Asklemmy

I think universities would be forced to compete on price to survive, so I’m all for it.

TFW Americans have an orphan crushing machine and have a full debate on the color of the machine's knobs. 😨

You could also just not take out college loans.

In the early 2000s I did community College and then got my bachlors. 6 years and no debt.

Consider that maybe people shouldn't be taking 50k in debt right out of highschool for a degree they aren't sure they really want in a field that's already over saturated. I feel for the kids who were young and dumb and goaded into signing on the dotted line but ultimately it was their choice to take on debt and they reap what they sow.

In general, I'm opposed to the idea. College professors don't work for free, and colleges have to pay them. Like it or not, we live in a capitalist society, and everyone needs to be paid. You could raise taxes and fund college publicly, but then you're just passing off the cost of a college education to the taxpayers.

What does need to happen is a tighter regulation of tuition fees. A student should be able to take out a student loan, work a minimum wage job to pay for rent and personal expenses, and be able to pay off their student loan within a few years of graduation. The problem right now is that even if a college student manages to get a job in their field immediately after school, they're stuck paying student loans for a decade or more. 50 years ago, you could work a job flipping burgers, pay for school, and be firmly on your feet a few years after you get your degree. I went to college about 20 years ago, and tuition fees have just about doubled since then. The cost of higher education has far outpaced the average income of a college student.

Nobody should get a free ride; students should pay for school, but they shouldn't be in crippling debt afterwards. There needs to be legislation that forces the cost of education to fit with the minimum wage.