#  Four Reasons Young Americans Should Burn Their Student Loan Papers

     Details    Paul Buchheit   ![logo](https://mail.citywatchla.com//templates/ja_teline_v/images/logo.png)         March 02 2015       [ARCHIVE](https://mail.citywatchla.com/archive)   - [  Previous Article **Hollywood’s Diversity Problem Can’t Be Solved with Fancy Award Ceremonies** ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8556:hollywood-s-diversity-problem-can-t-be-solved-with-fancy-award-ceremonies&catid=16)
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> <a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a><a class="a2a_button_print"></a>[](https://www.addtoany.com/share)
>
> ![](https://mail.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Mar-2015/018l.png)A DIFFERENT WAR-*'Hell No, We Won't Go'* — 1967 … *'No Way, We Won't Pay'* — 2015.
>
> Fifty years ago students burned their draft cards to protest an immoral war against the people of Vietnam. Today it's a different kind of war, immoral in another way, waged against young Americans of approximately the same age, and threatening them in a manner that endangers not their lives but their livelihoods.
>
>  There are at least four good reasons why America's young adults— and their parents—should take up the fight against financial firms who are holding high-interest student loans that [total](http://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/news/research/2015/rp150217.html) more than the nation's credit card debt, and more than the total [income](http://taxfoundation.org/article/summary-latest-federal-income-tax-data) of the poorer half of America.
>
>  **1. The Protest Has Already Begun** -Fifteen former students of for-profit Corinthian Colleges recently announced a [*debt strike*](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/28/opinion/a-strike-against-student-debt.html?_r=0) against the company and its predatory loan practices. The 15 students, members of the [*Debt Collective*](https://debtcollective.org/) initiative of debt abolisher [Rolling Jubilee](http://rollingjubilee.org/), have refused to repay their loans. Corinthian, which has been [accused](http://truth-out.org/news/item/28776-department-of-education-sides-against-students-to-feather-its-own-bed-in-for-profit-corinthian-colleges-debacle) of false marketing, grade tampering, and recruitment improprieties, and which has 60 percent of its students [default](http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/02/17/duped-profit-schools-students-gain-big-allies-push-loan-forgiveness) on loans, was [sued](http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/2/23/anti-student-debt-organization-rallies-debt-strike-against.html) in 2013 for employing a "predatory scheme" to recruit students.
>
>  **2. For-Profit Colleges Use Taxpayer Money for False Marketing to Get MORE Taxpayer Money-**
>  Corinthian isn't the only loan predator. Of 15 for-profit colleges investigated by the Government Accountability Office, 13 were found guilty of [deceptive marketing](http://thebaffler.com/blog/2014/06/polarizing_plutocracy_our_broken_higher_education_system), with false job and salary guarantees. The 15 companies got a stunning ***86 percent of their funding from the public***, in the form of student loans and grants.
>
>  Worse yet, a [Senate report](http://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/for_profit_report/Contents.pdf) found that they spend about a quarter of their revenue on marketing, and take 20 percent in profits, while spending only about ***17 percent on instruction***.
>
>  After all that, only [22 percent](http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/27/us-attn-andrea-education-dropouts-idUSBRE82Q0Y120120327) of students get a degree after six years.
>
>  **3. Traditional Colleges Aren't Much Better: Students are Treated Like Products for Profit-Makers** -Since the 1980s, the number of administrators at private universities has [doubled](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/06/higher-ed-administrators-growth_n_4738584.html).
>
>  To pay all the administrators, tenure-track teachers have been eliminated, and underpaid part-timers have taken their places. Adjunct and student teachers, who made up about [22 percent](http://hnn.us/article/155740) of instructional staff in 1969, now make up an estimated ***[76 percent](http://www.npr.org/2014/02/03/268427156/part-time-professors-demand-higher-pay-will-colleges-listen) of instructional staff in higher education***, with a [median wage](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/08/education/gap-in-university-faculty-pay-continues-to-grow-report-finds.html?_r=1&V) in 2010 of about $2,700 per course, and with little or no [benefits](http://agb.org/trusteeship/2013/5/changing-academic-workforce).
>
>  To further pay for all the administrators, and to pay for [amenities](http://www.thenation.com/blog/179993/colleges-are-buying-stuff-they-cant-afford-and-making-students-pay-it) like recreations centers, dining halls, and athletics, tuition has been steadily increasing, to ***[twelve times](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-15/cost-of-college-degree-in-u-s-soars-12-fold-chart-of-the-day.html)*** its cost in 1978.
>
>  ![](https://mail.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Mar-2015/018m.png)**4. College Graduates Have Been Cheated out of Good Jobs** -The unemployment rate may be going down, but the available jobs are [well below](http://www.forbes.com/sites/ccap/2015/01/06/enemy-of-the-people/) the skill levels of college-trained adults. According to the [New York Federal Reserve](http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/current_issues/ci20-1.pdf), ***44 percent of recent college graduates are underemployed***, holding jobs that are normally held by high school graduates.
>
>  College graduates have not recovered from the recession. They took a ***19 percent pay cut*** in the [two years](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-23/pay-penalty-haunts-recession-grads-as-u-s-economy-mends.html) after the recession, and by 2013 they were part of the only age group with ***[lower average wages](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/sunday-review/the-idled-young-americans.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&) in early 2013*** than in 2000. As recently as [July of 2014](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-23/pay-penalty-haunts-recession-grads-as-u-s-economy-mends.html) the Federal Reserve of San Francisco wrote that recent college graduates "were and continue to be hit hard."
>
> {module \[1177\]}
>
>  **Progressive Unity** -Progressives have no shortage of important causes, but an attack on predatory student loan policies could be a unifying force for us, particularly if the power of social networking is employed.
>
>  An Apple executive [said](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0), "The U.S. has stopped producing people with the skills we need." But almost the entirety of corporate profits are being spent on [stock buybacks](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-06/s-p-500-companies-spend-almost-all-profits-on-buybacks-payouts.html) to enrich executives and shareholders, rather than on job training.
>
>  The [proposal](http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/02/23/corporate-debt-society-10000-household-year) for an *America Permanent Fund* of $10,000 per household, based on the corporate debt to society for public research, is about the same, in numbers, as the $1.16 trillion of [student loan debt](http://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/news/research/2015/rp150217.html). A protest against student loans is a good way to earn the first dividend.
>
> *(Paul Buchheit is a college teacher, an active member of US Uncut Chicago, founder and developer of social justice and educational websites UsAgainstGreed.org, PayUpNow.org, RappingHistory.org, and the editor and main author of "[American Wars: Illusions and Realities](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0932863566/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0932863566&adid=1MCNFWDB21VVWVVFPEW5&)". He can be reached at <paul@UsAgainstGreed.org>. This piece was posted first at [CommonDreams.org](http://CommonDreams.org))*
>
> *-cw*
>
> *CityWatch*
>
> *Vol 13 Issue 18*
>
> *Pub: Mar 3, 2015*

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