Ask any UNC student what the greatest challenge facing them after graduation and they will tell you paying down the staggering mountain of debt accumulated over four years of college.

Nearly half of all UNC students have incurred significant debt averaging $25,218.  North Carolina ranks 37th in student loan debt which some students racking up $50,000 or more.  In the United States, the total college student debt totals a mind-boggling $1.3 trillion.  More than all installment car loans combined.

It’s like an albatross hanging around the neck.  It’s an enormous drag on the economy.  Many graduates will return home to live with their parents.  They delay renting an apartment, getting married, starting a family.  Buying a home is out of the question.

That isn’t exactly a formula for job creation.  It’s a big reason why our economy is in the doldrums and will continue to stagnate unless we solve this economic dilemma.

Why is this happening?

Draconian cuts by the state legislature over the last few years have been devastating and probably the worst in our state’s history.  Higher education funding in North Carolina has been reduced by more than 20 percent since 2008.  Meanwhile, average tuition levels have risen by 36 percent over the same period.

Veterans returning from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War qualified for the GI Bill and had their college education fully paid for.  We need to implement a similar program for students like the Civilian Conservation Corps created by FDR during the Great Depression.  That would allow young people to work on government projects and earn full tuition.

A proposal by the General Assembly to set up a community college program that would automatically open the door to entry into UNC would do little to ease the student debt quagmire.  But, I can assure you that if college becomes unaffordable except to the rich, America would become a nation in which the middle class is relegated to the history books.

 

— Walt Mack

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