Mitt Romney was infamously dismissive a while back when asked how he would address the dangerous explosion in student debt.
“It would be popular for me to stand up and say I’m going to give you government money to pay for your college, but I’m not going to promise that,” he said, to sustained applause from the crowd at a high-tech metals assembly factory here. “Don’t just go to one that has the highest price. Go to one that has a little lower price where you can get a good education. And hopefully you’ll find that. And don’t expect the government to forgive the debt that you take on.”
The message was simple: college is a good thing, but know your place.
What’s striking is the failure of a candidate who has staked his election prospects on his economic expertise to see at access to school and the explosion of school debt are two of the central economic issues of our times.
College has been the entry ticket for many to the middle class, and access to better schools has helped create some of the (admittedly limited) class mobility that had been a hallmark of our economy in the past.
The reality is that we are looking at a massive debt bubble that is going to explode and do far more damage to the younger generations than the national deficit, saddling an entire generation with debt that will smother their economic potential.
There is an estimated $1 trillion in student debt out there, with more than half of all college students being forced to borrow to fund at least a portion of their education.
As The New York Times points out in an editorial today, about one third of all borrowers drop out of school with one I six of those defaulting on their student loans.
This will have devastating personal consequences for the students involved. Just s significantly, it will be a rain on the economy with debt repayment taking up much of the future earnings of American workers.
That’s what places this squarely on government’s plate. Only the government has the resources to step in and ensure that a) college tuition remains somewhat affordable by subsidizing public college budgets, and b) providing a much larger quantity of grant money and low-interest, federally backed loans.
Hank Kalet 