Daniel Sutter: Will student loan debt crush Alabama’s graduates?
Many of Alabama’s 2018 high school graduates will start college this fall. Unfortunately, many recent college graduates report putting off buying cars or homes, saving for retirement, or marriage due to student loan debt. Will Alabama’s new grads face this fate? Student loans now total almost $1.5 trillion, with 2016 graduates averaging $28,000 in debt. With over 10 percent of loans in default, taxpayers may eventually pay much of that $1.5 trillion. A closer look at the numbers, however, offers hope for grads and suggestions for ensuring access to college without excessively burdening students or taxpayers. The $28,000 loan average is only for grads with debt; 30 percent of grads managed to complete college without borrowing. Students burdened with six figure loans, often featured in news stories, inflate this average and have frequently borrowed for graduate or professional degrees, or to attend expensive private or out-of-state universities. Attending a public university and paying in-state tuition allows pursuit of a degree with little debt. High schoolers can also earn college credit through dual enrollment and advanced placement courses. Two-year colleges provide a low cost way to begin studies, particularly for students with marginal test scores and grades. College graduates earn 60 to 70 percent more than high school grads, but students who never earn degrees struggle to pay back loans. Some students will never pay their big loan balances thanks to forgiveness programs. Although student loans are very difficult to discharge in bankruptcy, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness plan cancels remaining balances for government or not-for-profit sector workers after ten years of payments. The plan makes some sense: why collect extra taxes to pay government workers to pay back government loans? The program, however, lets students planning on public service careers take on debt they will almost surely never repay. Georgetown University used this plan to offer free law school for aspiring public interest lawyers. Mortgage-sized debts raise the question of why exactly the Federal government is in the student loan business. An economic argument arises from the nature of lending: unlike cars or homes, college degrees cannot readily be repossessed (and indentured servitude is illegal). Students may be unable to borrow for college if they or their parents lack collateral, despite the value of degrees. A market would exist in the absence of Federal student loans, in all likelihood using test scores, college grades, and choice of major in decisions. I believe that equality of opportunity explains the student loan program, not the economics of lending. The earnings premium shows that for many, college is the gate to the middle class. Americans like everyone to have an opportunity to succeed through hard work. Some nations ration access to college using standardized tests, with a teenager’s poor test performance limiting college options. Americans like people whom experts and bankers think will fail to still have a chance. Markets generally outperform government programs, but I’m okay with government loans for college. Why? Arthur Brooks of the American Enterprise Institute contends that about two thirds of Americans support markets, in principle if not always in the details. Furthermore, this support correlates with the perception that America is a land of opportunity. Maintaining support for markets may require loans to some marginally qualified students. Access to college as part of an opportunity society suggests focusing loans on undergraduate students. The Urban Institute, however, found that 38 percent of loans now go to graduate students. And the Government Accountability Office found that 30 percent of outstanding loans would likely be forgiven under various programs. We should rely on market loans for graduate and professional schools. While this may limit some students’ pursuit of advanced degrees, college graduates already earn 30 percent higher salaries than the national average. Why should taxpayers pay for college-educated Americans to pursue even higher salaries? Alabama’s college-bound 2018 high school graduates need not end up with mortgage-sized student debt. And Federal student loans can provide opportunity for Americans without overly burdening taxpayers. ••• Daniel Sutter is the Charles G. Koch Professor of Economics with the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy University and host of Econversations on TrojanVision. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of Troy University.
Dr. Jill Biden to visit Mobile, give Bishop State commencement speech
Dr. Jill Biden, wife of former Vice President Joe Biden, will deliver the commencement speech at Bishop State Community College’s upcoming graduation ceremony. On Thursday, May 10 at the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center, Dr. Biden will deliver the speech to the Mobile, Ala. school “I have long said that community colleges are America’s best kept secret,” explained Dr. Biden. “I believe we need to celebrate community colleges – and their students – for who they really are: innovative, inspiring and essential.” During her tenure as Second Lady, Dr. Biden and former President Barack Obama led the first-ever White House Summit on Community Colleges. She also completed a College to Career bus tour across five states to highlight innovative workforce partnerships that kick-start career training. She has visited over fifty community college campuses across America. “Dr. Jill Biden understands the impact community colleges have in providing postsecondary education opportunities in our country,” said Bishop State President Dr. Reginald Sykes. “As a community college instructor, she sees first-hand how our students’ lives are changed by the opportunities two-year colleges provide. We are honored and thrilled to have such a relatable speaker for this year’s commencement.” Dr. Biden is a full-time English instructor at a community college in Virginia. She earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Delaware, and has a Master of Education with a specialty in Reading from West Chester University and a Master of Arts degree in English from Villanova University. Bishop State Community College’s 2018 Spring Commencement will take place Thursday, May 10, 2018 at 6 p.m. at the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center.
Atheist group pushes Ala. school to ban baccalaureate ceremonies, prayer at graduations
For decades, the country has been divided on whether or not to allow prayer at public school events. Now the issue has moved centerstage in Opp, Ala. Last month, Opp High School included an optional baccalaureate service —a Christianity-based interdenominational celebration that honors a graduating senior class — in its graduation festivities where school principal, Aaron Hightower, led seniors in prayer and delivered a speech referencing God. In response, the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), which touts itself as the nation’s largest educational atheist organization working to keep religion and government separate, sent a a letter to Opp City Schools asking them to “to cease endorsing religion in its future graduation activities” and to ensure that no prayers are scheduled for future high school graduation ceremonies. “Opp City Schools has a legal duty to remain neutral toward religion. It makes no difference how many students want religious speeches or wouldn’t be offended by them at their graduation,” wrote FFRF Staff Attorney Sam Grover. “A graduation should be a celebration for all students, not an exercise in alienating nonreligious students with a Christian message.” FFRF claims “by scheduling graduation prayers and a baccalaureate, the school district has failed to comply with constitutional law.” FFRF advises that Opp City Schools avoid similar legal breaches of the First Amendment going forward. “High school graduations should honor the students, not a religion,” added FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.
Jeb Bush: Stronger ‘Christian voice’ needed in world
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Saturday condemned the Obama administration’s use of “coercive federal power” to limit religious freedom as he courted Christian conservatives at a Liberty University commencement ahead of a likely presidential run. Charging that “the Christian voice” isn’t heard enough in the world, the Republican White House prospect lashed out at the Democratic president’s administration for “demanding obedience in complete disregard of religious conscience.” “The present administration is supporting the use of coercive federal power. What should be easy calls in favor of religious freedom have instead become an aggressive stance against it,” Bush told an estimated 34,000 gathered for a graduation ceremony. “Somebody here is being small-minded and intolerant, and it sure isn’t the nuns, ministers, and laymen and women who ask only to live and practice their faith,” he said. Bush was speaking inside a packed football stadium at Liberty University, an institution founded by the late conservative culture warrior, Rev. Jerry Falwell. Bush, a converted Catholic, is preparing to enter a Republican primary contest that includes Republican competitors considered far more popular with the GOP’s religious right. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz formally announced his presidential campaign at Liberty University last month. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist pastor, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry have all made their Christian faith a centerpiece of prospective campaigns. All have aggressively condemned Obama’s health care overhaul which requires some religion-affiliated organizations to provide health insurance for employees that includes birth control. The measure is among several examples of what Republicans charge is Obama’s attack on religious liberty. “How strange, in our own time, to hear Christianity spoken of as some sort of backward and oppressive force,” Bush said. “Your generation is bringing the Christian voice to where it always is needed, and sometimes isn’t heard enough.” Despite nagging questions about Bush’s conservative credentials, Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. noted that Bush was considered a hero among social conservatives as Florida governor. He fought to keep Michael Schiavo from removing the feeding tube from his brain-damaged wife, Terri. Leaders in the anti-abortion movement still praise Bush today. And in a reminder that his path to the presidency depends upon moderate and independents perhaps as much as conservatives, Bush concluded his remarks with a message for non-Christians. “In my experience, at least, you generally find the same good instincts, fair-mindedness, and easygoing spirit among Americans of every type – including, of course, the many who belong to no church at all,” he said. Democrats were paying close attention to Bush’s remarks. “Jeb Bush will not win over any Virginia voters with his close-minded pandering to the right wing,” said Morgan Finkelstein, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Virginia. “By supporting the Indiana discrimination law and attacking women’s reproductive rights, Bush places himself firmly at odds with Virginia values.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Michelle Obama addresses Tuskegee University graduates
Michelle Obama on Saturday invoked the storied history of Tuskegee University as she urged new graduates to soar to their futures, saying the past provides a blueprint for a country still struggling with the “age-old problems” of discrimination and race. The first lady gave the commencement address at the historically black university in Alabama. Obama described how the Tuskegee Airmen, the famed first African-American pilots of World War II, endured humiliating slights as they shattered racial stereotypes about the capabilities of black men and how the university’s students in the 1800’s made bricks by hand to construct campus buildings so future generations could study there. “Generation after generation, students here have shown that same grit, that same resilience to soar past obstacles and outrages — past the threat of countryside lynchings; past the humiliation of Jim Crow; past the turmoil of the Civil Rights era. And then they went on to become scientists, engineers, nurses and teachers in communities all across the country — and continued to lift others up along the way,” Obama said. The defining story of Tuskegee is the story of rising hopes and fortunes for all African Americans. And now, graduates, it’s your turn to take up that cause,” Obama said of the university founded in 1881 by Booker T. Washington. The first lady, taking head on the issue of racial discrimination, mentioned the strife that has occurred in Baltimore and Ferguson – and the slights she and the president have endured – as she addressed the school’s 500 mostly African-American graduates. “The road ahead is not going to be easy. It never is, especially for folks like you and me. Because while we’ve come so far, the truth is those age-old problems are stubborn, and they haven’t fully gone away,” Obama said. The first lady said she and President Barack Obama have dealt with the sting of daily slights through their entire lives. “The people at formal events who assumed you were the help and those that have questioned our intelligence, our honesty and even our love of this country.” She said those little indignities are minimal compared to “nagging worries that you are going to get stopped or pulled over for absolutely no reason” or the “agony of sending your kids to schools that may no longer be separate, but are far from equal.” Obama said the frustration is “rooted in decades of structural challenges that have made too many folks feel frustrated and invisible. And those feelings are playing out in communities like Baltimore and Ferguson and so many others across this country.” But those frustrations are not an excuse to give in to despair and anger, Obama said. She said history provides a “blueprint” for moving forward through politics and voting and education. “Those Airmen, who rose above brutal discrimination, they did it so the world could see just how high black folks could soar. That’s the spirit we’ve got to summon to take on the challenges we face today,” Obama said. Like the students who made bricks so future generations could attend college, Obama challenged students to do their part, mentoring children, volunteering at food banks and after-school programs and helping others achieve their college dreams. Obama became the second first lady to visit the private school. Eleanor Roosevelt was the first in 1941, when she flew with a black Army pilot to show support for the famed Tuskegee Airmen. A crowd of nearly 4,000 heard the first lady’s remarks during graduation. Tickets were largely limited to family members of the 500 graduates. Sarah Jordan, 21, had her mortar board emblazoned with “Law School Bound” and decorated in shiny pink and black. The Pasadena native is headed back to California for law school after getting her English degree Saturday. “This is such a dream come true for me to have her here. She’s a role model for everyone,” Jordan said. “It means everything especially because I am an aspiring lawyer. I definitely look up to her,” Jordan said. Obama is a graduate of Harvard Law School. The first lady described the anxiety and criticism she initially endured over crafting her role as first lady, and how she learned to put it aside. She said a cable news program once called her “Obama’s Baby Mama” and that her self-described primary job as Mom might not be what some want to hear from an Ivy League-educated lawyer. She urged graduates to likewise put aside negative voices and stay true to themselves and their dreams in deciding their paths. “No matter what path you choose, I want to make sure that it is you choosing it and not someone else,” Obama said. The Tuskegee speech is one of three commencement addresses Obama will give this spring. The first lady last visited Alabama in March. She accompanied President Obama and their two daughters to Selma for the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
