BY JORDAN STEPHEN
The federal government made $41.3 billion in profits from student loans last year, enough to award 7.3 million college students maximum-level Pell Grants of $5,645.
This puts the financial yield from the loan program in third place when compared to all corporations worldwide, behind only Exxon Mobil, which made $44.9 billion in 2012, and Apple Inc., which made $41.7 billion.
The Congressional Budget Office projects that student loan payments will provide the federal government with $175 billion in profit by 2023 if it aims to keep the subsidy rate at negative 20%. This would mean that the program takes in 20% more than it administers.
Student loan debt is already at a disconcerting level, and the weight of the post-graduate debt yolk is only getting heavier. In the past decade, the amount of debt related to education has nearly tripled, going from $364 billion in 2005, to an estimated $1.08 trillion by the end of 2013. At GW, students graduate with an average of $33,398 in loans, higher than the national average of nearly $27,000.
The biggest culprit for the rising debt rate is the ever-growing cost of attendance for most major colleges in the United States. The average price of a college tuition has risen almost four times more than average income has in the last 30 years, making it necessary for the majority of college students to borrow money from the federal government in order to obtain their degree.
If the federal government wants to keep college affordable for the average citizen, then it should avoid policies that are complacent with the cost-ballooning strategies of many of today's top schools. The focus should instead be on keeping education costs in line with income so that a post-secondary degree is a practical investment, not one that will haunt you monetarily for rest of your life.
The federal government should be more concerned with the unemployment line than the bottom line.
This puts the financial yield from the loan program in third place when compared to all corporations worldwide, behind only Exxon Mobil, which made $44.9 billion in 2012, and Apple Inc., which made $41.7 billion.
The Congressional Budget Office projects that student loan payments will provide the federal government with $175 billion in profit by 2023 if it aims to keep the subsidy rate at negative 20%. This would mean that the program takes in 20% more than it administers.
Student loan debt is already at a disconcerting level, and the weight of the post-graduate debt yolk is only getting heavier. In the past decade, the amount of debt related to education has nearly tripled, going from $364 billion in 2005, to an estimated $1.08 trillion by the end of 2013. At GW, students graduate with an average of $33,398 in loans, higher than the national average of nearly $27,000.
The biggest culprit for the rising debt rate is the ever-growing cost of attendance for most major colleges in the United States. The average price of a college tuition has risen almost four times more than average income has in the last 30 years, making it necessary for the majority of college students to borrow money from the federal government in order to obtain their degree.
If the federal government wants to keep college affordable for the average citizen, then it should avoid policies that are complacent with the cost-ballooning strategies of many of today's top schools. The focus should instead be on keeping education costs in line with income so that a post-secondary degree is a practical investment, not one that will haunt you monetarily for rest of your life.
The federal government should be more concerned with the unemployment line than the bottom line.