Student Loans Start to Bypass 2-Year Colleges

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Times

Some of the nation’s biggest banks have closed their doors to students at community colleges, for-profit universities and other less competitive institutions, even as they continue to extend federally backed loans to students at the nation’s top universities.

Citibank has been among the most aggressive in paring the list of colleges it serves. JPMorgan Chase, PNC and SunTrust say they have not dropped whole categories, but are cutting colleges as well. Some less-selective four-year colleges, like Eastern Oregon University and William Jessup University in Rocklin, Calif., say they have been summarily dropped by some lenders.

The practice suggests that if the credit crisis and the ensuing turmoil in the student loan business persist, some of the nation’s neediest students will be hurt the most. The difficulty borrowing may deter them from attending school or prompt them to take a semester off. When they get student loans, they will wind up with less attractive terms and may run a greater risk of default if they have to switch lenders in the middle of their college years.

Tuition and loan amounts can be quite small at community colleges. But these institutions, which are a stepping stone to other educational programs or to better jobs, often draw students from the lower rungs of the economic ladder. More than 6.2 million of the nation’s 14.8 million undergraduates — over 40 percent — attend community colleges. According to the most recent data from the College Board, about a third of their graduates took out loans, a majority of them federally guaranteed.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/02/business/02loans.html?hp

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Lovely. What is left for those who aren't ready or can't afford a 4-year institution to start - fast-food, Wally World, or the military?

A vote for McCain is a vote for this!

[OhioChick]

1. Not Good.

K&R

[avenger64]

2. Well, thank god we turned THAT over to the private sector ...

... at least the states are picking up some of the costs.

But they can find half a trillion dollars for the military-industrial complex every year. What f***ed-up priorities.

[tularetom]

3. I couldn't get a student loan back in the early 60's

at a fairly prestigious public university (Cal). I got a grandpa loan, some money under the GI bill, worked two jobs and had a wife working part time to get through. But I don't even remember government backed student loans as an option in those days.

But I never would have gotten that far if I hadn't completed two years at our local community college. Didn't cost anything in those days.

Are we deliberately trying to produce dumber Americans? Wait! Don't answer that, I think I know what you're gonna say.

[RamboLiberal]

6. I went to a Community College at night back in the late 70's

while I worked during the day. At the time I was able to pay my own way. Tuition started at $12 a credit. By the time I graduated it was $16 a credit. Then I went on to a 4 year college where I was paying I think $80 a credit when I started and about $100 when I finished. I had an employer who paid for about 2 years then I paid the remaining 2 years. (I was going part-time so it was taking twice as long to graduate).

No way I could even put myself through a 2 year college now, let alone a private 4 year college.

And I'll tell you what, the classes at the 2 year college were as good as the ones I took at the 4-year.

[LeftyMom]

7. CA community colleges are $20 a credit, and they waive that if you're low-moderate income.

Don't get me started on the cost of books though.

[Blaq Dem]

8. Dumber Americans generally vote republican

It seems that way. Corporations want an excuse to important high tech workers.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

23. see my sig ...

[dubeskin]

4. Drop William Jessup for all I care.

As a Rocklin resident, I frown upon the giant Christ-center, and I could care less if they get more students or not. Less radical Christians and Republicans here the better. Let those prospective students go join the military, it'll serve them better, especially when they "come to God."

However, this is a precursor to what is coming. Just today, someone posted a video of how pet shelters are feeling the effects of the economic crisis because people are abandoning their pets because they can't support them. I think that we'll be in for one wild year if things continue the way they're going.

[NJCher]

9. I couldn't read that story

On a brighter note, I know someone who went homeless and slept in her car because she couldn't find an apartment that would take her dog. Some people will never abandon their pets. Eventually she found a place but it took a month of sleeping in her Volvo station wagon.

I would do the same. No way in hell would I abandon my animals and if it came down to food, they'd get fed before I would.



Cher

[happyslug]

24. I ran across a landlord cite many years ago who said pet bans were costly

the cite, otherwise pro-landlord and anti-tenant, mentioned that 95% of all landlords ban pets, while 1/3 of Tenants, when surveyed, admit to having pets. The cite point out these two numbers are NOT reconcilable (i.e. no other explanation then tenant LIED to their landlords about pet ownership). The cite then went on that landlord, by banning pets, where opening themselves up to huge liabilities cause by pets (That the Tenants will have anyway). The cite went on and said the better solution is for landlords to have a pet policy, where tenants can have pets with permission of the landlord. Permission should be granted if an additional security deposit for any damage the pet may do is made by the Tenant AND the Landlord gets to see the pet to make sure the pet is NOT a danger to anyone (i.e. no pet bulls).

Piece of personal advice. Most Landlords still have no pet clauses in their lease, but most will permit Pets if you ask them to waive the pet ban for your pet (After seeing the pet) AND agreeing ot post an additional security deposit for any damage the pet may cause.

[LeftyMom]

5. No loans for Jessup? OhNoes! Who will train the next generation of walmart cashiers?

:eyes:

[Psephos]

11. Why are you making fun of those who go to Jessup and other lower-tier colleges?

Would you prefer they not go to college?

[LeftyMom]

25. I'm making fun of colleges that train fundamentalpatients to bother normal people.

:D

[raystorm7]

12. Poor taste.

[eShirl]

13. see, THIS is an example of an elitist attitude

congratulations

[Indenturedebtor]

14. Gah bad taste

But in all honesty degrees aren't paying for themselves nowadays. Most of my peers with college degrees are doing no better than those without them. There are so many aspects of our society that need to be fixed. There need to be jobs to offer for it to matter if you have a degree or not.

[LeftyMom]

26. Degrees from shitty Christian colleges certainly aren't.

All a degree from Jessup will get you is a job as some second banana assistant pastor someplace, at best. Or preacher's wife, if you've got interior plumbing.

[NJCher]

10. aha, I thought so

Look at this, from the article:

The banks that are pulling out say their decisions are based on an analysis of which colleges have higher default rates, low numbers of borrowers and small loan amounts that make the business less profitable. (The average amount borrowed by community college students is about $3,200 a year, according to the College Board.) Still, the cherry-picking strikes some as peculiar; after all, the government is guaranteeing 95 percent of the value of these loans.

It boils down to profit. And they're only getting stung on a certain percentage of the loans and only for five per cent. That should tell you how bad things are in the banking industry. Either that, or how greedy they are, or maybe it's both.

I've taught in both two- and four-year institutions and the students at community colleges have a much higher attrition rate. I had one class where I ended up with only 42 per cent of the students I started with.




Cher

[Indenturedebtor]

15. Profit indeed... that's all they care about

But even for the ones that do graduate, it's not as though employers pay us more simply for having a degree. Why would you hire someone to run your factory when your factory is in China?

Why would you hire programmers, graphic designers, etc when you can get those in India? Need an electronics engineer for 20 dollars a month? We have those too.

Human Resources? Pfah, we have no employees anymore :shrug:

And so on.

[nealmhughes]

21. The only reason it is higher at 2 year is probably because it is cheaper than 4!

The first semester of a freshman year is a cash cow for the institution -- as a rule. Now I am sure that if someone actually were admitted to Bard or St. John's (Annapolis) or Hanover, etc. then the attrition is much lower than the non-flagship public institutions around the country.

Look, it is very easy to get adjunct instructors for the intro classes or else fill them to the gills and turn over a lot of the work to GTAs for the various 101s and then allow the students to fail out or return home than it is to refuse their tuition money and not give them a "sporting chance" at a BA.

[Ferd Berfle]

16. Back to the Future - College for the very Rich ONLY.

[AngryOldDem]

17. The community college in Dayton, OH, is $45/credit hour for county residents

and $73.50 for nonresidents. A renewable levy provides a lot of the funding. On the whole, it's considered to be a good deal. And it is -- the school is located downtown, which is keeping the city alive; it has a lot of vocational and technical programs where many workers are getting retrained and then hired on to good jobs; and helps kids just out of high school save on a four-year tuition by allowing them to take most of their gen ed classes and then transfer all credits to many state institutions. The two-year college is a godsend to those who are cash-strapped -- which was me, back in the day.

But, Dayton is dying -- a victim of NAFTA and the shift from manufacturing to information technology. I'm not sure how much longer voters will continue to fund this school, not so much because they don't recognize its value (they do) but because they flat just can't afford it.

A college education is rapidly becoming an entitlement in this society, a purview of the rich. And then people sit around and bitch because middle to lower-class people can't seem to "embetter" themselves, in the words of one rich, elitist, and stupid asshole.

Everyone should be entitled to get as much education as they want and have the means to afford. And it **should** be affordable.

Are Pell Grants still around? I heard that they were on the hit list too, but that Bush reconsidered.

[yurbud]

18. it's time for feds to take back ALL subsidized loans from private banks

and tightly regulate unsubsidized ones.

[lovuian]

19. Yep

I agree this is US money let the US run it

[yurbud]

20. tell your congressoids: privatization is corruption (works for a lot of issues)

You could also insert ''deregulation,'' and the revolving door between corporations and Congress.

[lonestarnot]

22. K & R Hold on! We will FIX it!