The Student Loan Trap

I would like for you to join me in a thought exercise to explore how and why our current generation of students are compelled to shoulder up to $100,000 in graduate school debt to enter our profession. Not only are the debt levels onerous, these loans typically bear interest rates of up to 7%. In contrast, it is easy to get a car loan for around 4%. What is the meaning of this for our newly minted generation of professional colleagues? I remember a time when tuition was affordable and it was relatively easy to complete a master’s or doctorate in medical physics without any debt at all. That was only a generation ago. What changed and why? If we look across the pond, nations of the European Union seem to be working to eliminate university tuition. Germany did this in 2014 (http://www.slate.com/blogs/ browbeat/2014/10/10/germany_college_is_free_there_even_for_foreign_students_why.html). Yes, I believe a good education is worth paying for, and maybe free tuition is an unreasonable goal in the United States. However many US universities seem to be swimming in gifts, grants, endowments, and other resources. Why are some graduate medical physics program tuitions so high, and why have we been so willing and unconcerned to see these tuitions rise so dramatically? Why have tuitions increased at double-digit rates beyond inflation? Is it because the universities were able to do so because students had access to virtually unlimited amounts of funds in the form of loans guaranteed by the Federal Government (http://trends.collegeboard.org/ college-pricing/figures-tables/tuition-fees-room-board-time-1974-75-2014-15-selected-years)? The numbers are not benign. People in the United States have accumulated over $1.2 trillion in student debt, surpassing credit card debt and automobile loan debt. Also, student debt is unlike any other type of debt. It is the only debt that cannot be discharged, even in bankruptcy. Virtually any other kind of debt — including medical bills, mortgage, credit cards and car loans, even gambling losses — can be discharged in bankruptcy, allowing the unfortunate a chance to restore their footing through an arduous restructuring overseen by a court. How did we get to this place? Here are some landmarks: