GOP's Approach to Reducing College Debt is Wrong-Headed

A recent study by the Bookings Institution raised questions about the extent to which students who graduate from college are actually facing the kind of crushing debt that is typically presented with anecdotal evidence by the media and politicians. The report indicates that only 7 percent of young-adult households with education debt have $50,000 or more, while 58 percent have less than $10,000 in debt, and an additional 18 percent have debts between $10,000 and $20,000. Clearly, there are still a lot of people in debt, but we should be wary of those who make broad generalizations from anecdotal evidence.

Without question, the cost of some colleges is very high. My son attends a private university and the total annual package is around $60,000/year. That's a lot of money, but we chose to send him to that particular school and are prepared to pay for it. We could have easily chosen other schools: the total cost at the university where I teach (assuming my son were to live on campus rather than at home) would be less than half of the university he attends. In fact, there are a variety of levels of cost for college in the US, some of which are quite reasonable and some of which are incredibly expensive.

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