Weening College Loans Off Cotton Candy

Sen Tom Cotton argues “the real issue with student debt today is that the cost of college tuition has skyrocketed, yet the value of a college diploma has plummeted” …

He might have cited the WSJ article noting that foreign educational institutions, especially in China and Europe, are creeping up on US in the global rankings. Instead, Sen. Cotton in his Fox News op ed stayed focused on his further point that “the federal government created this problem by writing blank checks to colleges, with little effort to control the cost or quality of higher education.” He might have added that, despite President Biden’s controversial gambit to “forgive” much college loan debt owed to Uncle Sam, the cycle is likely to be repeated by the next generation of students and their families if the “system” he described isn’t fundamentally altered.

Mr. Cotton’s solution comes in the form of his Student Loan Reform Act of 2022 that “would end this Gilded Age, reduce the cost of tuition, and give colleges a much-needed reality check.” The key to his plan being, forcing colleges to have “skin in the game” by requiring them to become guarantors of up to 50% of future federal student loans; it would also fine colleges 25% of the value of future defaulted loans.” The concept ain’t new. What would be new is if the colleges lobbied against their current enjoyment of “the federal government’s guarantee of virtually unlimited student loans”.

Davd Soul