Both as a generation and as a society we have bought into the massive college lie that has done detrimental damage to the American economy. The lie purports that young people can only meet the cost of living, have successful lives, and be desirable to employers in any and every field if they have taken out the enormous burden of an enslaving debt to an education that they may or may not actually be utilizing to its fullest potential. The lie itself is part of the American shift towards services over manufacturing and other hard labor jobs—though there are still millions of the jobs in the United States, they are no longer part in parcel of the “American Dream”. Essentially, everyone is only willing to get their hands dirty at work if they are doing so euphemistically or metaphorically. A precious few people are willing to do the work that actually creates and maintains spaces and products rather than ordering them and experiencing the frightful wave of buyer’s remorse that someone owing Sally Mae over $1000 a month can expect with unwavering certainty. Of course, this act of therapeutic consumerism is another blight upon the American people that adds to the burden of debt and credit addiction, but that is a conversation for a different moment. The truth of the matter is that the consumerist mind set is tied intrinsically to the fact that young Americans with degrees—among many others—cannot afford the things they need (or want), due to their debt obligations but feel unsuccessful and unfulfilled without obtaining them…so they take out even more debt.
The accumulation of massive bank and credit debt is, at least for young people paying back student loans who have otherwise well-paying professional positions, is tied directly to the unfair level of their student loan interest rates. It’s a destructive spiraling cycle: we are told we can never have the things we want unless we take out student loans to go to college and then we can’t afford the things we want because we can’t afford our college loans, so we take out more credit. Meanwhile, the well-paying jobs that we get are often not in the field of study that we pursued, and if we want to get into a field we do want we need more school debt for a Masters Degree. Then we find that jobs that can afford to have us, and have us pay our debt are rare…and either about, or not that much better, paying than the last job. The debt however has grown…the undergraduate debt has increased in deferment, and the new debt is so mind-boggling, that you often turn the numbers upside down to see if they spell words. Meanwhile, a recent study by the Brookings Center on Children and Families states that about 1 in 5 colleges have students who see a negative return in their tuition investment…meaning they aren’t making the jump in income they expected by having the degree. So now there’s a study that will be soon buried that discredits the college lie that “everyone” must go to be a success. Clearly, 20% of people are getting screwed by the lie…and probably more when you factor in the crippling effect that paying thousands of dollars to interest to tens of dollars on principal a month has on the would-be middle class to “empower” the economy.
Worse yet that kind of debt-to-income ratio makes it impossible for money to be returned to the economy proper. It all goes to the banks and the Federal Government…none of which does anything to create real job opportunities for those with or without college degrees; it does nothing for anyone except the money lenders. The interest rates get higher, people defer…and sure they can never take your degree away, but it won’t do you much good when you are lighting a can-fire down by the railroad tracks singing “She’ll be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain” with the other hobos to pass the time (unless of course you’ve used your Music Theory Degree to arrange the song and chorus in an inventive and harmonious way).