In The Debt Trap, Wall Street Journal writer Josh Mitchell explains the history of federal higher education policy and “how student loans became a national catastrophe.”
The book is worth reading, writes George Leef, but he thinks Mitchell “uncritically accepts” the idea that subsidizing “college for all” will boost productivity and lessen poverty and inequality.
Thanks to federal loans, more students went to college. Colleges raised tuition, knowing there was plenty of federal aid to cover it.
College graduates and dropouts owe more than a trillion dollars in student loans, writes Leef, editorial director of the Martin Center for Academic Renewal.
President Obama, who set a goal of becoming the nation with the highest percentage of college-educated workers, made it easier for students to repay loans, but many still “found themselves deeply in debt after graduation.”