Occupy Wall Street may be an amorphous, platform-free movement. But as the protests that began in New York in September have spread across the United States, and the world, one clear issue of concern has emerged: student loan debt.
For over a year, I've been working on a foundation-funded project that hopes to change America's debt culture, especially among Millennials.
I've begun following the young people on "We Are the 99 Percent" Tumblr, and am taken by their use of handwritten signs with their personal stories. It's a stunning testament in its authenticity, and more powerful than any high-priced ad campaign conceived on Madison Avenue.
"I have $50,000 in student loan debt and my B.A. is useless," one wrote.
From another: "Graduated college: May 2010. Debt: $35,000. Jobs in US: None."
Some are resigned: "I am 38 years old. It will take me almost 30 years to pay off my student loans (in 2023)."
Others cry out: "I am 24 years old and am $90,000 in debt from getting a college education. Why are we being punished with debt for getting a higher education?"
The trends are converging into a perfect storm: rising college costs, an increasing need for access to higher education for low-income students, more borrowing and fewer entry-level jobs for new graduates.
The student debt issue is not going away. It's too pervasive, and it puts pressure on higher education to prove out that a college education pays off.
We live in curious times. Some of the things we've taken for granted for so long in American culture are being questioned, in particular the power of education to change a striver's lot. What we are witnessing is a re-organization of our belief system about what it takes to get ahead.
I feel fortunate to be living in these times... no matter how unsettling.
People are finding their issues and raising their voices.
In a democracy, that's a good thing. We can all believe in that, right?
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Now my son is a senior @ the same private school I went to and his tuition is $11,000/semester (more than my entire education cost) plus food, dorm, fees and books. My daughter is a sophomore at the same state school and it costs ~$6,000/semester plus fees and books. Do I think they are getting that much better an education than I did 30 years ago? NO! But the athletes sure have better amenities and the students live in nicer dorms, have work-out facilities and pools.
Students need to be really angry, and desperate for some real change.
that Citizens must stage protests
to have their concerns heard???
in the long run, we need to re-subsidize education and reinvigorate our progressive tax system. that's how it worked in the past. you got a cheap education up front thanks to the taxpayer, and then you paid higher taxes on your higher earnings, thus making a profit for the public's investment.
We need liberty. We need to stop forcing the society at large to subsidize the graduate studies of ethnic studies students. We need for the people who are receiving the service, to pay for the service. Then when the education marketplace gets a healthy dose of reality and competition, prices will go down, and service will improve for the consumers (i.e. students).
It is exactly like the computer or cell phone marketplace. Competition and that dirty word "greed" are the tools that raise the standard of living for all.
http://freeeducationforfreepeople.blogspot.com/2011/11/female-students-pay-off-debts-by-dating.html
I doubt that these young women would do that for a car which can be discharged in bankruptcy. With no jobs, the majors don't matter. It's a disaster and the banks, government, and universities bear the blame.
There's always an extra handout to rich old bankers but never enough for poor young women.
What we're actually witnessing is the second stage of a world economic depression and student debt is just a part of the picture. Youth are justifiably in revolt in the US, in Europe, and in the Middle East. Anything that puts the onus on student "millenials" for a "debt culture" dangerously misses the much larger currents of our time.
A predatory relationship between the US government, banks, and universities has brought about the current student debt crisis. At the heart of the problem, public universities have been defunded while government monies have gone to subsidize private banks and privatizing universities. That's the real "culture" that needs changing. In short, public money goes to build private fortunes.
Students are largely vehicles for the transfer of wealth. It's time to stop treating them as "bad consumers" of a "commodity"; in fact, it's deceptive.
Students and graduates with debt are human beings and citizens who have been deprived of public investment and their right to an education.
To that I'd add big oil and healthcare.
The amazing part is how the petty perveyors of those problematic philippics fail to fully understand that their undervalued undergraduate credentials qualify them (candidly) for squat.
Don't go into five or six figure debt for the sake of a degree in a romance language, and don't hold it against those of us who knew better.
I am part of the 60% who don't agree with the 99%.
This will REALLY make us better as a society and civilization.
Won't it.
Very strange.
I'm trying to figure out how he does his math.
Only about 33% say they agree with OWS and the "99%" now. I count myself among the 67% who do not.