Ron Paul wants to eliminate federal student loans

@Lili Said

He thinks students should all "work through school". https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gD7yN5g1JU-eMa5Nwa25M4komf0Q?docId=87b456055dc5415494fa2bf86d83b5e2

He attributes the high cost of education to the fact that, because everyone can easily cover the cost of tuition by just borrowing it, colleges and universities have no reason to keep their prices down.

However, his plan inherently must involve fewer people being able to go to college in order to drive prices down.

If it weren't for students loans I wouldn't be able to be getting a degree right now, I'm a single mom with two kids, working through college isn't an option for me. A significantly fewer number of people would be able to get a degree if student loans aren't available. The hardest hit professions would be the ones with the highest tuitions, such a doctors. We already have a shortage of doctors, which already makes getting proper care harder to get (doctors in the ER working 20 hour shifts becoming more prone to making mistakes in their care due to decreased mental function from a lack of sleep, doctors in medical practices who have patients waiting weeks for an appointment) This isn't a disputed problem, and Ron Paul's plan would make it worse.

The wealth gap in this country would widen as the poor would be less able or likely to afford an education while the better-off would still be able to afford it.

@jonnythan Said

Haven't we been dealing with university tuition spiraling out of control for decades now?

Has anyone wondered why that is? It's not because professors are making so much more money, or classrooms are just that much better stocked than they were, because they're not. More and more classes are being taught by associate professors and TAs than ever before.

Universities have been getting more and more guaranteed money in the form of federal loans. What do organizations do with guaranteed money? Spend every last dime and figure out how to get more.

I'm paying my way through college right now, without federal loans.

@drman321 Said

He is talking about federal student loans, not private loans. If he had his way you would still be able to go to college, it would just cost a bit more in the long run.

@Lili Said

I agree that tuition is ridiculously expensive, but is making it so that fewer people are able to attend college the best solution to that? Surely there is another way to get colleges to reduce their tuition.

I'm glad you are able to work your way through college, but not everyone is able to do that. Should the poor not have the same access to education as the better off? Think of the ramifications of that.

He argues that education accounts for a ridiculous proportion of the debt that people carry. So I doubt he's cool with it "costing a bit more" just to get the cost out of the government arena.

@Lili Said

He argues that education accounts for a ridiculous proportion of the debt that people carry. So I doubt he's cool with it "costing a bit more" just to get the cost out of the government arena.

@jonnythan Said

What's your better solution?

@Lili Said

I didn't say I had one, I just don't think this is it.

Maybe (just a thought off the top of my head), only schools with tuition that's lower than a certain threshold would qualify for student loans? Like below a set percentage of the average wage or something.

@drman321 Said

Unless I am mistaken he has advocated just that, if you cannot pay for college on your own or through scholarships then do so with private loans.

It is possible.

I did it. I didn't take a single government loan, mine were all private.

I think your complaint here that they may do away with student loans (likely as the budget continues to tighten) is a perfect example of that sense of entitlement you always hear people talking about.

You are not entitled to higher education, nor are you entitled to a discount to finance it. If cuts need to be made that isn't a bad place to start as the private mechanism is already in place to meet the demand.

@Lili Said

The point isn't some huffy "entitlement" argument. The point is that society as a whole is more stable when the wealth gap is reduced, when there is less poverty, fewer people on government assistance, etc. The government may reduce their loan costs, but they'll increase their welfare costs. And if they reduce welfare payments too, they'll increase their "bailouts" when no one can afford to pay off their credit cards. They'll get hit with it somewhere down the line. So they'll end up paying for it one way or another, but in the case of education at least society as a whole will be more stable.

@jonnythan Said

Well maybe you can answer why it's the federal government's business to hand out so much basically free money to teenagers that they turn into 20-somethings with mountains of debt to the federal government?

States already run public universities with low tuition rates. They also run community colleges with even lower ones.

The federal government had no business giving so much money to teenagers that they're now in a trillion dollars of debt in the first place, and thanks to that boneheaded decision university tuition rates have risen to astronomic levels.

@Lili Said

The point isn't some huffy "entitlement" argument. The point is that society as a whole is more stable when the wealth gap is reduced, when there is less poverty, fewer people on government assistance, etc. The government may reduce their loan costs, but they'll increase their welfare costs. And if they reduce welfare payments too, they'll increase their "bailouts" when no one can afford to pay off their credit cards. They'll get hit with it somewhere down the line. So they'll end up paying for it one way or another, but in the case of education at least society as a whole will be more stable.

@drman321 Said

That doesn't go away. The entitlement comes from the notion (that you appear to have) that the federal government should subsidize the interest rates on your student loans.

If the government gets out of the student loan business you will still be able to get loans, the interest rates will just be a few basis points higher.