I’m very happy for the people receiving up to $20,000 in student loan forgiveness due to President Biden’s recent announcement. I know this reduction will make a huge difference in their lives. At the same time, I worry that student loan forgiveness sidesteps the real problem of the high cost of college in the United States, and it avoids any real conversation about whether college should continue to be the goal for every young person in our country.
The University of Massachusetts now costs approximately $30,000 per year for tuition, fees, room, and board. It is basically impossible for any young person to earn enough money from their own jobs to “work their way through school.” Our local community college costs approximately $6,000 per year in tuition and fees, an amount which is possible for some students to earn while attending. Still, two years of community college and two years of public university requires upwards of $75,000. Young people choosing this most frugal approach to a college degree need the support of family and friends to help them get through college with no debt unless they are fortunate enough to receive grants and scholarships to cover their costs. (I don’t comprehend how ordinary families are supposed to confront the private college four-year total of $250,000 – $300,000 without major debt, and I don’t know even how to start discussing the costs of graduate schools.)
Our culture has been sending a strong message to our young people for decades about the need to go to college. First, we tell students that a four-year residential college experience is an ideal way to move away from home, explore various interests, and make lifelong friends over an extended period of time. Second, we tell students that they will need to have a college diploma in order to obtain a good job or have access to graduate schools and professional opportunities.
It seems to me that the first promise is a bit outdated, and certainly not in line with the rising costs resulting in life-altering debt. I enjoyed my four-year experience at Amherst College, and I appreciate the intrinsic value of broad liberal arts investigation. Certainly, attending college can be a formative and meaningful experience. However, working with teens for the past three decades, I see there are many valuable ways to spend those years in exploration and skill-building that might be accomplished through break-even work or limited expense. I refer here to my friend Blake Boles’ book, Better Than College: How to Build a Successful Life Without a Four-Year Degree. Also, one might spend some time after high school on a range of activities and then decide a college degree is necessary, and start the four-year experience with a bit more maturity and information. I’m not “against” college, but I am questioning the dominant assumption that it is the clear best choice for most teens after high school.
I also accept that a college diploma is a required item for some jobs and many professions, and I am committed to seeing that the teens I work with at North Star have all options available to them when they are ready to move on to the next phase of their lives. While I know our approach can lead to acceptance at colleges with competitive admissions, I have seen many teens thrive by doing interesting work, starting their own businesses, and only pursuing degrees and certificates when necessary.
Further, I have seen that having a college diploma for access to jobs and graduate schools does not require having the conventional four-year college experience. One might obtain an undergraduate degree in some unconventional ways (UMass University Without Walls and Goddard College are two examples.) Also, there are many fields with one-or-two-year professional certificates in various occupations that do not require going through a four-year college experience.
For people my age and older, we grew up with the premise that attending college after high school is the primary means to socioeconomic mobility and improvement. Nowadays, that path comes with such a student loan debt burden that I am not sure that college leads to a positive economic outcome. I see social workers, teachers, and even doctors and lawyers who struggle to pay off their college debts for decades. I worry that selling the traditional four-year college experience to young students is misguided, and a nostalgic carryover by adults who enjoyed that lifestyle when it did not result in a mountain of debt that made the next phase of life (car purchasing, homebuying, starting a family) difficult to manage.
President Biden’s current student loan debt forgiveness plan is a limited and temporary solution for a lucky group. A long-term solution will involve many people choosing alternatives to four-year residential college experiences. I expect that many small liberal-arts colleges will merge or close in the coming decades. Many young people will prioritize debt-free training and experiences over brand-name colleges. Eventually, new ways to get college and professional credentials for a more affordable price will have to emerge.
In the meantime, right now, is it possible to offer a different message to young people? Can high school guidance counselors, college admissions officers, and others scale back the message that enrolling in a four-year college is the primary goal for every student? Can we publicly prioritize that being student-loan-debt-free by age 30 is an important goal, and develop strategies that support this outcome?
President Biden’s policy offers a bit of respite for some lucky folks. It doesn’t help current high school students looking forward to the next phase of their lives. For that, we need a better vision, not forgiveness.
