US Senator Ron "Sunspot" Johnson calls for abolishing government student loans

[Scuba]

I am so ashamed of my State for sending this total nitwit to Washington ....

http://uppitywis.org/blogarticle/rojo-government-shouldnt-even-be-involved-granting-student-loans

RoJo: "Government Shouldn't Even Be Involved in Granting Student Loans"

[Swede Atlanta]

1. It is well known that education is the key to the future........

An educated workforce is a workforce that is prepared to meet the future.

I guess in Mr. Johnson's mind, the U.S. government, as representative of the American people, has no interest in the "big picture" of ensuring future generations are prepared to meet global competition and win.

He thinks that is the business of private enterprise that can do it so much more efficiently, and for PROFIT. Why cannot we accept that education is something we should help make available to QUALIFIED students? I am not saying necessarily it would be totally free. It might be good to have work-study or forgive student loans if students work in public service for 2 years after they graduate, something like that.

But it is insane to have students leaving with $20K, $50K, $100K in debt. Especially today in a very tough job market they not only leave school with little to no work experience, are just starting out so their salaries will be lower than experienced employees and they face the devastation of debt.

Why do we do this? We do it so someone can make a fast buck on the backs of our students. It is almost as shameful as allowing states to commit pre-meditated murder in the form of capital punishment.

[davidpdx]

3. I agree about having so many students leave deep in debt

I'm working up quite the sum myself. It will be fairly close to the max once I finish my DBA. I have somewhere between 3 to 4 more dissertation courses depending on how fast or slow things go. The next two are at full price ($2,700) and the ones after that go down to a single credit (about $900), plus the cost of an editor. Then add all the fees and costs of getting the dissertation ready to publish (editing again) and graduation fees that could be another $10,000. Oh and of course the actually cost of my dissertation. How could I forget that.

[marmar]

2. I bet that he leaves knuckle tracks in the ground when he walks.