The Killing of American Higher Education (Part 5)

Alan J. Yeck

The Dirty, Rotten, Crooked, Broken, Student Loan System and the Immoral Bankers, Brokers, Collectors, and Corrupt Politicians Who Make Billions Off of It While the Courts Garnish Wages and Destroys Lives

There Are Solutions

There are solutions beyond what is offered in the political rhetoric we hear from those running for office who do not understand how all the pieces of this crisis connect and those that do but either fight fixing it or only pretend to fix it to ensure continued campaign contributions for themselves. So, whether we are dealing with a criminal in on the fix or someone who just doesn’t care enough to understand how it all works, it doesn’t matter.

As a baby boomer myself, I’ve heard my friends say things like “I paid for my education… These kids today are just lazy… They expect everything to be given to them… My kids worked three jobs and paid for their own education… Tell those damn kids to get off my lawn!” I don’t think they are mean or ignorant but rather misinformed. They compare their personal experiences to those of today’s students,  and it’s like comparing apples to horse shit–comparisons do not work. Times have changed, and they’ve especially changed for higher education.

These student loan debtors are not lazy, or ungrateful or whiners or trying to cheat the system. They were preached to by us, all of us, on the importance of education and its necessity in being successful. We told them that blindly, not understanding the manipulation that was going on behind the scenes. Remember how I started this piece with the politicians of the early 1970s and their view of youth then as pinko, commie, long-haired hippies? If you automatically assume today’s generations (millennials and Gen Z) to be lazy and that they expect everything to be given to them, then congratulations! Apparently, it’s your turn to take on the role of the small-minded, bigoted, American citizen.

The most recent crop of Democratic presidential candidates proposed solutions to student debt that ranged from doing nothing to forgiving all debt. There’s a lot of room in between those two extremes, but thus far all proposed “fixes” have been partial and would only prolong the crisis, which concurrently prolongs corruption. Nothing is fixed, but the money keeps flowing to profiteers. Partial fixes suggested by recent political candidates include:

1. Lower to no interest rates
2. Changes in the bankruptcy code to allow private student loans to be discharged
3. Free community colleges, vocational schools, and training programs for all
4. Free Ccommunity colleges, vocational schools, and training programs on a sliding scale based on income
5. Free education at all state schools based on income
6. Free education at all state schools for everyone
7. Government- funded savings accounts at birth created for every child at birth to be used to pay for education once they turn 18
8. Federal grants to states who invest in public colleges
9. Expand Pell grants to $10,000 for low- income families
10. Free education in exchange for service in the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps
11. Expand the currently broken public service loan forgiveness program
12. Federal government to refinance the loans up to $27,000
13. National service program that allows young people to join the military or aid programs addressing climate, community or infrastructure and receive a scholarship in exchange
14. “Tweak” the current income-driven repayment system
15. Raising the zero- dollar repayment threshold on borrowers earning 250% of the poverty line
16. No interest accrual for three years
17. Half of interest exempted
18. Loans forgiven, tax-free, after 20 years of payments
19. Undefined portion of loans forgiven, if on federal assistance, for three out of five years
20. Zero funding for for-profit colleges
21. Expanded GI Bill benefits that veterans can use to pay for their education
22. Americans who commit to one year of public service would receive two years’ worth of college tuition -free. Those who commit to two years of service would have four -years paid for.
    1. Qualifying roles include, working as special education aides and teaching assistants, home health aides and nurses for nonprofit organizations and other jobs in the federal, state and local governments,
23. Allowing the savings accounts (and tax benefits) of 529 colleges for job training, credentialing, licensing
24. Free for those aged between 17 and to 24 who participate in public service.
25. 60 percent of in-state tuition is covered, but if the borrower works for three years in-state, they would get their full in-state tuition bill covered
26. Free for public school educators after they spend five years working in public schools
    1. Suspend all student loan payments while working for the entire time they work in public schools
    2. 20 percent of debit is forgiven for public school teachers each year they teach

27. Eliminate all student debt regardless of current income
28. Free college for anyone with an income under $25,000
29. Forgive up to $50,000 of student loan debt for borrowers earning under $100,000
30. Federal government buys all outstanding debt – borrowers repay 10 percent of income for ten10 years.
31. Expanding loan forgiveness for borrowers who work in underserved communities

Only one candidate has mentioned the outrageous, unjustified cost of higher education itself and stated that it must be reined in. The following—all of it—is what must happen to get our educational system back to truly being the best in the world -–-not just the most expensive and costly.

• Change the bankruptcy code to allow student loans, both federal and private, to be dischargeable again without the added burden of having to prove undue hardship. Bankruptcy is the single greatest mechanism that would right the educational market. When it was removed, those that removed it and encouraged its removal began making huge amounts of money, and the corrupt system we have today was born.
  • The vast majority of student loan debtors will not use this option because it’s still a terrible process to go through, but those who have hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loan debt caused by compounded interests may have no other option. Giving debtors $50,000 right off the bat gives the appearance of helping but only ensures continued corruption. The game continues and its dirty players continue to make tremendous amounts of money from the millions of borrowers whose student loan debt well exceeds $50,000.
• All student loans currently not in default, deferment or forbearance should be recalculated from the original cost at zero percent interest.
  • Student loans must be recalculated at the original costs without additional interest charges. All monies already paid should be deducted from this number.
  • Establish a new formula for any remaining monthly payments that recognizes the true costs of living in today’s America. Borrowers must be able to afford car payments or transportation costs, a mortgage or rent, insurance and maintenance payments, food, savings and emergency funds a normal percentage. Living a normal, stable life has to be the baseline, and the collection agencies should answer to it. The current formulas make it so it’s impossible to consistently make payments, which is what is counted on so students go into default and interest gets jacked up again.
• Establish a free public K-16 system, which would also include trade schools and apprentice programs. The education of a country’s citizens should be prioritized the same as any other national security interests.
  • Promote the value of alternate methods of education.
• Traditional colleges and universities must be held accountable for their promises, costs, and fees.
  • Reinstate the gainful employment rule and expand it to all institutions regardless of nonprofit or for-profit status. This rule would require higher education institutions to prove their graduates can find gainful employment to maintain access to federal financial aid. It also requires that schools assess what their cost for debt loan would be to their earnings.
  • The total cost of a degree must be shown up front, including all fees.
• All student loan debt must be discharged for students who acquired that debt from schools that have since gone out of business or had their accreditation revoked.
• Cap the loan amount allowed to be borrowed and put toward a degree. Universities will have to meet the market prices rather than just passing on their wasteful financial practices to students.

Epilogue

President Johnson’s war on poverty included funding to help those without the financial resources to attend college. The theory being that the higher the education one pursues, regardless of degree or skill/trade, the more likely they will bet able to support themselves, their families, and our country. It was a very worthy dream, but the irony is that this very program, which was established to help our disenfranchised, has made them the largest holders of student loan debt.

The old sons-of-bitches politicians quietly removed the single tool that would force financial corrections in the higher education markets: bankruptcy. This decision was the single greatest cause of today’s crisis but also of the billions of dollars made by corrupt politicians and the student loan industry (which is why congress kept it in place.  They and their masters are making too much money to want to change it). It locked the metaphorical cell door on the congressionally made student loan debtor’s prison.

Congress expanded financial aid regardless of income/need and then created a quasi-governmental corporation (Sallie Mae) to handle the huge increase in student loans being made as a result. By doing so,  they established a buffer between themselves and the corruption,  allowing them to look you in the eye and lie, all the time with their pockets open . From there, dozens of corrupt collection/servicing companies began making billions of dollars off of student loans every year.

For-profit colleges began to crawl out of the woodwork and grew exponentially with all this new money to be made. Many of these schools, as well as traditional nonprofits, were less concerned with quality education than they were with making money for themselves and their shareholders. As long as the students could borrow more (and never be able to declare bankruptcy), they were going to charge more.

The student loan industry continued misinforming students of their options and used unfair formulas to determine what the monthly payments would be. By doing this, they ensured defaults, which meant more interest and larger amounts to be paid back (and students still can’t declare bankruptcy on loans in the hundreds-of-thousands of dollars because of compounded interest).

Universities and colleges, having no real oversight, mismanaged their institutions and then covered up those mistakes by inflating tuition costs and tacking on semi-hidden fees.

The financial industry, seeing the huge profits to be made, applied financial instruments similar to those used in the mortgage crisis to student loan debt. The more the student borrowed, the more they defaulted, they more money to be made from them.

This trillion-dollar industry, created by congress, now benefits congress. They are also the only ones that can change it unless the judges begin take notice of the current system’s insanity and fraud. It’s always about the money, folks, isn’t it? We hear the people we’ve elected speak of honor and ethics and morals. They tell us how they are helping us and how important we are, but the reality is that our importance ends the moment a winner is announced in an election.

Together we must cross all political and social lines and come together as Americans to hold politicians and schools accountable now and for the future of our country.

Author’s Note: My Story

I defaulted on my school loan during the mortgage crisis of 2009 (I had to choose between house payments or student loan payments). The loan servicer called me and said I had to pay them $83,000 within five days after agreeing to default. No other option was ever given to me, and I sure as hell didn’t have $83,000–ever!  Years later I was contacted by both FH Cann and Navient and presented with a bill of $139,000. I said no way was that what I owed. I was told I could either agree to that amount and sign the papers stating that it was correct, or they would come after me in court and garnish my wages. Fear. Shame. Embarrassment.

Garnishment involving my new employer. I signed. In other contexts, it would be called extortion, but not in the student loan industry. I signed. I’m on a forbearance at the moment, but my payment plan is $818.00 per month for the next 29 years (I’m 58 years old now). That means the total cost of my $31,000 loan will be over $280,000. I have nothing but social security for retirement, and I know they’ll come after that and legally take that too. I’ve made poor, regrettable financial choices in my life and would like to start over by declaring bankruptcy, like many have before me, including former President Trump (six business bankruptcies). But that would limit the profits the student loan system reaps and puts into its puppet politicians’ pockets, so we all continue to be fucked. Even if you’re not in this position, please know they are still fucking you over, too, because any system that allows only the ultra-rich to get richer leaves anyone else with crumbs, if anything at all. A corrupt system hurts us all, and the fact that it’s so blatantly exists, openly flaunted and its fraudulent practices celebrated dissolves the very fabric of our democracy. It cannot be left to destroy us any longer.

I’ve lived a life of shame, anxiety and depression for many years as student loan companies would call my home, my work, my family members. They had robot calls leaving messages about my debt on my boss’s phone. I’ve written to my congressmen, senators, governor, attorney general… And only one thing has changed: M=me. I will not allow these motherfuckers to hold me down anymore. This is my story, but I know there are millions–millions more!– just like mine. The shame is not on us but on them. Fight! Fight! Fight!

This is the fifth and final installment of a five-part series by Alan Yeck reflecting on the student loan system, its challenges, and the far-reaching effects it can have. For a full list of works cited, please view the last installment in the series.

We have the power to change the business of education back to a right for all. Contact your representatives and ask them to listen to these facts and national narratives.

Read Part 1 here

Read Part 2 here

Read Part 3 here

Read Part 4 here

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Full Series: Works Cited

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Arvedlund, E., & Fernandez, B. (2019, July 1). Your student loan servicers-Navient, Nelnet, and Fedloan-pay big bucks to CEOs and lobbyists. Retrieved from The Philadelphia Inquirer: https://www.inquirer.com/business/student-loans-navient-fedloan-great-lakes-nelnet-mohela-slsa-scott-buchanan-doe-20190805.html

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Open Letter to those in Opposition to Student Loan Forgiveness

By Patrick Donohue

These will be the first days of the last days of Student Loans.

Sure, you should pay back what you have legitimately been loaned. Legally. Legitimately. Prudently. Fairly.

Are student loans legal?

Sure, lawyers have seen to that.

Legitimate?

There is no credit check for student loan borrowers. The “collateral” is a pending and hoped for education and its earning power.

For Parent Plus Loan credit checks, they do not ask debt to earnings ratio. Incomplete credit check equals illegitimate loan.

Predatory?

We can trust a government program, right? They’re just trying to help, right?  The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” – Ronald Reagan

“Trustworthy lenders make it their goal to lend to qualified borrowers who will be able to repay their loan. With predatory lending, however, the lender is looking to take advantage of the borrower’s situation.“ (Desire to earn an education) (studentlloanhero.com)

“In many cases, these (Predatory) loans carry high fees and interest rates… all to the benefit of the lender… “Predatory lenders … induce and assist a borrower to take a loan that they will not reasonably be able to pay back.” (Investopedia.com)

Student loans are NOT a fair trade transaction to gain an education.

What started out as an innovative idea to allow downtrodden members of the world’s greatest society to become educated and improve their lives and those of their countrymen has been turned into a financial fiasco; to the point where lower income students and their families and even the masses of the American middle class can ill afford to attend college and take on its attending debt.

Ethical?

Those involved in the Student Loan Program have allowed our government, universities, and their bankers to chase profit and disregard our national well-being. We now cringe at the looming sight of the $1.5 TRILLION debt. Too bad? Just pay?

In the recent sub-prime home loan crisis, if you could not pay on your home loan, the house was repossessed. If you become unable to repay a student loan, you are liable to be harassed and hounded with no statutes of limitation and no viable collateral, since you were improperly and incompletely vetted.

Along the way, with the help and persuasion from the banks, those in charge removed some and then all legitimate bankruptcy protections and limitations, flinging disproportionate responsibility onto the borrower and relieving the banker or lender of any risk or responsibility, because the government guaranteed the loans.

Then the universities saw the “free money” and felt free, themselves, to raise tuition at four times the rate of inflation, while incomes remained static.

This loan program was supposed to build us up, but it is tearing us down. FDR said, “We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.”

If we no longer build our American youth, we are in danger to watching the rest of the world surpass us and take the lead in science, technology, and innovation. We may outsource science and technology and in-source healthcare providers to “save money” and “increase profit share” but in doing so, we merely increase global corporate profits, as we sell our projects and jobs and our souls and livelihoods to the lowest international bidder. All the while, we are compromising American prosperity, integrity and even security. 

There is some return on the investment and many are better off than before, but millions of borrowers and their families have become trapped with unpayable loans by sophisticated and cynical business tactics.

Corruption?

What about, ”I paid back my loans. You should, too.”? Congratulations. You have been used.

Some might be able to repay, but the payments didn’t merely go for education. Millions of dollars in salaries and bonuses and stock options were pocketed by CEOs of the loan servicers (Sallie Mae, Navient, Nelnet to name a few). Millions more were “contributed” to colleges to recommend loans and to candidates and members of Congress (Opensecrets.org) to pass policies that favor the lenders.

Even current President Biden and several former presidents have received “contributions” from the student loan industry. Former President Trump allowed his name to be used to form a “university” which encouraged and aided students to take out loans to attend the now defunct institution which has been ordered to repay millions.

Misappropriation?

Millions of dollars of student loan “profits” (upwards of $50 Billion per year, including fees on defaulted loans) are used to fund, in part, the Affordable Care Act; and billions of dollars of loans were repackaged and sold as assets to fund retirement accounts on Wall Street.

Our own government and its contractors and colleges double dipped and made huge profits on the backs of students and their families and didn’t provide job and advancement opportunities as corporations and businesses moved their operations overseas.

This will be the end of the road since we are now rightly skeptical of the instigators and the enablers.

Wanna Make America Great Again? Cancel all student loans, restore bankruptcy protection and responsible lending practices, and most of all, revamp higher education finance and Make College Accessible Again.

The country is already paying in dollars and lost opportunities.   

Theodore Roosevelt once said, “A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.”

May we take this opportunity to remake the funding of college education into something better.

Patrick Donohue

https://www.change.org/p/pandemic-stimulus-cancel-student-loans-by-executive-order

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon: Student Loans Are “Irrational”

Patrick Donohue grew up in Salinas, California and is a former secondary teacher and coach and is semi-retired after a twenty-year career at AT&T. He graduated from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California in the 1970’s with minimal student debt. He and his family have seen their four daughters all graduate from public universities in California and are in the process of attempting to pay off a much more substantial educational bill. They now reside in San Diego, California.

The Killing of American Higher Education (Part 4)

Alan J. Yeck

The Dirty, Rotten, Crooked, Broken, Student Loan System and the Immoral Bankers, Brokers, Collectors, and Corrupt Politicians Who Make Billions Off of It While the Courts Garnish Wages and Destroys Lives

The Modern Philistines

David faced one giant Philistine and defeated him. The modern Philistines never forgot this lesson and therefore they attack today with overwhelmingly larger giants, both in numbers and in strength. Individual student loan debtors cannot afford the legal fees to challenge the system, and that’s even if the courts had any balls to stand up and make their own definitions of “undue hardship”.

Bill Clinton was paid nearly $18 million over a five-year period to be the honorary chancellor of a for-profit edcuation network, Laureate International Universities (multiple lawsuits have been filed against this organization). His contract with them concluded in 2015 as Hillary started her run for president. During her time as Secretary of State, after Bill was honorary chancellor, the U.S. State Department gave $55 million in grants to a non-profit organization chaired by Laureate’s chairman, Douglas Becker.

The following was taken from a report by David Halperin, published on June 21st, 2016, “Friends In High Places: Who Endorses America’s Troubled For-Profit Colleges?” posted on the web page Republic Report: Investigating How Money Corrupts Democracy. I have kept the hyperlinks in case you want to dive deeper and would urge you to read the full report found here.

This by no means identifies all the players involved in this nightmare. It would probably also include your congressman, your senators (all three branches of the federal government), your state reps, governors and attorneys general who have not moved forward in investigations and prosecution for political reasons. All are involved in the creation and maintenance of a system so corrupt that it is unparalleled to anything in the history of the United States. Some of the below are still active in one capacity or the other and others have moved on or are deceased.

“I went to college hoping to make a difference in the lives of my future students. I came out with a debt around [$50,000], could not get full-time work, so I went back to get my master’s in special ed. I had four credits to finish, but my mom got sick so I had to quit school. I am 53 years old and now owe over [$130,000] with interest. I can’t buy a house, have no retirement [fund] and will never pay this off. The American dream is out of reach. Unless I win the lottery, I will be paying until I die and even then it won’t be paid off!” said Jeanne Mallett. 

The Damage and Destruction Well Beyond a Bad Credit Rating

The destruction caused by garnished wages, garnished tax returns, garnished social security payments and unfair monthly payments go much deeper than a bad credit rating. Being financially crippled, being in a government-sanctioned debtors’ prison literally destroys the American soul. It’s not about the money but our American understanding of what is societally right or wrong and how the student loan system openly and completely, violates those beliefs. You cannot continue to fuck people over and over again and again and maintain a functioning society – at least not the one we grew up believing in. Truth. Honor. Justice.

In a study at Northwestern, those with higher debt levels relative to their incomes reported much higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression, a larger presence of mental disorders, drug dependency, and poorer health overall. In a survey by Student Loan Planner, one in 15 student loan borrowers has considered suicide because of their loans. I believe that number is much higher on a national scale. People consider suicide when hope disappears, and the student loan system does just that – kills the hope that anything will ever get better. Other studies show that student loan debtors constantly lose sleep over their loans, which has prevented them from taking care of themselves or purchasing health insurance. Those who do have health insurance are more likely to see a mental health professional to help deal with the stress of debt.

Economics

The average graduate will leave college owing almost $40,000 in student loans. While industry folks (politicians, judges, collection agencies, higher education administrators, etc.) are concerned with shaking down the individual, there is a much broader, negative effect on the U.S. economy. You will never turn on the the news and see that the markets are on the verge of crashing globally because Lydia and Marcus went into default on their loans. Student loan debt is a slow, painful death for the individual and affects sustained long-term economic growth. Besides the obvious hit on the home buying market, millions of these borrowers have no savings or retirement fund. With collectors garnishing social security, what little folks do have is not enough to live on. You will see an increase in homelessness and all related social issues, including hunger, disease, crime and drug use — all amplified tenfold if this corruption isn’t addressed.

Advocates

There are many individuals and organizations out there fighting the good fight. Below are a few of them to check out, and please, help them in any way you can. Considering the amount of money at stake for corrupt politicians and the loan industry, it’s truly incredible that we are making any headway to bring attention to these criminals and the damage they continue to do to our country.

• Student Loan Justice https://studentloanjustice.org/
• Student Debt Crisis https://studentdebtcrisis.org/
• Student Borrower Protection Center https://protectborrowers.org/
• Harvard’s Project on Predatory Student Lending https://predatorystudentlending.org/
• Higher Ed Not Debt https://higherednotdebt.org/

This is the fourth installment of a five-part series by Alan Yeck reflecting on the student loan system, its challenges, and the far-reaching effects it can have. For a full list of works cited, please view the last installment in the series.

We have the power to change the business of education back to a right for all. Contact your representatives and ask them to listen to these facts and national narratives.

Read Part 1 here

Read Part 2 here

Read Part 3 here

The Killing of American Higher Education (Part 3)

Alan J. Yeck

The Dirty, Rotten, Crooked, Broken, Student Loan System and the Immoral Bankers, Brokers, Collectors, and Corrupt Politicians Who Make Billions Off of It While the Courts Garnish Wages and Destroys Lives

The Black Hole of Incompetent Leadership in Higher Education

Universities teach business education (best practices in leadership, management, finance, accounting, organizational behavior, HR, etc., and all the processes that go with these) but they seldom apply it to their own operations. It can often be an ego-driven, personality-based free-for-all from the top down in constant turmoil hidden from outside eyes.

A 2018 report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has the U.S. spending more on higher education than any other country in the world with the exception of Luxembourg (college is free  for the citizens of the small country, so we’re still number one on higher education spending) but the results are far from what they should be.

Andreas Schleicher, OECD director for education and skills says that “The U.S. is in a class of its own… Spending per student is exorbitant, and it has virtually no relationship to the value that students could possibly get in exchange.” Averaging $30,000 per student the U.S. spends double what the other developed countries spend. The $1.6 trillion question is, why?

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics comparing the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all goods, the average annual increase in college tuition between 1980 and 2019 grew by nearly 300 percent compared to a 120 percent increase for everything else. This is only the average tuition cost increase; there are many public and private institutions that have increased much more. In one generation, we have crippled the great equalizer of education and placed millions of Americans in a modern-day debtor’s prison. The extent of the damage and destruction that is being done to our country from this system is deep, wide and if not addressed in full, will have a cataclysmic effect on the nation’s health for decades.

State Reductions in Subsidies

Over the last 30 years, public dollars spent on higher education were drastically reduced year after year, and the only way for higher education to survive was to increase tuition and pass the financial burden on to the consumer – and that model continues to this day. I’ve heard this repeated over and over by senior administration to the trustees, the faculty, the parents, so much so that they begin to believe it.

The fact is that in inflation-adjusted public dollars, much more is spent on higher education today than in the 1970s. In fact, public investment in higher education is more than ten times what it was then. Compare this to military spending in the same time period which only increased twice as much. States did significantly reduce funding during the last great recession, but we are still looking at an $80+ billion subsidy, so it still doesn’t account for the increases in the current price of post-secondary education. Studies also show that when state funding does increase, there is little reduction, if any, in tuition (Rizzo, Ehrenberg).

The Bennett Hypothesis

The Bennett Hypothesis began in 1987 when President Ronald Reagan’s Education Secretary William J. Bennett wrote in a New York Times op-ed entitled “Our Greedy Colleges” that federal government’s financial aid programs “…enabled colleges and universities blithely to raise their tuitions, confident that Federal loan subsidies would help cushion the increase.”

Bennett’s hypothesis has been studied and debated by scholars and economists with neither being able to clearly state cause and effect validity.  Over the last 30 years, though, we’ve seen a correlation between tuition costs increasing as federal student loans increased. When Bennett was asked about his hypothesis in a 2013 New York Times interview he said he still believes financial aid contributes to tuition increases but is not the only cause.

“If the federal government gives money, tuition goes up. If the federal government doesn’t give money, it goes up. Now, I think the availability of federal funding drives it up more quickly and more surely. Federal student aid makes it easier for colleges to do what they’re going to do anyway, which is raise tuition. There’s more money available.”

Bowen’s Rule

Howard Bowen was the president of Grinnell College and an economist who theorized in his book “Costs of Higher Education” that higher education institutions will spend all the money they are given or can spend. If they have covered all budgeted expenses, they will find something else to spend it on. On the other hand, if colleges and universities are under financial strain, instead of finding areas to cut costs, they’ll look for ways to increase revenue — tuition being the easiest way. Bowden’s Rule, alternatively known as the “revenue theory of cost” is explained in five points:

1. The dominant goals of institutions are educational excellence, prestige, and influence.
2. There is virtually no limit to the amount of money an institution could spend for seemingly fruitful educational ends.
3. Each institution raises all the money it can.
4. Each institution spends all it raises.
5. The cumulative effect of the preceding four laws is toward ever increasing expenditure.

Tuition increases have little to do with what education is supposed to be, but rather a modern mixture of executive administration and faculty governance being marketed and sold a social media version of it. They’re raising tuition because they want the money and the more costly the institution… Well, it must be awesome (rule 1).

More Students Cost More

Because the number of people attending college today has increased, the amounts that the state and the federal governments subsidize on a per-student basis are lower than they were at the peak of appropriations in the 1990s. As demand for it increases, education requires more teachers, more support staff, more infrastructure. That is just how service industries are affected by economic growth. While there’s truth in that, it doesn’t explain why higher education costs in the U.S. are double and triple what they are in similarly developed countries.

Employee Costs

The increases to faculty salaries and the increased cost of healthcare benefits have driven up operational costs, which could only be paid off by increasing tuition.

In the 1970s, the vast majority of faculty teaching on campus were full-time employees. Today, it is not uncommon to have more part-time adjunct (non-tenure track) faculty teaching than full-time. These faculty are paid per course they teach, and most do not receive any benefits. Full-time faculty salaries at the majority of colleges and universities have remained relatively flat throughout the last 30 years. This year, there was an average increase of 2 percent, but the inflation rate was 1.9 percent. I will note that there are professors whose salaries are in the six figures, but they are the exception and not the norm. The average salary for a teacher is less today than it was 40 years ago.

Administrative Bloat

In 1980, colleges spent $21 billion on instruction (41 percent of total spending) and $13 billion for all other support services (26 percent of total spending). Data from the National Center for Educational Statistics shows U.S. public degree-granting institutions today spend $372 billion total with 42 percent of that amount being spent on instruction and 37 percent on support services. Spending on instruction increased by 1 percent while administrative spending increased 16 percent, meaning universities are spending about the same on administration as they do on instruction (their raison d’être).

Some of these increases can be attributed to an increasing number of rules and regulations from the Department of Education that require significantly more resources to ensure compliance. There are also more programs for students who are struggling academically with tutoring services, career counseling, and internships. The U.S. also leads the world in money spent on non-teaching staff who do not provide direct academic support such as campus safety, alumni relations, admissions, recruiters, fundraising, financial aid, athletic, diversity and inclusion, food service, and maintenance staff. There are senior executives who are being paid an outrageous, questionable amount of money but the increases have not been given to senior executives so much as those working professional support jobs.  Administrative positions increased by 60 percent between 1993 and 2009, ten times the growth rate of tenured faculty in the same time period.

Athletics

College sports can make a great deal of money for some schools… For a few schools… For very few schools, so the vast majority are losing money from their sports programs. These programs can only be supported through direct and indirect financing through fees, general funds, tuition…  Every student is therefore paying more to support the sports programs. Schools argue that they attract more students and therefore increase overall revenue, but athletes are often given some type of scholarship ranging from a full ride to a reduction in costs (as is the case with NCAA Division III schools, which are forbidden from offering scholarships but can offer deep discounts. Go figure).  The vast majority of college sports are subsidized programs, and those costs are again passed on to the student. I personally support college athletics but believe the costs associated with them need to be completely transparent to potential students.

The University Amusement Parks, Books of Gold and the Mystery of “Fees”

Last year, a higher education institution spent a record $12 billion on constructing new facilities to attract students, including the infamous lazy river where student can destress by floating around an amusement park-like water attraction. There are climbing walls, shiny new sports facilities, gourmet dining and luxury dorms. Some of these additions may be paid for by outside funds or alumni, but ultimately, the inevitable maintenance and repair fees ahead will be added into budgets, and those budgets will be passed on to the students. Universities want more students, but there is no legitimate argument for the welfare of the student taking priority over revenue. They have created a machine, and it needs a great deal of cash for those gears to keep turning.

Textbooks

Not seen when parents and students are looking at the costs of education are the textbooks. Compared to your basic bookstore non-fiction novel, which has actually decreased in costs, textbooks have more than doubled, increasing four times faster than inflation. This escalation goes hand-in-hand with the rest of the student loan industry. The four major publishers that control the majority of the textbook market, charge what they want because they know customers will be obliged to pay. New texts can run easily into a few to several hundred dollars, often with multiple books needed for each course.

Fees: Hidden Costs of College

In the last 20 years, fees have increased 30 percent more than the outrageous tuition increases, but rarely are they talked about. The bottom line is that fees, as in ‘tuition and fees’ are a way for institutions to amass more money without it being seen as increasing tuition. Increasing tuition normally requires trustee or state approvals, but fees can be tacked on at will – and they are. Need more money to cover employee salaries? Add an orientation fee. Short on funds for the new sports uniforms? Create a technology use fee. Paying with a credit card? Convenience fee. Drop a class – fee. Add a class – fee. And on and on and on… Because many of these fees can be hidden in dense college bulletins, in the fine print, while others are only applicable to specific programs, students often don’t see the full picture of college costs until their bills become due. Senior management at these colleges and universities have made the decision to bring their institutions and higher education down to the lowest possible ethical operations without crossing the line into true fraud, but they are damn close.

Are You Shitting Me?

Public (your tax dollars) university presidents are paid like CEOs of Fortune 500 corporations. I do not fault them for saying ‘yes’ to their exorbitant salaries but rather condemn the trustees, who are supposed to act as students’ guardians, holding their best interests in mind and actions. A full report including the top paying private institutions, can be found here. If you don’t want to look at the list, though, I can break it down for you simply. The lowest-paid president among the top-50 university presidents made more in 2018 (including base, bonuses and non-taxable income) than the highest-paid state governor.

We look to these leaders to hold dear the public trust of higher education, yet they appear to be completely out of touch with their own students’ challenges and needs. They fear the trustees, only, and have no sympathy for the debt their graduates will carry for many years after they themselves have retired with the title of president emeritus/emerita and dedicated campus office. If this is not the case, where are their voices in addressing the corrupt student loan system in which they have become key players?  Their bloated salaries and positions mean more to them than those they are supposed to be taking care of. Piss. Poor. Leadership. The maniacal cost of higher education isn’t because of just one thing but a consistent mismanagement of university funds and priorities. Because education cannot oversee itself, we must demand our elected officials at the state and federal levels call out this waste and abuse and hold senior leadership accountable. Until that is done, costs will continue to rise and continue to be passed on to the students.

This is the third installment of a five-part series by Alan Yeck reflecting on the student loan system, its challenges, and the far-reaching effects it can have. For a full list of works cited, please view the last installment in the series.

We have the power to change the business of education back to a right for all. Contact your representatives and ask them to listen to these facts and national narratives.

Read Part 1 here

Read Part 2 here

Lies, Damn Lies, and Damn Student Loan Debt Lies

Alan J. Yeck

Too many of us are just reading the headlines and not the content, the meat of the articles. On social media we are quick to respond, to post, to tweet based only on that headline and by doing so we perpetuate lies.

There was a recent article headline (I’ll paraphrase) ‘Biden Close to Cancelling Student Loan Debt.’ As I read the article, the headline was completely misleading. I do not know if it was the author’s choice to manipulate us or the editors, but it was nonetheless manipulation – a lie by omission of the facts. The article was about Senators Warren and Schumer introducing a bill to cancel up to $50,000 of student loan debt for each borrower – very different from the headline. The reality is that there is so much misinformation out there about student loan debt that even reading the article would have done little, if any to clarify the crisis. Please allow me a few more minutes, and sentences, to explain a bit more.

Damn Student Loan Debt Lie #1

The amount of student loan debt that is currently in mainstream media is around $1.7 trillion, both federal and private student loans. This number comes from the loan servicers/Department of Education telling us what is owed. This is a number that gets folks very worked up about ‘forgiving’ from their tax dollars. 

The Truth 

Millions of Americans have paid off their student loans, and then some, but cannot get out from under the ongoing interest scam. For example, Corella had a $35,000 student loan for a graduate degree in education (she’s a 7^th grade teacher). To date she’s paid $38,000 back but the loan servicer is telling her she still owes $87,000. This is not an uncommon story at all. Pull those numbers from the Department of Education and we’ll see that millions have paid back their loans but not counted as such because of the predatory interest.

Damn Student Loan Debt Lie #2

“It’s those kids, privileged kids, that think they don’t have to pay back their debts. I pay my debt and so should these punks. Get the hell off my lawn!”

The Truth

Of the 45 million Americans with student loan debt, only 37.5% are below the age of 30. The other 62.5% are older than 30. Minorities and women are disproportionately affected by student debt. Predatory lending, longer times to complete, and longer times to pay back increase the interest, which is then often capitalized on the original balance, which interest is then reapplied to. 

Damn Student Loan Debt Lie #3

It’s their own fault for going to these expensive, private schools. 

The Truth

Four-year public institutions enroll a higher percentage of students (44.8%), followed by two-year public institutions (33.2%), and four-year private non-profit institutions (19.5%). The cost of a four-year degree has increased 400% above inflation in just one generation. While the schools are quick to point the finger at decreased state and federal funding, they themselves are very much to blame. Fiscal mismanagement, increased competition from for-profits, bloated mid-level administrative lines, and the lack of leadership at the executive and board levels are just as much, if not more so to blame for the unjustified increases in tuition and fees. 

Higher education is a black hole that will absorb every penny it’s given and still want more. They must be held accountable for their costs, their degrees offered, their completion rates, and time of completions. Six years is the acceptable number today to complete a four-year degree, but even with that insane statement (“six years is the acceptable number today to complete for a four-year degree” – WTF?), the completion rates within that time frame are less than 50%.  Why? Because of arrogance, tradition, traditional arrogance, inability to change, and lack of any real (teeth) federal oversight. The feds must address this or the costs will continue to go up. 

Damn Student Loan Debt Lie #4

There are several options for repayment that are based on a borrower’s income. There’s no reason they should ever go in default. 

The Truth

The repayment plans are between 10-20% of discretionary income or income that they believe is ‘leftover’ after you pay your bills. Unfortunately, they don’t consider these bills in your life to determine a true discretionary number; rent or mortgage; utilities; auto loan payments; auto insurance; phone; internet; veterinarian bills; health insurance; dental; food; and emergency funds, or any kind of savings/retirement. What this means is that when your transmission goes and you must fix it to keep your job, you are forced into default on your student loan because you have not been allowed financially to plan for this. Then they start piling on the interest. The system is created to increase defaults. Take it all. Default. Take more, longer. Repeat until you die (at least that’s something to look forward to in this corrupt system).

We have lost what the purpose of education is supposed to be. Education is the single greatest factor that will determine our future as a nation (or the single greatest factor in destroying our nation). Education isn’t just degree programs but also the trades and apprenticeships – all equally critical, and all should be equally supported. Instead, the politicians have turned education into a commodity, like pork bellies, to be traded and make a great deal of money off of, for a very small group of people. 

Sustainable Solutions

• Remove interest and recalculate from the original balance borrowed, less what has been paid back by the borrower. That’s the real number. The government should not make money off of helping its people/building the future of the country. 
• Restore, unconditional bankruptcy rights to student loan borrowers. This was the foundation that this crisis was built on. Criminalizing student loans has made a great deal of money for a small group of people. 
• Hold higher education financially accountable for the costs of their degrees, job placements, graduation rates, graduation time frames, and do not lend to students going to institutions that do not comply. 
• Recalculate and reform payment plans including stopping all wage, social security, and tax return garnishments.
• Disassemble the loan servicing companies that have lied, cheated, and stolen the lives of so many Americans through their fraudulent operations.   

Canceling $10k or $50k without any other changes to the student loan industry, predatory lending, bankruptcy, and the overly inflated cost of education only ensures the crisis continues and the money continues flowing back to D.C. It’s still fraud, it’s still corruption. We have lived with this dirty game so long that now we fool ourselves into thinking $50k is good?

Just because the government is giving us a box of chocolates (Russell Stover to boot) when they screw us doesn’t make it all okay now. It’s nothing more than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. I’m happy for you if it addresses your problem but ultimately, the country is still fucked. 

We have the power to change American politics back to a system that serves the people, not the politicians. Contact your representatives and ask them to listen to these facts and national narratives.

Walking Dead Higher Ed: Leadership In A Pandemic

By Alan J. Yeck

Since the beginning of the pandemic there have been over 300,000 cases and 80 deaths at U.S. colleges and universities, according to a survey done by The New York Times of 2000 campuses. Of note is that the majority of cases occurred since the start of the fall semester (almost 70,000 cases since the start of this month). Also, given there is no national tracking system The Times relied upon the institutions’ self-reporting but at least 70 ignored requests while another 80 said they had zero cases. What we know about data is its ease in manipulation, and what we know about higher education is its ease in lack of transparency. The reality is that those numbers are likely higher than being reported/discovered.

The other numbers that are directly related to COVID are the job losses in education. According to an analysis by The Pew Charitable Trusts, since the start of the pandemic state colleges and universities are down 14% with some exceeding 20%. Declining enrollment, already a huge problem prior to the pandemic, continues to increase the financial strain. As state funding is reduced, declining enrollment revenue, and increased costs of COVID testing, their budgets are in complete chaos. 2021 doesn’t look to be any better. There is no surprise that most states are projecting greater revenue declines, which directly affects the already minimal aid given to education. Declining revenue and increased costs will surely mean more layoffs.

Now we have transparency of the problem. Now we can see the challenge – keeping revenue up enough to keep colleges open while not killing any more students or staff. Keep people safe but keep the money flowing. That’s a tough problem but I do have the answer – you can’t. Anyone who says the teaching and learning is just as good as it was a year ago is in denial or a liar (or maybe in denial that they’re a liar). The learning taking place on many of the colleges today is poorly done regardless of the quality of the instructor or the student. Fatigue coupled with curriculum never meant to be taught online to students who were never meant to take these classes online by faculty who were never meant to teach these classes online means learning outcomes blur down to, survival. Nothing more. Senior leadership and trustees must realize they are not only robbing the students tuition but wasting the students’ time and cheating them with a subpar product. It’s a pandemic and the issues need to be addressed as if it were a pandemic – because it is. We will recover but if your plan is to keep the lights on at the students’ expense, it’s a poor plan from poor leadership.

Colleges and universities must work together and present a unified front to the state capitals and Washington. Remember these are the same folks that bailed out Wall Street after the mortgage crisis (which Wall Street causes in the first place). Your voices must be loud and in unison. Do not let them ignore you or surely you will fall, one by one.

There will be more layoffs until this is under control but stop passing that burden down to the students. It’s a pandemic.

Institutions that bring students back on campus to fill dorm rooms to ensure their money flow should be held liable for any deaths they cause. It’s a pandemic.

While there is no argument that success in teaching and learning, historically (but not exclusively) has been through a classroom experience, historically we haven’t done this in a pandemic. Yes, again, it’s a pandemic.

Higher education leaders who would risk students, faculty and staff (and their families) to make up for years of financial mismanagement are playing a dangerous game. Take care of your people, first and foremost and brighter days will return for all. It’s a pandemic.

#highered #higheredleadership #highereducationleadership #highereducation #studentloans #studentloandebt #altraged #election2020 #corruption #elections2020 #education #students #dirtypolitics #teachers #school #teaching #teacher #backtoschool #blmmovement #kamalaharris #joebiden #trump #elizabethwarren #womenempowerment #business #innovation #covid19learning

President-elect Biden’s Current Student Debt Solutions are Deeply Flawed and Inadequate;

Ideas proposed only ensure the corruption continues in the student loan industry.

The $1.7 trillion of student loan debt is an economic disaster for our nation but the solutions proposed by President-elect Biden and his senate supporters fall well short of lasting, legitimate solutions. In summary, the plans are to give X amount of money ($10,000+), to student borrowers who meet X qualifications (where they attended school, how much their families make, minority or displaced population, etc.), and all of this only applicable to undergraduate degrees.  

“Without addressing the multiple issues that caused the $1.7 trillion dollar student debt crisis, the solutions proposed by Biden, Senators Schumer and Warren, do little to help the American people,” said Alan Yeck, Founder and Executive Director of AltRaged. “The government, both Democrats and Republicans created this mess – not the students. Congress started this crisis fifty years ago through changes in the bankruptcy code and multiple changes in the Higher Education Act.” There are simple, but key steps that have to be put in place for a lasting fix.

The disgraceful costs of higher education must be reined in

There is no reason a bachelor’s degree at a state institution should cost $40-50,000. Like a black hole in space where gravity’s pull is so strong that even light cannot escape, fiscal mismanagement and lack of leadership in higher education have created a system that will devour every dollar, and then immediately look for more. The costs are not reflective of markets or student’s abilities to repay. The government solution of throwing money at the problem, without accountability by higher education only benefits the massive, corrupt student loan collection industry. 

Full bankruptcy rights must be restored to student loan borrowers

The Student Borrower Bankruptcy Relief Act (H.R. 2648), if passed, would remove the section of the bankruptcy code that currently prevents student loans from being treated the same as other non-criminal debt (as it used to be before Congress changed the code, which removed the safety valve for the cost of higher education). Schools charge phenomenal tuition and fees knowing the government will loan the money, and the loan “servicers” know the students and parents are then trapped. Wage garnishment, social security garnishment, tax return garnishment, and estate seizures for private loans; it is a lifelong, true debtors prison our elected officials continue to protect because of the payouts to their campaigns from Super PACs, both red and blue. 

Cancellation by the executive branch

There is an ongoing discussion that the executive branch has the authority to instruct the Secretary of Education to cancel student loans, without the approval of congress. But as is the case with all political rhetoric, the devil is in the details and there’s plenty of evil in this system. If he does, Biden would most likely also make those cancellations conditional to only certain groups, degrees, and dollar amounts – similar to their previous restrictions.  This again leaves millions of borrowers abandoned to the collection wolves. 

Student loan reform

Beyond fixing the cost of education, beyond restoring bankruptcy, beyond cancelling all student debt, the entire student loan system needs to be reformed and the outsourcing to the loan servicers eliminated. There are millions of Americans who owe more than $100,000 because of fraudulent interest, penalties and lies. It is impossible to ever pay these off and without bankruptcy relief, the loan “servicers” will garnish until death. The lives of millions of Americans in similar situations are being destroyed because Washington appears to only address selective issues with this crisis.   There is zero accountability and it affects the future of our country for all citizens.

Yeck continued, “It’s the biggest scam the U.S. Government ever pulled on the American people. Governmental loan sharking enforced with judicial muscle. The mob wishes they ever had it so good.” 

#altraged #studentloandebt #studentloancrisis

Tell Me Joe…

By Alan J. Yeck, Founder, AltRaged

This is not about who you are voting for or who you should vote for – vote for whoever you want. This is about the irreputable, verifiable, criminal student loan scam our government continues to operate like a shell game on 42nd and Broadway. Tell me Joe. Tell me what you’re going to do for the 40 million Americans with student loan debt?

Joe says he’s going to eliminate student debt if I come from a family making less than $125,000 (but only if I went to a public university).

Joe says he’s going to wipe out my loans if I went to a historically black college/university or private institutions that are minority-serving.

Joe says he’s going to make sure everyone gets $10,000 knocked off of their student (because of economic hardships the pandemic has caused).

Joe says he supports Liz Warren’s bill to reinstate bankruptcy rights for student loan borrowers. Joe says a lot of things, doesn’t he? Let’s talk a bit about what he’s not saying, shall we?

Joe doesn’t mention what he’s going to do to help the 10 million Americans that are currently late or in default because of a criminal, rigged system. The system is structured to facilitate defaults because there is more money to be made.

Joe doesn’t mention what he’s going to do to address the tremendously inflated costs of higher education. The cost of a degree has gone up 400% in one generation without any valid reasoning.

Joe doesn’t mention that in 2005, he was one of the many politicians who voted for a bankruptcy bill that stripped student loan borrowers of their rights, which in turn has become one of the primary causes for the $1.7 trillion student debt crisis we have today. They removed a safety valve that would have helped correct the market but in doing so has made billions of dollars for a small group of greedy FFs (Fuck Faces).

Joe doesn’t mention how much money both political parties have received from Super PACs (Navient, Telnet, et al…) to keep the broken, corrupt student loan system status quo. His changes at best, are superficial, proposed to an uninformed public for votes. He’s not helping you, or me, or students or the country. Of course no one else is either. Oh, and the shell game…doesn’t matter which walnut you pick, you lose.

Vote. Vote for the corporation of your choice but vote.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamminsky/2020/10/07/biden-affirms-i-will-eliminate-your-student-debt/#377d26ec58a7

THE SKY IS FALLING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

But not the prices.

-Alan Yeck, Founder of AltRaged

Trigger Warning: Strong language; swear words

I read a recent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal (https://on.wsj.com/3ndFknY) about another higher education scam. It may apply to every institution, but it’s not the exception.

Let’s start with this. There is no reason, other than fiscal negligence, for the absurd costs of a degree today. $40,000 for a bachelor’s degree at a state institution is insane and frankly, you’re insane for paying it. Move to the nonprofit, private, liberal arts sector and you can easily triple, quadruple that amount. Our political leadership has yet to reign in these institutions because frankly, they are making money themselves off of the ongoing mismanagement of higher education.

I had a conversation with a college president and some board members last May about their responsibilities to the students who are in their care at their institution. It was not well received but knowing how higher education works, the internal wirings including the large storage rooms located on every campus containing years of fuck-ups they hide from parents and the public, I wasn’t surprised.  Because of COVID19, this residential, liberal arts campus went from classroom instruction to 100% online the following Monday. This institution, for the last few decades had ignored (fought) online education as a viable medium for instruction. Now, it was embraced by administration, and accepted by faculty (like geese accept being force fed to later become foie gras).

While online education has been a proven delivery method since the late 1990s, for those that have never taught it, or have never been on the learning end, it isn’t like moving from an acetate overhead projector to a whiteboard. There is a solid, developed pedagogy behind both ends of the internet that the school had no idea about. Those colleges and universities that welcomed this use of technology for instruction have depths of research and networks of curriculum developers. They have dedicated administrators and tech support, continuous improvement and evaluation of the systems (beyond the individual courses) to make certain the online teaching and learning experiences for both the professor and the student would be as rigorous as what the student could receive in the classroom. They also provided in-depth instructions, videos, articles…to the students on ‘how to take an online class.’  Faculty at these institutions are certified, normally an internally developed program, to teach online. They must understand the capabilities of the Learning Management Systems in use as well as the pedagogy behind them. They must understand how to take a classroom course and move it without damage to the online environment. All of this is again evaluated on an ongoing basis against industry best practices (new developments in technology are daily but the tail of tech can never wag the academia of the dog). Change or adaptation in academia makes land turtles look like jaguars chasing down a gazelle – which is why it’s important to plan, execute, evaluate, improve, repeat. That’s not the norm in higher education and especially in the private, nonprofit, liberal arts, honkey campuses.

This institution moved forward, students struggling, teachers struggling, coursework succumbing to the attitude ‘better than nothing.’ To be fair, the same thing was happening across the country so they weren’t less than ethical as other colleges and universities that were being less than ethical. Some students did fine. Others not so much and they wanted to withdraw without penalty; no grade and they wanted their money back. It’s not what they signed up for. Students have rights and must be educated on those rights and then use those rights – many just accepted the grade, cost, poor quality, and finished the term. Others fought and some won. The compromise I suggested to another college was to award an incomplete “I” grade without any restrictions on when it had to be used. This allowed for the students who did poorly to retake the class at no penalty without having to pay for it again. Seems fair, right? This other institution thought so and that’s exactly what they did.

Part II of this are the dormitories. Housing students is big business on campus with an average cost of about $12,000 a year (on top of the cost of their degree). Now, let’s cut to last month and senior administration’s decision to return students to classroom instruction, on campus, dorms filled. Brilliant move – talk about the care of the students and cash the checks as quick as possible. Then when COVID19 starts making it’s way around, move to online education again – but keep the dorm money.

It’s amateur hour on campus with few administrators ever having any leadership mentoring, which is clearly seen in how any crisis is handled but especially today. Arrogance on the other hand is a choice – a disastrous choice – and its consequences have moved beyond financial and accreditation to life and death scenarios. 

• Demand accountability for how an institution is handling COVID 19.
• Demand accountability for how an institution is spending their money (your money).
• Demand accountability from the elected officials receiving millions in PAC and Super PAC donations from the student loan industry to keep the status quo.

Higher education teaches ethics. Maybe senior administration and board members should be required to take the course themselves – it’s not like they are fooling anyone on their own campuses. I mean if you’re going to screw the students, at least give them a free sweatshirt.   

POLITICAL IGNORANCE OR LIES? EITHER WAY WE LOOSE

Understanding the student loan debt crisis in 1.7 trillion words or less

-Alan Yeck, Founder of AltRaged

As  it, tis the season for political promises; a chicken in every pot, cut your taxes, raise your pay, lower crime…which have pretty much been the same horseshit promises we get ever election, this time it’s what’s missing in the promise that I want you to understand.

Joe and Kam are going to pay off everyone’s education debt and make college free which just sounds awesome, “sounds” being the operative intent. Remember the devil is in the details and our politicians are very well acquainted with the devil. Very well. Because they either do not understand the multiple issues that led to our $1.7 trillion dollar student loan crisis, or they do understand and are tossing out their plan as a smoke screen to keep the political money machine in tact – I don’t know. Either way, the American people would still be fucked…again. To pay for this degree, and that degree without any other changes ensures the broken, corrupt systems in higher education and the student loan debt collection industry continue their graft to future generations. It’s like arresting the kid on the street for selling coke but the bankers laundering the money remain tucked away safety in their beds every night. Writing a blank check to criminal organizations should never be the plan unless you’re part of it and getting kickbacks, uh, I mean “campaign contributions” through PACs and Super PACs. Wait a minute…

Do not confuse accreditation with accountability in higher education. A 400% increase in tuition over one generation, over inflation in other sectors, cannot be explained by natural disaster, never ending wars, alien probings or even a pandemic. When Congress made money from the government readily available to loan to all citizens for college costs, college costs starting their peculiar rise. With the smell of money in the air, private, for-profit colleges began to sprout up everywhere. Congress smelled that money too. Prior to the mid-1970s, student loan debt could be discharged, like any other debt, in bankruptcy. Congress then, quietly, eliminated this fundamental right (which is written into the Constitution) which allowed an entire industry of cock-a-roaches to be born – the wonderful student loan collection industry (the student loan industry is ranked on the putrid, scum, lowlife scale below Nazis but above Stalin). What do you think removing bankruptcy rights did to higher education? It removed the normal market steam valve that prevented a larger explosion and warned of dire, unaddressed issues on campuses and in the system itself. It’s removal is the single greatest cause of the $1.7 trillion crisis.  Remove it and enslave people in lifelong debt with interest rates and penalty fees doubling, tripling, quadrupling the original loan amounts. All the while the campaign contributions from those making billions of dollars off of this structure continue to pour into both Democratic and Republican camps. Who would want to stop that gravy train of destruction of the American people?  Certainly not our elected officials. Congress caused this, not Jerome or Fiona or JimmyJack. Congress caused this crisis and only Congress can fix it, which is why it’s so important who would put in office. We need people who care about others more than they care about money (I know, I know, crazy talk).

So, JoeJoe, Kam, Donny T and Mikey P, et al others at the D.C. freak show, if you want to change the country for the better, start with restoring full bankruptcy rights. Bankruptcy has consequences for those that use it (not all will) and will be from a hopeless desperation caused by the sleazy fraud compounded on them and is truly their only option – no one is getting off-scott free. This begins to realign the higher ed markets and helps address the highly inflated cost and fiscal mismanagement in higher education. Free education is possible but until we fix the current corrupt system, you’re just stealing from a different pocket on a different day (and still getting your cut of the scam – right?). 

#highered #highereducationleadership #higheredleadership #studentloans #studentloandebt #dirtypolitics #elections2020 #corruption #bankruptcylaw #writers #altraged