this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2024
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Summary

College enrollment among 18-year-old freshmen fell 5% this fall, with declines most severe at public and private non-profit four-year colleges.

Experts attribute the drop to factors including declining birth rates, high tuition costs, FAFSA delays, and uncertainty over student loan relief after Supreme Court rulings against forgiveness plans.

Economic pressures, such as the need to work, also deter students.

Despite declining enrollment, applications have risen, particularly among low- and middle-income students, underscoring interest in higher education. Experts urge addressing affordability and accessibility to reverse this trend.

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[–] ChicoSuave 41 points 3 days ago (2 children)

"Student loans" are now one of the most ubiquitous phrases in politics and it's synonymous with "a burden you can never escape" so it makes sense that the folks who can use assistance will avoid it. The entire fight about student loans has always been to highlight the cost and make some folks turn away from higher education all together. Education has always been under attack for as long as most of us have been alive and this is another front in the war.

First they attack public education and exhaust teachers with overwork with underpayment. Now the right wants to attack Academia, the source of science which shows how destructive the current system has become and how it will evolve. Elon will probably entirely axe FAFSA and funding for higher education, with the aim to have their endowments fed by wealthy elite who dictate what makes it onto a syllabus. The right is so fucking exhausting.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago (2 children)

American student loans are a scam anyways. The interest rates are outrageous and the federal government subsidizing them, but then they get handled by private businesses in a system know for failure and fraud.

Student loan forgiveness shouldnt be a thing. It shows that the system is trash to begin with and the "forgiveness" remains arbitrary and is just a carrot on a stick.

Make a system where the loans are granted directly by the government and dont incurr interest. No for profit skimming middleman, no permanent debt. Offer a regulated bonus for people who pay back X% before Y years pass, so people are incentivized to pay back quickly, rather than delaying payback.

More importantly remove the outrageous enrollment costs per semester.

[–] FlyingSquid 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Is it a scam when it's your only option? Seems more like a gouge to me.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

It's on the same level as loan sharking

[–] FlyingSquid 3 points 3 days ago

Yeah, but you generally don't have the choice of either going to a loan shark or not being able to have the career you want for your life.

I'm just thinking 'scam' is the wrong word when no one except the wealthy have any other real option. The military and athletic scholarships, I guess?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago
[–] mineralfellow 2 points 3 days ago

It is cheaper to live in Europe for the duration of the degree. I have friends who did this.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 days ago (4 children)

The interest rates are outrageous

They're in line with other loans.

[–] bestagon 10 points 3 days ago

It’s outrageous that a loan for higher education comes with an interest rate at all. The increased productivity of a college graduate should cover the need to profit off the loan. Extra silly because as a graduate you only see compensation for a paltry fraction of that increased productivity.

[–] qantravon 6 points 3 days ago

Depends, some are some aren't.

However, in my opinion, the thing that makes student loans crazy is how the payments are structured.

With other big lifetime loans (mortgage, car, etc.), they are structured with a fixed term and the interest is factored in from the beginning. You pay $X a month for Y years, and that's it, it's all paid off. All you have to do is keep up with those payments, and you know how much they'll be from the time you agree to the loan.

Student loans are structured more like credit cards. If you just pay how much they tell you to, interest will accrue, the loan grows, it capitalizes, and the term is indefinite. You can pay on it consistently for decades and never make any progress.

There's practically no assistance to figure out how much you really need to pay, and sometimes even attempting to overpay to cover the interest doesn't help, as they'll apply the extra towards the next payment instead, and so extra interest still accrues.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

7% is a scam. You wouldnt buy a house on 7% interest rates. And an education seems to be a safer investment. Especially for the government that should have an interest in education to drive the economy.

[–] bitchkat 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Where do you think housing mortgage rates were a couple of years ago?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

They used to be at 3-4% in 2019-2020. Holy hell, you are at almost 7% now. Let me reprhase then: the US is a scam. 7% on a 30 year mortgage means you pay about 40% interest in total on the loan amount.

[–] randon31415 4 points 3 days ago

They’re in line with other loans.

Which is the problem. Loans used to be 3%, now they are 7 to 8%

[–] rottingleaf 1 points 3 days ago

For me it seems as if those subsidized and guaranteed loans were a bad idea (a system with positive feedback) in their entirety.

The reason education costs are so outrageous is the market created by their existence. And the loans themselves are a perpetually growing moneymaking machine. It's like pouring water into Saharan sand.