It is the road construction workers who will be paying and likely didn't go to college.
Exactly. Electricians, plumbers and pipe-fitters, welders, roofers and pavers and everyone else that do all the jobs clueless liberal "degree holders" would die without. None of them should have to pay for college they didn't attend. It's outrageous. Shocked to agree with Bill, but it's happened before more than once, so...
Now if you are getting a STEM degree then your earnings will pay off your loans with the quickness and you have no worries. Physics, mathematics, accounting, engineering, those kind of degrees---ALONG WITH A 3.5 OR BETTER GPA shows you have cerebral abilities.
Fuck all this free college and wiping out debt for people who make stupid decisions or have no business in college, anyway. They can look to the trades or the military to learn one, etc. The college set-up now is to encourage debt and liberal indoctrination, along with a sense of entitlement and little real-world applicable skills.
I talk to people and have for years (over a decade, now) who walk in with $60,000 in debt and a degree in sign language or some other such useless shit. I've actually seen lots of that. I've seen $90,000 and $100,000 on occasion. It was $30,000/$40,000 ten years back and has grown every year. For a completely useless degree. The first house I bought in 2000 was $87,500! It was only 1100 square feet with a single car garage and one bath, but hell, I didn't even pay that off or come close before moving out 5 years later.
When I say "I've seen", these kids (I'm getting old, now) share this with me during conversation. The loans part. I already know what their minor and major is, and I worked for a period where I would sometimes hear about their GPA as well through the hiring process. People don't understand that in corporate America and Fortune 500 companies they consider you every bit as educated and capable as any other HS grad. Because that's what you are. And if your GPA is low, you're going to have a hard time catching on with a good company. Also, they all have social media experts who will investigate you something fierce on there and you will be DQ'd if you posted dumb shit, drug use or too much boozing.
Also, we're now competing globally with everyone and I have seen many, many mathematical hires and too few are from here in the US. Maybe half. The other half from all over, but probably Chinese and African in that order for the top-two. Move to IT (programmers/developers) and India is the top source for that talent aside from the US, in probably equal numbers. Chinese have a strong presence there as well. I don't think today's teens and now 20-somethings realize or realized they would be competing against TENS OF MILLIONS of people studying the basics for
hours a day throughout their educational years. On average, we're not even competitive.
Follow the money/salary and pensions that the colleges/faculty are getting, along with everyone else connected with that system and you'll see we don't have a problem with higher education, we have a shortage of folks actually getting a usable education out of it, much less a competitive one. We need to overhaul and focus on the basics again. We're getting our asses kicked by the way we now coddle students from start to finish.
/old man college and college debt rant.