Bipartisan Support For Making College Unaffordable

Let's face it. College is expensive. Unless you join the military or happen to come from a family that owns a bunch of oil wells in Texas, chances are you're going to leave college deep in debt. Many Americans don't dig out from under that debt for many years; many never do. The reason is quite obvious -- skyrocketing college tuition is making attendance virtually impossible without resorting to massive student loans.

Our Congress has decided to help out the little guy and make a college education a little easier to reach. HR 5, College Student Relief Act of 2007, reduces interest rates for new federal student loans. It has passed the House, 356-71, with bipartisan support. It now moves on to the Senate.

This sounds like a great idea. It really helps the young American get an education, lift himself up, and improve the economy, right? There's no way this bill could possibly increase student loan defaults, since it reduces the size of the payment, right?

Actually, HR.5 will increase the pool of applicants who want to attend college, without increasing the number of students the college system can accept. The law of supply and demand dictates that college tuition must then rise and demand outstrips supply. Student loan sizes increase, thus resulting in higher student loan payments for those lucky enough to get them.

Student interest rates are currently tied to the average one year constant maturity Treasury yield (CMT), and thus follow the flow and ebb of the economy. Since 1998, Stafford interest rates have dropped from 7.94% to 6.80%. The low rates (and high defaults) mean these loans incur significant cost to the average American in the form of higher taxes.

How low does HR.5 drop interest rates? Applied only to new students, HR.5 will lower rates each year until it bottoms out at 3.40%. That's right, less than half current rates, which are already low by any standards. What's more, HR.5 breaks the relationship between interest rates and the economy by making 3.40% permanent, no matter where the economy goes.

This is not a good use of taxpayer dollars. Not only does it not achieve the desired effect of making college affordable, it potentially reduces the income of college graduates, depressing the economy. The fact is that too many Americans are going to college. Half of all Americans are below average intelligence, and no amount of education can change that. The economy requires doctors and lawyers, but it also needs waitresses, janitors, and bus drivers. How many college graduates do we really need? Currently 45% of all high school graduates enroll in a four year college!

The net effect of unreasonable high college attendance rates are multiple:

• Higher tuition, driven by supply and demand. Eventually, the market will respond by increasing capacity and accepting more students, leading to
  
• Lower wages for college graduates, based on the same principle. The increased number of college graduates and lower wages for graduates combine to produce
• Higher job qualification requirements. After all, if you have an excess of college graduates, which don't cost significantly more than non-graduates to hire, most employers will prefer the college graduate. Eventually a college degree becomes a requirement for jobs that previously were done by high school graduates. This further increases the demand for college education, leading to
  
• Lowered educational standards. As every American realizes that a college education is the only way to survive, the market responds by creating an educational system that allows every American to graduate.

This vicious cycle is already in place. Nobody will contest that tuition has risen, attendance is up, more Americans hold degrees, a degree is more important than it was in the past when it comes to job hunting, and our universities are failing to maintain high standards. This isn't a what-if theory about the future, it's an observation of the present.

As a culture it's time to drop the notion that everybody deserves the same. Every man is created equal, but what we achieve in life separates us. Only the students who excel in high school and prove the ability to perform at a higher level should be afforded the chance to attend college. To do otherwise demeans our entire educational system, and produces a nation of idiots with degrees.

Scappleface has a story on this issue as well. Check it out.

Labels: education, taxes

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