Once again the guardians of the current indentured system are speaking. This time it is Ms Susan Dynarski in her opinion piece Student Loans and the Facts. She is correct, that most people do no default on their loans and when they do get a better job they are paid better then most people. However, she does not bother to explain why this happens.
First, most people are paid more for their MA degrees because of their knowledge and because they need that extra earned income to pay off the student loans the have and live. For the first 10 years someone has a good job with an MA they are actually living below the poverty line because they are paying off two mortgages. The first mortgage is their home. The second is their student loan debt. This is the reality folks. By vilifying Mr Siegel she is defending the current system of indentured servitude.
What it that current system. It is the fact that most people who do get a MA do not actually obtain the benefits of a higher salary for many reasons. First, they are paying off their student loans. Secondly, they obtain higher degrees in many areas that involve teaching. This gets worse because many colleges and universities demand a PhD to teach. MA’s are good enough to teach but not good enough to pay. As a result many who have MA degrees are living the life of an adjunct. Yes the no benefits, no retirement, no insurance plan that is offered to all who have that MA. Many do break out of that system. However, once one takes out the MBA’s and the MA’s in education, there numbers drop off dramatically in terms of actual pay. It is a disease that is affecting this country in higher education.
I too have always believed that my word is my bond. I have always lived with the good intention of paying my bills. However, the rules have changed as well as the game. The days of the MA degree holders teaching full time on staff are dwindling. And most are struggling to make ends meet with over 25% of all adjuncts on some kind of public assistance. It is an invisible army of college teachers. Adjuncts look like all other professors. Students do not know that these are part time teachers and that the can be fired at will. 75% of all faculty are now adjuncts. So when Mr. Siegel decides to default. I can understand. Ms Dynarski should also understand. We were willing participants in a game where we mortgaged our futures to teach because we had talent. Now the game and the system has changed. How do you propose those of us in higher education make ends meet? We constantly believed and were told that we could teach at a living wage and for the last 15 years it has become an open lie. Most college teachers cannot make ends meet and many cannot work outside of higher education because they are “over qualified”. That is the new kiss of death impose by the new Human Resources elite.
What does Ms Dynarski propose for a change? Instead of offering real tangible answers to this growing problem. Her solution is to spout past facts and offer threats of what will happen if we default on student loans. I have a partial solution what is yours Ms Dynarski?
