New Hampshire's Financial Aid Fears

I am a Keene State College graduate with a BA in Communication. I am originally from NH, but just moved back to this state after a short attempt at California. I will be paying $300.00 a month for the next 10 years or so- all for my student loans. I was a full time student, I worked as an RA to supplement my school costs- but I still feel like my student loans are crippling me. I can't get a job that pays more than 12$ an hour and cannot afford the car to get there. Basically, I feel that my college degree was a mistake. I wish I had planned better before I went to school, as far as what I wanted to do.

One thing I've noted about your discussion this morning is that higher education is being discusses almost exclusively in terms of the job it will land students in the future i.e. the economic gains. I wonder if your guests might comment on the value of education for sheer intellectual growth it offers and how the financial issues are holding us back from becoming a smarter nation as a whole.

I graduated in 1996 and am still paying on my student loans much to my dispair. I'll note up front that I did receive grants and have been very disciplined about payments and my credit score (which is excellent). My word of caution to young graduates out there .. be careful about consolidation of your federal loan debt. There are MANY companies out there willing to take advantage of you that appear to be official and appear to be your only option for consolidation .. they are not! In my situation I had several loans at 7.x% that were consolidated into a 9% loan. First off I had no idea they would round up to the next highest % and then add 1%. Second .. I had no idea that Federal law does not allow one to refinance that debt at a later date for a lower %. Once you consolidate you are done. I think this federal policy is wrong personally. If you have the excellent credit history and an opportunity to lower your rate you should be allowed to do so. Be very careful .. consolidation companies are very sly .. they are akin to the sly mortgage companies (not including myself .. learned my lesson) that got many into this mortgage crisis.

Over the past 30+ years a college education has become just another high-priced consumer expenditure that parents and students go into debt to acquire. It has become nothing more than a "fashion accessory" you show off to prospective employers.

Now that the US economy has begun its terminal decline triggered by the Wall Street "masters of the universe" gaming the system, (See "Bad Money" by Kevin Phillips) whole categories of work that once "required" college degrees are going to be greatly diminished...finance, accounting, banking, marketing, advertising, public relations, law, corporate business managers, economists, social scientists, designers of all stripes.

In the coming no-growth economy we will still need trained professionals, but not in the numbers currently being turned out by colleges and universities.

We will need more farmers, more people who do all varieties of skilled and unskilled manual labor, more local business people running locally focused businesses, more trades people to fix things, more doctors and nurses working in local communities, more teachers to teach what is important to learn as the American empire enters its final phase.

College education should be free to students who qualify for entrance by passing tests and who are willing to study and legally bind themselves for a period of time to work in professions that will be needed in a steady-state, no growth economy.

The days of attending a college to get your job ticket punched are over. We are going to have fewer colleges and universities with fewer students going forward. We would be smarter to focus on improving K-12 schooling as most students will not be headed to college in the future.

I feel very badly for parents and student who have gone deeply into debt paying for college. There will be no jobs for them to earn enough to pay back their loans. They should be "bailed out" as a humanitarian gesture.

So upset I missed this discussion...sounds like it would have been very informative. In addition to financial aid/loans, has anyone ever heard of the Regional Student Program? It's not a scholarship or grant or a loan, but a discount on tuition.

It's a program for New England residents and how it works is if your home state's public colleges and universities don't have the major you want, you can get a discount on out of state tuition at the public institutions in the other states of New England. There are 400+ majors that would qualify NH residents.

Maybe this was mentioned during the talk...?