Has anyone read this book by Tamara Draut? What was your opinion of it?
I try to stay away from the pop econ/overtly political books but I saw a review of this today that caught my attention. The idea is that today 20-30 year olds are buried in a mountain of debt beyond their control, all coming from student loans and then added on to by credit card bills.
I have to say that I'm a bit skeptical. Anecdotally, most people I know that have graduated in the last two years (with a degree in something other than art history) either have their head screwed on financially or they don't; they're buying what they need or they're spending frivolously in an attempt to impress.
From the limited excerpts I've seen her interviewees don't sound much different. A particularly bad example:
"Elaine", 27, .. has $40,000 in credit card debt. (p. 109) Elaine racked up credit card debt because she had to buy new furniture, so that her apartment would look like an "adult's apartment, not an annex of her dorm room." (p. 109). We also learn that despite her debts, Elaine "has no regrets" because "she thinks about the things she did - - studying abroad in Scotland, flying to Paris, having the perfect wedding - - and knows it would never have been possible without credit."
I hope no further comment on this example is needed.
I agree that the price of college education has become too much of a burden, and that you should not have to carry student loan debt for 10+ years after graduation. The blame is being placed in the wrong place. Colleges have gotten out of control in their spending and most of it is not going directly to improving the quality of the education they provide. (See July 2005 issue of Bloomberg
Markets for specific evidence of how this game is played, it's a self-perpetuating cycle). I don't think there is an easy solution, but increasing government funding of madness is not it.
Bottom line: Tamara Draut will make some bucks, selling mucho copies of this book, largely to the people she portrays in it. (They'll charge it at B&N/Borders, don't even think about the library).
My suggestion to anyone who would hope to make an even bigger wad of cash: write a well-researched book on the increasingly loose correlation on "money in, education out" in higher education, starting in say, 1975 and continuing to today. Make it an easy read with lots of outrageous examples of university spending.
Amazon profile