Now that Congress has approved a compromise plan to raise the federal debt ceiling, what do you think of it?
Related story
Debt deal becomes law, averting default (New York Times)
Bill Smith
Bill Smith is the editor and publisher of Evanston Now. More by Bill Smith
Grad students losing out
The thing that bothers me is how graduate students are going to be losing the subsidy on their Stafford loans. It's already tough enough that there aren't many grants/scholarships available for graduate school so now you're going to make it even harder to afford it? College expenses keep on going up but the government isn't doing much to help make it affordable. The availability of federal aid is not increasing with the increases of college tuition.
Grad school loans
Donna – Uncle Sugar isn't just now making grad school hard to afford, he has been doing that for years by pumping unlimited liquidity into the student loan market without regard for borrowers' ability to repay.
This is done to "make college affordable" but as we all saw with the housing boom, when unlimited liquidity is available without a plan for repayment, prices of the underlying asset go way up without regard to intrinsic value and the borrowers and lenders get squeezed.
Three of this country's most heavily subsidized markets are healthcare, education and housing. Is it really any wonder that the pricing mechanism for all three has gotten way out whack with economic reality? Oh but, fear not, the government has a solution most of the time, more subsidies.
Ok dear, we have maxed out
Ok dear, we have maxed out all our credit cards. Should we apply for 10 more or just 7 more? argue argue argue. Ok, let's just get 8, and we should only buy a used porsche instead of a new one.
Whatever- As if the debt ceiling means anything. America will fix its spending problem when the market forces it. And it will.
Loans and costs
While loans and government grants serve a purpose, they also create a problem—as do other fundings.
With government there to help/support students, the schools realize they can increase tuition and other costs and the government [state and federal] will increase their funding. Schools—sometimes from students wanting more gyms, more student unions, and many more things; some from salary demands from janitors to professor to administration; sometimes from donors and administration wanting more impressive buildings; etc.—push up the costs of education.
Several books—to be found at EPL—document this cycle and how some schools have fought it. Also these books ask students and parents to ask what they really want—-a teaching school where students come first or a research school where research is first and teaching may be left to the weakest teachers or grad students.
Unless the costs come under control higher education may become more and more out of reach. The government can't keep funding bad policies and ever increasing tuition.