My first year of college – Fall of 67 through Summer of 68 – cost me, as I recall, $1,308. There was a bit of a scholarship that didn’t go through my checkbook, so the total might have been a bit more – but in those days, we didn’t have Pell grants and guaranteed student loans. My summer job in 68 paid $2.50 per hour – an even $100 a week for 13 weeks. Some was taken out for taxes and social security – but the point is that college was affordable.
When I worked for FVCC, Dean Hudspeth explained that the costs for tuition and fees rose in proportion to Pell grants – and guaranteed student loans began to replace Pell grants. The higher ed system began to charge more because more (government) money was available, and the people who were paying had free money (i.e. someone else’s money).
I was at South Dakota State University when I noticed that over half of that state’s high school graduates were enrolled in higher education. I recall my shock when I was assigned an advisee whose cumulative GPA was 0.63 – she explained that the student loan was necessary to pay her share of the rent for the apartment she shared with her boyfriend. I suggested the unthinkable – consider dropping out, getting a job, and get rid of the interest on a student loan that, with a 0.63 GPA wasn’t helping her resume. She flipped me off as she left my office. Back to the first sentence: when over half of the high school graduates are enrolling in college, by definition you’re getting a bunch of below average students.
But back to guaranteed student loans: Another young lady – this one bright, attractive and intelligent – had just completed her Ph.D. and learned that her 40G student debt was a bride price that her long-term boyfriend didn’t want to incur. Bad advising. When she had started college, her advisor convinced her to drop her nursing goal, and go into Secondary Ed (English). She went back into the University, completing a masters and doctorate in Sociology, and accumulated the $40 grand bride price that took her out of the marital market.
The problem with student loans is that they don’t finance a sure thing – in the best case, they finance a credential that gives you the opportunity to compete for a job in an already crowded field.
After retiring, I’ve still been dealing with intelligent, competent people – only this time, intelligent people without degrees are teaching me. I picked up a little sawmill – and casual advice from guys who never got a bachelor’s degree keeps me operating the mill and learning how to run it correctly. They learned on the job, and cheerfully (sometimes mockingly) shared that knowledge with me. Wayne shares his knowledge of carpentry – and, as I’m about to complete my 77th trip around the sun, he shows me that there aren’t enough years in front of me to become a good carpenter. Larry took on the task of teaching me a bit about working on diesel engines. Todd took on the challenge of finding where to get the parts to rebuild the Belsaw planer. As an old man, I’m learning some of the skills that my contemporaries learned outside the hallowed halls of the universities.
I’ve spent most of my life in jobs that only a rich society can afford – meaning that you’re a lot more likely to need a mechanic (or a plumber, or an electrician, or a carpenter) than you will ever need a demographer. I’m not sure that guaranteed student loans aren’t training people for jobs where the competition is stiff and and the prospects low. I’m fairly certain that the vocational jobs are a better call – there’s little pay difference, and people actually need plumbers, carpenters and electricians.
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