A Bachelor of Art in Serfdom.

I am amazed at some of the things that people do.  Take for instance borrowing money to get an education. Under the current system this guarantees that you will be a debt serf.  In addition, when the government got into student loans business, the cost of a college education skyrocketed.

These increasing costs were addressed by the President when he told colleges that they would need to keep their costs down.  Which is ironic.  Once student loans were guaranteed by the government, allowing anyone to get a loan, including very poor credit risks that private industry would never have loaned to, the number prospective students increased.

As this easy money flowed into colleges and universities, they were able to easily increase their prices - although they would tell you that they are adding value to the service they provide.  Gag.  Which is why the $850 per year tuition I paid 20 years ago is now $5566 per year (in-state tuition). Not to mention the current price of books.

At $425 per semester, I was easily able to pay my own way to attend college.  I also bought used books on the cheap and sold them at the end of the semester - this prior to universities figuring out that they could slightly change something in a textbook or course and require brand new books each year.  My used biology book was $35.00, and was good for several years.  My daughters current anatomy and physiology textbook was $400+, and a new book is required each time the course is taught.  The situation has gotten so bad that even Vice President Blowhard has admitted government culpability in the rising costs of tuition.

If this isn't bad enough, the truly terrifying issue to me is that once you take on debt to finance your college education, this debt follows you for the rest of your life.  Many people have been given loans that traditional private lenders would never have made - simply because these loans are a poor credit risk and the lender would have lost  money.  Under the current system, poor credit risks are given a loan for their education, knowing full well that many of these people will be unable to pay it back.  But pay it back they will - these loans will follow them to the grave.

If they should decide to stop servicing the debt, many states are now tying employment to the service of the debt.  So, if they don't pay, they don't work.  Many of these same student WILL NEVER work in a job that has anything to do with their major.  Making that expensive college education not only impractical, but downright foolish.

Now I'm not knocking a good college education.  If you're going to go DON'T go into debt to do it - you will become a slave for the rest of your life.  Also, get an education that is actually worthwhile, like engineering or a business degree that is has universal application.  I think a lot of people would be saved a lifetime worth of grief by doing a cost / benefit analysis before taking out loans to get a degree in woman's studies or some other such useless degree.  If you are independently wealthy, then knock yourself out.  Otherwise, why would you consciously want to become a slave?