

College Dropouts Cost the Economy Billions - ajpatel
http://www.good.is/post/college-dropouts-cost-the-economy-billions/

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Jach
Here's the actual PDF:
[http://www.air.org/files/AIR_High_Cost_of_Low_Graduation_Aug...](http://www.air.org/files/AIR_High_Cost_of_Low_Graduation_Aug2011.pdf)
It's much better than the write-up, though is still lacking. I have a few
questions...

> Without the earnings boost that comes from a college degree, these students
> are likely to struggle to pay back their student loan debt, setting
> themselves up for default—in turn, hurting our economy even more. And at a
> time when people without degrees have higher employment rates, college
> dropouts are more likely to need government-provided social services like
> food stamps.

Has it been shown that the multiplier effect of a total of random college
degrees is larger than the multiplier effect of food stamps we've all heard
about?

> Of course, the majority of students don't drop out because they're lazy and
> don't feel like going to class. Affordability is a huge factor—if you're
> working so many hours that you don't have time to study or go to class,
> quitting can seem like a good idea.

So students drop out because they can't afford school. Does this mean the loan
amounts should be more? What about for degrees averaging higher incomes, thus
graduates having a larger chance of paying off the loan in a reasonable amount
of time?

Re: the actual billions figure... the PDF says they take their income
estimates from the median income in each state of degree holders vs. non-
degree holders and measure the differences, which range from about $8k-$12k.
So while this is a decent indicator that "degree > no degree", it doesn't tell
you what degree to get. Are the countless theology, english lit, and other
"soft", "artsy" degrees really worth it? Or do corporations still frequently
require any degree from anywhere to apply to be their drone, making such
degrees possibly worthwhile for the income aspect? Would be interesting to
compare the median incomes of different degrees to the median incomes of
people with no degree.

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da_dude4242
Article seems 1-dimensional to me. If defaults were really hurting the economy
they wouldn't be giving out student loans so liberally. Obviously someone is
making a profit from it, though it might not be trickling down.

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billswift
That is one reason I didn't take the article at all seriously - you cannot
default on student loans unless you end up permanently disabled. They will
follow you through bankruptcy and continue accumulating interest and penalties
for decades.

