One of the comments was the most interesting to me, where he says that STEM majors basically have their hands held throughout the process. Here's a list of things you have to do, keep your GPA this high, finish these classes/projects, finish this internship and your employment is virtually guaranteed right out of college. We'll tell you everything you need to do, all you need to do is be smart enough/work hard enough to do it and you're in.

All along you've said "you need to go to college so you can get a good job" but the system was not designed to raise producers, it was designed to raise consumers. Well, here we are. Why are you surprised that they need consumer stamps? Why are you surprised they moved back in with you? "We did the best we could." No you did not, I was there, I saw it. You borrowed against their future, and they can't pay it back. And now you're yelling at them.

Seriously, we could make this entire problem go away overnight by allowing student loans to be discharged through bankruptcy. The only reason anyone can afford the current astronomical tuition rates is because student loans have basically become debt bondage. The financiers have very little counterparty risk and therefore are perfectly happy to lend whatever number the colleges decide to charge.

Honestly, I fully expect student loans to require the parents to cosign on them within the next 20 years, and thereby fully implement debt bondage that's passed from father to son and can never be discharged.

You make them dischargable, and they will. Kids have no credit, thus rates will be astronomically high. Tuition may come down, they'll just pay more in interest. Or, the only people that will be able to go to college are those that ride on their parents' credit.

I don't see how it's worse than people walking away from underwater mortgages and having the entire balance of the debt forgiven. At least when someone walks away from their student loans we still managed to educate someone.

Xequecal:

We need fewer people in our colleges and universities. We need fewer colleges and universities. We need fewer graduates. All this mandatory baccalaureate degree nonsense does is turn all degrees into nonsense. Moreover, if your parents cannot afford tuition, you cannot afford the loans, and you cannot secure scholarships to defray the cost of attendance, that used to be a pretty good benchmark you should not receive a post-secondary education. Primary education in the United States ends with 8th Grade. High school is your secondary education.

But, you know, you still don't get along with Supply and Demand very well, do you?

In fact, you have no idea how much it costs to run a university; otherwise, you wouldn't be defending all of this "expanded access" nonsense; you'd be asking for gibbets and pillories for all the idiot legislators and executive politicians who keep pushing the "need for more college degrees."

Also, liberal arts majors who cannot find when they graduate should probably have not gone to college. If you don't know how to market the 4 years of practical skill development any college degree provides you in the workplace, you shouldn't go to college. You have no idea why you went other than someone told you it would lead to a better job.

If you don't know how to market the 4 years of practical skill development any college degree provides you in the workplace, you shouldn't go to college. You have no idea why you went other than someone told you it would lead to a better job.

I don't see how it's worse than people walking away from underwater mortgages and having the entire balance of the debt forgiven. At least when someone walks away from their student loans we still managed to educate someone.

We need fewer people in our colleges and universities. We need fewer colleges and universities. We need fewer graduates. All this mandatory baccalaureate degree nonsense does is turn all degrees into nonsense.

A Master's Degree is pretty much mandatory for anything beyond entry-level office work.