The college-cost conundrum

“This bill doesn’t make college more affordable, reduce the amount of money students will have to borrow, or do anything about the lack of jobs grads face in the Obama economy,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement.

He’s right, of course. But he’s also being disingenuous — or at least partisan. McConnell knows the Warren plan is likely to be popular because it is expected to save graduates real money on interest payments, which are a huge piece of the debt they are carrying and which are forcing many to alter their career paths, when they are lucky enough to find a job.

McConnell also knows that the GOP isn’t working on the issue of college costs beyond tuition freezes, a vague commitment to privatizing public colleges and funding options and railing against affirmative action programs.

Tuition is higher than it’s ever been, while state and federal aid — both to schools and students — has been falling. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, the percentage of public college and university budgets funded by tuition is twice what it was in 1987. And there is evidence thatch of the money is going to administration — new positions, additional support and big top-level salaries — even as schools turn more and more to adjuncts (like me), who work on an as-needed basis. It is a corporate model — just-in-time, temp-driven service means no benefits costs, but it also means students are paying more and getting less time with professors (adjuncts do the best they can, but they often have to teach at multiple schools and can only offer limited office hours). The tuition freeze option will only force more of this on schools.

The cost issue is complicated, but it cannot be addressed until we start putting money back into the schools and expanding grant opportunities for students. You cannot remove billions in government financing over three decades and then pretend that it has not had an effect

Warren’s bill is not intended to fix all of this, but it should helped economically stressed graduates.

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet