive travel abroad programs. Stop unnecessary construction projects. Dump the loser sports programs. Will it happen? I doubt it. Get your check books out or your loan forms for fall of 2012. I am sure the price will go up another 6 or 7 percent.