The Student Loan Debacle
Is there a conspiracy to derail higher education in the United States? It seems like it. Why are student loan rates at 6.8 percent, doubling from 3.4 percent? I make it a policy not to comment on anything political, but this is insane. Society as a whole moves forward on the wheels of education. With student loan rates at 6.8 percent, for many these wheels are coming to a grinding halt and rusting.
The U.S. education system is ranked, from what I’ve read, 17th in a study of 50 countries. Finland and South Korea are number one and two. Will doubling the student loan rate elevate our ranking? Hardly. Forty percent of adults in the United States are either at or below basic reading proficiency and comprehension. In metro Detroit where I live the functional illiteracy rate is 47 percent. That’s almost half the population. With a 6.8 percent student loan rate, where will new teachers come from?
Students preparing to go to college will indeed be forced to re-evaluate their higher education dreams and goals, and we will be worse off for it.
Congress: fix this debacle. Now.
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Welcome to John Silver’s blog. I’m John Silver, a Detroit based thriller writer, author of The Day Detroit Went Dark, The System – A Detroit Story, Reckoning in Escobara , Thomas Edison: RESURRECTOR and The Field. This blog contains book and movie reviews, posts about writing, hot (or not) scripts, movies, deals and writers, and what’s currently or rumored to be in production.
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John Silver's Blog 
Accurate and well said, I am a preservice teacher that didn’t have the luxury of money behind me. My parents were poor so I took out student loans to finance my future. The interest rate terrifies me and has gone up so much since I started undergrad 6 years ago (I’m in graduate school now).
It’s all part of the plan, John. It’s way more difficult to control a population who are well-informed and encouraged to think for themselves (excuse me while I move my soap box closer to the exit). 🙂
It’s difficult to be informed with you’re 17 or 18 and heading to college. I think college costs far too much. It’s now impossible to work to pay for school (I know, I tried and paid what I could out of pocket but it wasn’t enough). I agree, though, it is easier to exert control over people that owe you (the government) money.