Higher education should be gateway to future, not to financial ruin
Katrona Burks attends Milwaukee Area Technical College to get the education she needs for a better job. But her student loan debt is making her think twice about her decision to earn a degree because it's now rippling down to the next generation: Her college-age daughter could not get a student loan because her mother is saddled with so much debt.
It has left Burks financially soaked and frustrated. Higher education is supposed to be a gateway to the future, not an avenue to financial ruin.
Too many people are in similar positions to Burks. People are drowning in student loan debt, which is worse than credit card debt in our nation, yet it is not possible to refinance interest rates to make student loans more affordable. Students also are facing crushing tuition bills, which have risen due to reduced state funding for higher education.
Nationally, student debt is a trillion-dollar problem. Consumers Union estimates that about 40 million Americans have student loan debt, totaling $1.2 trillion. In Wisconsin, 753,000 students are saddled with student loan debt.
At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, for example, 72% of 2012 graduates have outstanding student loans, with the average debt about $32,000. It's only slightly better with 2012 UW-Madison graduates, with 49% still paying off student loans, owing an average of $24,700.
We tell high school students to set high goals, do well and go to college. But where is the commitment from Wisconsin's highest state officials?
Under the current administration, Wisconsin has seen the biggest cuts in education, in both K-12 and higher education, in the state's history. The $1.2 billion in reductions includes cuts of $792 million in direct state aid to K-12 schools, $250 million from UW System and $71 million, or 30%, from state technical colleges.
While most states increased higher education funding over the last school year, Wisconsin was one of only eight that slashed its funding, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Here's the problem: We believe education is the key to overcoming inequity and becoming a productive member of society and the economy. Yet K-12 and higher education funding is being cut to the bone. And Wisconsin is a prime example of that.
It's particularly sad to see the technical college cuts, where there is a direct connection between education Higher education should be gateway to future, not to financial ruin:
