Student loans are not the answer

By William Elliott III. The financial-aid model that American college students depend on is broken. Unfortunately, media coverage and political skirmishes focus on student-loan interest rates and rising student indebtedness, while ignoring the one strategy that can increase personal responsibility, educational outcomes and long-term financial health for students: college savings. For decades, the federal government has subsidized student loans, with more than $600 billion in federal student loans outstanding today. As states have cut funding for higher education and tuition prices have increased, students and their families have taken on more and more debt. Total student loan debt now well exceeds credit-card debt with each student carrying an average debt load of more than $27,000. Read more...