While there are many obstacles that deter students from going to college, finances by no means should be the deciding factor.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
College is part of the American dream. It shouldn't be part of a financial nightmare for families.
College gives people learning and also takes away future opportunities by loading the next generation down with debt.
The cost of college education today is so high that many young people are giving up their dream of going to college, while many others are graduating deeply in debt.
By making college unaffordable and student loans unbearable, we risk deterring our best and brightest from pursuing higher education and securing a good-paying job.
College today is an expensive option without a lot of economies of scale, right, when you go and live at a college. So you have a system that's increasing its cost base by probably five percent a year.
There is lots of evidence that it is this fear of going into debt that most puts people from poorer backgrounds off going to university.
My message to students is that if you want to become an entrepreneur and save the world, definitely don't skip college. But go to a school that you can afford. You'll be freed from the chains of debt and succeed on your own ambition and merit.
Our obsessive focus on college schooling has blinded us to basic truths. College is a place, not a magic formula. It matters what subjects students study, and subsidies should focus on the subjects that matter the most - not to the students, but to everyone else.
Borrowing to pay for college used to be the exception; now it's the rule.
Student loan debt is the reason I don't advise students who want to become entrepreneurs to apply to elite, expensive colleges. They can be as successful if they go to a relatively inexpensive public college.