As the amount of debt college students take on from student loans continues to rapidly escalate, one commonly overlooked result is what that debt will do to the economy.

According to a September story in The Wall Street Journal, U.S. Education Department figures show that today two-thirds of college students borrow to pay for college, and their average debt load is $23,186.

A dozen years ago, 58 percent of students borrowed to pay for college and the average amount borrowed was $13,172.

During a Wednesday stop in Salina, Fort Hays State University President Edward Hammond noted that in this school year, for the first time in the state's history, the amount of money the state contributes to higher education was surpassed by what students pay in tuition.

The implications of this are ominous, Hammond noted. Higher student loan payments mean that graduates won't be able to buy cars, houses and a variety of other things that help spur the economy.

Hammond says colleges have a number of options, including limiting access to colleges, cutting their budgets, increasing class sizes, and drastically increasing tuition -- none of which he supports.

His preferred solution, as noted in Thursday's story by Journal reporter Michael Strand, is to rework the state's tax structure, including the elimination of all sales tax exemptions.

We'll leave it to our legislators to decide if that solution would work, but it's clear that Hammond is right about a couple of things: The old education model in Kansas is broken and we can't keep crippling the economy by shifting the cost of higher education onto the backs of students and their parents.

"All it's (paying off student loan debt) doing is taking money from our economy in the future. I don't expect kids to understand that -- but lawmakers should," Hammond said.

-- Ben Wearing

Executive Editor

822-1421

bwearing@salina.com

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says....
College is an investment in ones self. The average increase in salary over no degree is 20K a year. With that in mind students can pay the loan back in 2 years and then can go buy the new car.
11/2/2009

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KWU Grad says....
I just graduated from Kansas Wesleyan University in May 2009. I had $17,000 in loans when I graduated. I found a job before I graduated, and wrote a check just last week to pay off my entire debt. I continued to live the life of a college student, cheaply, and minimized expenses, until I paid off my debt. That's the thinking that would have kept us out of this recession all together. Purchase only what you can afford. I am going to strongly disagree here. No tax dollars should be shifted to higher education. The choice of college lies on the student, not the tax payer, and if someone wants to make the investment of education, they personally should bear the weight of the risk. Government loans are available, and not being able to "afford college," is a joke. When the cost of higher education goes up, so does the value of person obtaining the degree. Yes there are flaws to our education system, and everyone should be able to continue education past high school. Well there are options so they can, but to impose tax payers to pay for it is out of the question.
11/2/2009

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joeschmoe says....
Hammond your an idiot. Your really going to take away from the heart of your university if you start to take away tax exemptions for farmers and start taxing farm ground even more than it already is. What do you think makes the midwest run.... let alone your college?
11/2/2009

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