Student Loans A DISASTER-- It's Time for College to be Free
POSTED BY ANITA SANDS HERNANDEZ, MOTHER OF FOUR, grandmother of 6, WRITER/ RESEARCHER & HABITUAL POSTER!Tough problems often demand radical solutions. We should give serious consideration to providing free college and trade school education to all. (from Alternet)
SEE the 7,001 file LIFE 101 SEMINAR REPUBLISH ALL, FREE OF CHARGE, ATTRACT AD REVENUE TO YOUR BLOG OR SITE
Perhaps we should be more like the Europeans. When something outrageous or irrational happens within their government the people are ready to hit the streets in protest. In France they'll shut down whole cities to get their point across to elected officials. Recently, a Brit mob broke windows of the Conservative party when the GOV tripled tuition fees in one fell swoop.
But we dorks in the United States --aside from a few ill organized hippies at the NYC OCCUPY, we just grin and bear it. And so did they after a few arrests. Truth is, we've suffered under a system where the COST of a college education -- (the key to a better life, a better GNP) rapidly skyrockets --- causing more of us to assume unmanageable debt. For the first time in history, we Americans owe more on our student loans than we do on our credit cards. The average college graduate today now finds herself with $24,000 of education related debt. (Same day this appeared, Alternet had a story about girls dancing, stripping, hooking to pay for their degree.)
Those of us jobless, ex students hounded mercilessly by College 'funding' Sallie Mae understand what it's like to work as hookers or peasants on Queen Sallie's fiefdom -- handing over our hard earned money harvest to service her majesty and her 8,000 VP's and their top salaries. (Hint, let's robotize the paperwork fire the 8k workers and that gives four students a year per ex employee a free education, or 32k extra students! ) Student loans muscle out entertainment, transportation and even food and rent for limited budget space.
(Are those of us with a college degree the lucky ones? Maybe not. Maybe entrepreneurism and our own service or merchandising business would be better.). With grant aid drying up, budget problems forcing states to increase tuition costs, and a Great Recession college has simply become unattainable for many. In a bankrate.com survey nearly 47 percent of parents feel they can no longer afford to send their children to college. Many will resort to raiding their retirement accounts to pay college costs.
Ironically, it's the poor and middle class who are being priced out of the very thing that enables their children to seek a better life. At the same time the United States is being outclassed by China, India, and others who are producing increasing numbers of highly educated graduates. Soon they will be eating our lunch, relegating us to second class status on the world stage.
Tough problems demand "outside the box," often radical solutions. That's why we should give serious consideration to providing free college and trade school education to all.
Too costly you say? It's estimated that the cost of tuition at public universities across the nation amounted to between $70 to $100 billion dollars. Sounds expensive until you realize providing free higher education for American citizens would cost slightly more than the Bush tax cuts for the top 2 percent of the country. Yes the ex PRES gave huge huge tax cuts to the super rich. Obama has fixed that leak since.
Obama saw to it that the Bush tax cuts expired for the wealthiest but what he should DO is add an additional 2 percent tax increase to the highest wage earners, all but paying for free public higher education. Why tax the mega-rich to pay for higher education for everyone else? Contrary to popular belief, it's not the wealthy that create jobs. So we don't need to cling to "HANDS OFF the RICH" policy! Instead it's demand for a product or service that creates the jobs to meet that demand. The rich should ThaNK us for then, they will get TRICKLE UP as we workers will again be able to buy their STUFF! So in more ways than one, the wealthy would benefit the most from a well educated and consequently well-paid for their JOB work force. A work force that, as a result, would create demand for the products produced by the small businesses and companies which the wealthy own!
To put the costs in another perspective, the price tag for free public college education would be less than $136 billion spent in Iraq and Afghanistan last year. IN ONE SINGLE YEAR. While we're busy bombing and rebuilding nations abroad, we're neglecting our "intellectual infrastructure" here at home. How many people do you know who lost their home and job in the last few years? That will get fixed with FREE COLLEGE.
Unlike money shoveled off to the mega wealthy or wasted in the abyss of unattainable wars, dollars spent on college education would ultimately expand the economy. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that a college educated person will earn $900,000 more over the course of a lifetime than a high school graduate. This money would be spent on everything from clothes and entertainment to cars and houses -- in the process stimulating the economy and creating even more new jobs in an upward spiral of prosperity. Furthermore, the government would garner considerable tax revenue from the nearly 1 million in additional lifetime earnings from each college graduate.
Let's not forget that increasing the pool of college educated workers improves the ability of the country to discover the next breakthrough in biology, nanotechnology, or computer science -- a process that would create entire new industries and promote further prosperity. Currently only 4 of the top 10 companies receiving U.S. patents in 2009 were American companies. Without a well educated workforce we risk that the next great technology will be invented overseas and then imported here to America.
To those who claim free higher education smells of a "government takeover" of education, a "socialist scheme," let's remember we did this before. The original GI Bill provided free college educations to 7 million WW II veterans, and in the process set the stage for a prosperous middle class. In fact, it's estimated that the GI bill returned nearly $7 to the economy for every $1 spent on it.
While the economic benefits of free higher education are convincing enough, we can't overlook the social arguments. Free college or trade school education for all would bring America back in line with its egalitarian promise that all people, regardless of wealth or social standing, have the same opportunity for success. The poor and middle class alike would have the same opportunities as the wealthy to send their children to college - giving them the chance to climb the social ladder.
One cannot overlook the fact that free higher education would attract renewed interest in underpaid and under-appreciated fields of work. How many burgeoning teachers or social workers changed career paths because their desired line of work simply wouldn't pay the student loan bills? Free higher education would provide incentive for students to pursue their passion without the weight of crushing debt. As a result, all of society would benefit.
I can just hear the critics proclaiming students would never appreciate something given to them for free. The simple solution -- tie free education to required service.
A student receiving two years of tuition could be required to "repay" the government with a year in volunteer program similar to the Peace Corp, Teach for America, or City Year. The benefits to society would double -- volunteers working to address some of America's most pressing needs along with a well educated American workforce.
American progress has always been fueled by bold visions. Martin Luther King refused to sit timidly in the back of the bus. Dwight Eisenhower had the idea for the vast interstate highway system we now take for granted. JFK saw no reason we couldn't send a man to the moon. SO if we pursue a hue and cry on this education fee issues, guaranteed we knock them back a few digits in a year or so and we can go to college or our kids can.
Men and women can serve as quasi-politicians nibbling at the edges of issues and problems with sharp teeth, thusly making NOT small imperceptable changes but big fast legislative ones!. Or they can act as leaders audaciously tackling challenges in a way that makes a true difference. PICKETS, DEMONSTRATIONS, WEBSITES, Doing much the same as the Koch brothers did to create the TEABAGGERS a racist, elitist org...but do it for a progressive issue.
The student loan crisis and the vanishing dream of a college education represent true threats to future American prosperity. It's time for leaders to step to the plate with bold solutions. SO STUDY YOUR ACTIVISM TECH and get busy on this ISSUE.
IDEAS FOR THE EDUCATIONAL FIX:
1) "TAKE EM OVER!" MAKE all American PRIVATE COLLEGES BECOME REGULATED if not OUTRIGHT nationalized --and be run with new criteria. No Gov propaganda mind programming will be allowed, either. The ACLU gets to monitor all classes, teachers, cold calling, visiting, whatever.
FIRST CHANGES: A.) The colleges currently charging you 15 to 50k a year will now become "not for profit" institutions. The logic is, they are a LIFE LINE for the worker/ people/ the children of the country. Without free education, the people have no job, no food, no health care. If Gov wants us to kick in a copay on health pay we gottta have jobs and COLLEGE = equals JOBS and say, that's a pretty good definition of a LIFE-LINE!
So, Instead of Oil and War Toy corps running the White House, instead of PHARM companies running and profiting from the PLAGUE, instead of agri business fostering STARVATION, and instead of the Stripe-seeking Military seeking WORLD WAR III, ---our GOV will most kindly take over the RUNNING or REGULATING of these colleges aiming at NEW 'CHEAPO' FEATURES like:
B.) Instead of Rectors and Profs earning from a half million a year down to 300k, the colleges grab school teachers without MASTERS who are currently earning 30k a year. AT THE COLLEGE they will get 40 K annually and an extra l0 if students like them. Idea is NOBODY earns more, not brass upstairs, NOBODY! It's the rare PHD who is teaching these days who may deserve more though most EARN MORE but we can't afford MONEY HOGS in these LIFELINE TIMES no matter HOW DESERVING THEY ARE. Nor can we AFFORD THE fat hog BRASS UPSTAIRS, i.e. the rectors and Department heads. All these 'posts' are gravy slurping pigs, not officer class, not celebrities, not posh people just so MUCH CHAFF.
C.) Bill Gates just announced to the world that we can and should shave off the fat on today's college system. For one thing, eradicate frilly BONUSES to teachers with Master's Degrees which NOW happen to add an extra 8.6 BILLION bucks a year to the costs of the system. Gates knows about FAT and he's really into education. So bottom line, who needs a masters degree? NOBODY! According to this billionaire CEO Harvard DropOut there are many ways to skin a cat, and stats seem to show that 'no-master degree' teachers are just as good as the cash slurping, doctored up guys. VARIATIONS on 'masters only' teachers do exist: http://www.topix.com/forum/city/etna-oh/TGDC34JSC1ILHKRVS/p7
D.) ALL YOUR INTERNET WEB-RELATED STUDIES ARE FREE. See http://www.luckinlove.com/mothernet.htm
E.) Robotize the SALLIE MAE and 32,000 students a year get educations. The paperwork the 8k workers do now sucks up l00k a year, fire them all, that gives four students a year per ex employee a free education, or 32k extra students! )
F.) BONE UP ON CHINA or any UP and COMING ECONOMY. My galpal in Santa Fe just wrote me about the miracle of FREE COLLEGE for her daughter the CHINA BUFF. ''My daughter studied Chinese as a language. When she spoke it well, she went to live in CHINA for a year and teach English. Suddenly, out of nowhere, she received 2 offers for fully funded PhDs! From the big guys (her #1 & #2 choices): Univ of Chicago and UC Berkeley. Fully funded for 5-6 years, tuition, living stipend that covers food and rent, research grants and medical insurance. Total value: about $360,000.
She received the offers via the internet, while traveling in the mountains in a remote area of China. The villagers heat their homes with yak dung, but she had internet access because the Chinese have brought in infrastructure for that.
In early March the schools flew her back to meet her potential colleagues, etc. She choose Chicago, for many good reasons."
G.) CUT OUT THE TV and texting & GET STRAIGHT A 'S. - If you are a GENIUS you do get your education comped !
H.) CELEBRITY NAME, someone super progressive, like the "HOWARD ZINN TRADE SCHOOLS" across America. Howard ZINN was a top truth telling textbook author, activist, historian, journalist, teacher. Curriculum should include some PROGRESSIVE VERSION OF HISTORY CLASSES along with "Instantly Employable Job Tech", and the third subject at HZSchools -- UNION ORGANIZING history and implementation CLASSES. Everyone gets a scholarship at the gitgo, no student loans! It's l00% free. FED GOV pays for bldg rent, computers, tools. All teachers are VOLUNTEER retired seniors maybe getting hamburger pay. THE IMMENSE BRAIN drain in America is over the second you give high school grads a year or two in the HZ COLLEGE. You can organize the one in your TOWN. Get the Zinn Family to loan you the name. Deputize rather than sell, franchises in every city of AMERICA. The Corrollary of course is not so honey sweet. ABSOLUTE SHUNNING OF ALL COLLEGES and UNIVERSITIES which would prefer to have you paying student loans as you approach death and still never having nicked the PRINCIPLE. Placards at every demonstration reading 'SHUN FEE-SEEKING COLLEGES.'
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
Send in your idea for FREE COLLEGE NOW...to astrology at earthlink. dot net. I will add it here
LAND GRANT COLLEGES MUST DELIVER FREE EDUCATIONS. They teach practical trades, agronomy, engineering. We need to ask for these to be GOV FUNDED.
Dr. C. Alonzo Peters wrote much of this article, I just scribbled on top. And here at bottom. He is founder of MochaMoney.com, a personal finance website dedicated to helping Black Americans gain financial independence.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *<=== BACK TO THE FRUGAL TIPS and CHEAPO LIFESTYLE WEBPAGETHE ACTIVIST should utilize the internet and become a POSTER which is what ANITA SANDS HERNANDEZ, Los Angeles Writer, Mother of 4 and career Astrologer does. She finds 'telling' articles, posts them and POSTS them at her website then sends the URL out to her TWITTER friends, her FACEBOOK readers and to her extensive EMAIL lists, --to people who she's noted are thinkers, do-ers and are likely to pass the information on. The themes? HOLISTIC HEALING without doctors, but also for CATS AND DOGS , TRUTHS the GOV WILL HIDE & NEVER TELL YOU, The FUTURE, WHAT'S COMIN' AT YA! FRUGAL LIFE STYLE TIPS, and ALL the things you'll need to do to SURVIVE the COMING GREAT DEPRESSION, Also cottage industries galore, like ARTISANRY FOR EXPORT, EARN EUROS... (and more.. see the dozen themes below) Anita is at astrology@earthlink.net ). Get a 15$ natal horoscope "my money/future life" reading now + copy horoscope as a Gif file graphic! No smarter, more accurate career reading out there!
<===BACK TO THE "FIX EDUCATION" WEBSITE
<=== BACK TO THE HOLISTIC INDEX PAGE, HOW TO LIVE 150 YEARS
<=== BACK TO TRACKING THE ECONOMY, an INDEX PAGE
<===BACK TO MONEY SECRETS ONLY STREET SMART EXPERTS KNOW
<=== BACK TO DIRTY SECRETS which the GOV DOES NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW
<===BACK TO THE SECRETS OF THE OLIGARCHS, THE EMPIRE INDEX PAGE
<=== SHOW ME THE FIX INDEX PAGE.
<== SHOW ME THE HAPPY R)EVOLUTION PAGE
<=== BACK TO "GUERILLA CAPITALISM" -- THE SOLUTION!
<==== BACK TO THE "VITAL SIGNS OF A DYING ECONOMY" the "FUTURE" WEBPAGE
<==== BACK TO THE WALL STREET MELTDOWN WEBSITE, with "WHAT TO DO TO SURVIVE" TIPS
<=== BACK TO ENRON PLANET, the DOOMSDAY SCENARIO!
<====BACK TO THE HOLISTIC GOURMET, BON MARCHE
<=== BACK TO THE FRUGAL ARTISAN IMPORT/ EXPORT TYCOON AND HIS "STUFF"
<=== BACK TO THE GLEENERS PAGE
<== BACK TO THE FUTURE INDEX PAGE
<=== BACK TO THE GENTLEMAN FARMER'S GARDEN INDEX
<=== INVESTIGATE DOING DRIP IRRIGATE- LINES in DROUGHT STATES, make HUGE $ . LEARN in 1 hr, at Home Depot
<=== BACK TO "DONE WELL, ACTIVISM IS A DELIGHT and IT CREATES CAREERS for YOU as well as PLANETARY EVOLUTION"
<=== BACK TO THE MALTHUSIAN INDEX PAGE
<===BACK TO THE PHILOSOPHY INDEX PAGE
<=== BACK TO THE LUCK IN LOVE WEBSITE
<== BACK TO THE PROPAGANDA STUDIES WEBSITE, HOW GOV LIES TO YOU
<=== BACK TO ALL POINTS OF THE COMPASS POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY TUTORIAL
<=== BACK TO JERRY'S REFRIGERATOR & the Tin Foil Hat Collection of CONSPIRACY THEORIES!
<====BACK TO THE FREE MONEY WEBSITE
<==== BACK TO THE HARD TIMES WEBSITE
<===== BACK TO THE POVERTY INDEX PAGE
<==== BACK TO THE "TIPS to SURVIVE THE FUTURE" INDEX PAGE
BACK TO THE "FIX YOUR FLAGGING AMBITION" SEMINAR<== BACK TO THE SNOOKERED INDEX PAGE
<===BACK TO THE REALITY 101 SEMINAR FOR TEENS
<==== BACK TO THE SHOW BUSINESS ARCHIVE for writers, producers and video documentarians
<====HOW TO TINKER WITH OTHER PEOPLE's BRAINS
<====BACK TO THE NEW AGE EMPOWERING INDEX
<===BACK TO "HOW TO MERCHANDISE YOURSELF" INDEX
<===BACK TO THE ALL ABOUT TAXES INDEX PAGE
<=== MEET ANITA SANDS WHO WRITES ALL THESE ARTICLES
<=== TAKE ME TO THE HOLISTIC PET, HOW NEVER TO NEED a VET
<=== BACK TO THE TRUTHS ABOUT DENTISTRY THAT WILL SAVE YOU 100 THOUSAND!
<=== BACK TO THE SNOOKERED WEBPAGE, HOAXES WE HAVE ALL KNOWN
<===BACK TO EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WEB STUFF (for dummies) so you can make your own website.
<=== BACK TO THE CONVERSATION INDEX
<=== BACK TO REAL ESTATE BUYING FOR THE POOR PERSON. IT CAN BE DONE!
<===== BACK TO THE PHILOSOPHIC DIFFERENCES INTERPRETED WEBSITE.
<=== BACK TO "HOW TO MARRY A BILLIONAIRE" A 120 CLASSROOM SEMINAR that teaches THE SUPER BEAUTY how to GIVE UP JOCKS, SACRIFICE HERSELF AND SAVE THE WORLD by MARRYING MONEY! (and starting an internat'l charity)
<==== PORTAL TO 7,000 FREE SEMINARS, REPUBLISH ANY OR ALL, THEY ARE COMMON CAUSE. BLOG STUFF EVERY ONE OF the 7,000 ARTICLES ON YOUR WEBPAGE, MONETIZE IT, KEEP THE $. JUST GET THE WORD OUT.