Yet More on Student Debt -- from Hedrick Smith and others

My friend Hedrick Smith (Who Stole the American Dream?) responded to my post this way:
"Hi Fletch,

       Thanks for sharing your student debt thoughts with me. 

       Couple of ideas pop up, which I may have missed, but did not see raised in your item:

     1-What portion of  the $1 trillion in student debt is generated for students in public state-run institutions across the country where most state legislatures have been cutting appropriations to their university systems, causing the institutions to raise tuition, imposing greater student debt burden on the millennial generation because our generation is not prepared to foot enough of the cost of higher education to keep it affordable for middle class  youth?

     2-Why don't we see the current generation of students as our nation's seed corn who are going to make our country more competitive in the decades ahead and are therefore worthy of an investment in their future?  China is investing in the STEM skills of its millennial generation, and the Chinese millennials will be eating our lunch unless we invest equally in our own young people. The economic future of the bulk of the millennial generation is far from assured, but if we help them do better by educating them better, they will become the generation that will be able to help pay for the retirement costs of the Baby Boomer generation, half of which is headed for poverty in their so-called golden years?

    3-The issue is: Do we think austerity or do with think Growth? So what about another GI Bill, in which we accept a public obligation to pay for a much larger part of the higher education - of kids who come from families which are getting priced out of the opportunity for higher education by our generation's refusal to keep the costs reasonable? 

      Conservatives keep talking about the fear of imposing debt on future generations - well, we are already doing that by refusing to pay the bill now and dumping it on these kids.

     Looking forward to seeing in three weeks or so - on April 21st and 22nd

    Cheers,

    Rick"

Hedrick Smith is speaking at Town Hall on the evening of April 21st; tickets are still available.

Another correspondent writes:

"Fletch,

Absolutely correct…  What about the 4 profit schools that suck money from the feds and give the student little or nothing?    The student can’t get a job to pay back the $ and they go bankrupt, but the loans haunt them for the rest of their life while the 4 profit schools get rich."

RC