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Dr. Hal Higdon
In a recent podcast, Ron Lieber, the author of “The Price You Pay for College,” told the host, “We have conducted a decades-long experiment using teenagers as guinea pigs, right? We should remind ourselves that if we are going to cancel some debt, it’s because we are admitting as a nation that this was a really dumb thing to do to children.”
At $1.7 trillion, student loan debt is second only to mortgages as the most significant amount of consumer debt. While most people are well into adulthood when they buy their first house, we ask teenagers to agree to loans sometimes worth tens of thousands of dollars. Students become enamored with picturesque campuses, raucous football stadiums and a robust residential experience with their peers. Parents look into their young children’s eyes, and many cannot say, “No, you’re not mortgaging your future for four years of fun.”
Now is a great time for veterans to enhance their education Mohamed A. Desoky (iStock/Getty Images) One of the great benefits of military service, among many, includes the pursuit of higher education. Because of the pandemic, many veterans are working and living in quarantine, and some active-duty military are working indoors. For many, this social isolation and increased computer time has allowed them to finish their undergraduate education or pursue advanced degrees. The pandemic has accelerated the online educational revolution. Almost every college, university and trade school owns the technology and has instructors to teach, mentor and guide veterans and active-duty military towards a better future.
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At the end of the day, we are still in the hole and we are still in a pandemic, said Nicole Smith, chief economist at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
Meanwhile, younger workers are lagging behind. The overall unemployment rate for March was 6%, but 20- to 24-years old are facing a 10.3% unemployment rate.
The 2020 grads aren t eligible for unemployment benefits, although those who worked part-time may have qualified through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, created by the CARES Act. Benefits through that federal program have been extended through Labor Day.
The weak outlook has led many to take a job out of desperation, with 73% of recent or pending graduates saying they ve done so, according to Monster s survey, which was conducted with Wakefield Research. It polled 1,000 U.S. adults ages 18-24 who are recent or upcoming grads, and 500 U.S. adults ages 18-24 who are non-graduates, between March 16 and March 26, 2021.