15% of programs graduate students who carry more federal student loan debt than their annual income. dailysign.al/2OOU8Kt via @MCAmselem @DailySignal
@MCAmselem @DailySignal At the University of Miami, students who study mechanical engineering graduate with a median total debt of $20,500 and earn a median starting salary of $66,400. However, political science majors graduate with similar debt, $18,269, but earn a median starting salary of $37,500.
@MCAmselem @DailySignal Providing the same loan to both of those student populations paints an inaccurate picture of their earnings potential. The private sector, by contrast, would take into account earnings potential before providing a loan to a student who may not be able to pay it back.
@MCAmselem @DailySignal Even more problematic, students who obtain a master’s degree from New York University in film/video and photographic arts graduate with a median total debt of a whopping $168,568, but earn a median starting salary of $29,600.
@MCAmselem @DailySignal Unfortunately, American taxpayers are on the hook for students who are not able to make loan payments.
It is simply poor public policy for Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars to go toward degrees of such questionable value.
It is simply poor public policy for Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars to go toward degrees of such questionable value.
@MCAmselem @DailySignal Indeed, a privately funded student loan market would have identified such programs early on and either ceased to provide loans for students who want to pursue, for example, a film degree at NYU, or simply charged higher interest rates commensurate with the likelihood of repayment
@MCAmselem @DailySignal Instead, our accreditation system, which accredits institutions in their entirety, shields students from seeing the true value of individual courses of study at a college or university.
@MCAmselem @DailySignal Today, Americans are debating whether or not a college education should be tuition-free, with the cost of education transferred to all taxpayers.
@MCAmselem @DailySignal With overwhelming evidence that many colleges and universities are saddling students with significant debt, the debate should shift to whether or not federal policies are enabling a system that is failing students.
@MCAmselem @DailySignal At the very least, policymakers should reform the federal student loan programs so that taxpayers are no longer financing programs that leave students worse off.
