“Indebted” by Caitlin Zaloom

Note: I continue to be shocked at how bad the Federally sponsored Student Loan system is. Part of it is because, well, Government, but part is because it is big business and vested parties do not want to see the money slow.

• College is a hope for a better life through income
• It is also a symbolic acceptance of middle-class “values”
• Having to rely on government loans conflicts with the core concepts of independence
• For agrarian cultures, the entire economic system was based on free child labor
• Loans Direct requires repayment fresh out of college
• Planning requires stability, not the other way around
• Stuff feels important to have
• Future planning requires balance between providing now for providing later
• Standard forms–like FAFSA–render families liable to the government and infer appropriate relationships
• We blame the poor of having bad financial skills but do not have financial education
  • (It is interesting to me the mandating teaching financial literacy is so strongly opposed in so many places. I have not delved far into the reasons, but a cursory review seems to be that “teaching about money is the family’s responsibility”. I concur. As is all other education. I find this stance folly for three reasons:
    • teaching about money does not seem to have been adequate heretofore,
    • teaching about money in the classroom does not preclude families from teaching at home–just like any other subject–and,
    • how can the financially illiterate be expected to teach at all, if not well, something they do not know)
• Higher education transitioned from a “national” benefit (“this benefits the country”) in the 1900’s to a family benefit (“this mostly benefits a family”) in the 1980’s
  • With this transition, grants (for the public good) were replaced with loans (for the private good)
• Middle-class parents shield kids from financial conversations, which is often a bad thing
• Parent PLUS is based on credit history, thus unequally distributing benefits
• Children can feel stymied if they are making financially based decisions