President Obama wants to solve the horrible problem of college tuition costs and student loans by offering tax breaks and telling schools to keep their costs down. Memo to the prez: Holding the line on tuition increases won’t do it. Tuition is already way to high. Student loan requirements are already way too crippling.
It would be nice if governments would just raise the tax money necessary to subsidize costs at public universities again. But until that happens, there’s another interesting idea I heard on KPFA the other day: Why not do a federal bailout for students?
The Federal Reserve bought up trillions in toxic bank debt. Why not use the same principle to buy up the debt of a generation of college students, reduce the payments to an affordable level and do what other countries do, which is to waive all payments until the students get a job? What a great investment in the future — and what a great way to stimulate the economy. Put money in the pockets of young college graduates and guess what? They’ll spend it. Trust me on this.
I wonder if anyone in Washington is even thinking about this. If so, it’s awfully quiet.