Spotlight
Huff Post-College (July 9, 2015) One Path to Debt-Free College
With college tuition costs at an all-time high, Demos, a D.C.-based public policy organization, recently proposed a debt-free college initiative. "The Affordable College Compact" calls for state and federal partnership in higher education with the goals of substantially increasing public investment in higher education and reducing student debt.
In the current job market, a college degree continues to have tremendous value. As the New York Times noted in 2014, college graduates make 98 percent more per hour than people without a degree, and not obtaining a college degree costs about half a million dollars. Demos notes that "nearly two-thirds of all new jobs in the next 6 years will require some training beyond high school, and 35 percent will require at least a bachelor's degree."
Despite its value, the cost of a public college education has risen as state and federal investment in education has declined. Inflation-adjusted tuition and fees have increased 117 percent at public four-year institutions and 62 percent at two-year schools over the last two decades. Meanwhile, the average debt accumulated by students at public schools has increased by almost a third over the past decade. Not surprisingly, the debt load is heaviest for first-generation students, low- and middle-income students and students of color.