The Student Loan Debt Crisis Is About to Get Worse
I was discussing student loans and value of a college education with friends the other day. We were discussing whether or not I would recommend college to someone today. My conclusion is that TODAY I would still as long as that person has the means to do so without any loans.<p>But, then we started discussing whether I would push my children to go. My answer is that I hope I don&#x27;t need to. Even though I have some amount of college savings for my kids, I don&#x27;t think it will be enough to let them choose their school freely and I would much rather that money go towards starting them out in their career or family or whatever they choose.<p>My hope is that when it is time for them to start their adult life that there will either be enough cheap or free alternative forms of education or that the stigma of not having a degree will have lessened. Realistically, I don&#x27;t think the situation will have changed in that time.<p>My own experience is complicated because I took out loans--which I greatly regret--but also likely have my career to thank for it. I had a full-tuition scholarship to the school of my choice, but opted to go to another school my parents wanted me at; when I eventually transferred back to my original choice I had lost the scholarship. If I had to do it again today I would definitely start with a 2 year local college education and then work hard through the remaining years to finish debt-free.