Should Wall Street pay off student debt

[Dill]

(06-28-2019, 12:43 PM)Mike M (the other one) Wrote: Yes market would dictate the degrees.

Maybe find a way to limit the number of people that want a specific degree and award the ones that seem the best fit. The others can still take it, they just pay out of pocket and get a reduced amount from the gov rather than the full reimbursement. There is always a way, just might not be the most desired one.

(06-28-2019, 01:00 PM)Au165 Wrote: I always felt like it would make sense for schools to price tuition based on your major and it's expected earning potential. Everyone pays the freshman fee to take general classes then after that it is wholly dictated by the major and it's potential earning power. I am also intrigued by the idea of, instead of taking loans you can simply promise a percentage of your first x years of wages as their payment. If you can't find a good paying job because of the degree they awarded you then you both can feel the pain together. This would incentivize the schools to help you get not just any job but a good paying one. It also would force schools who peddle in worthless degrees to reconsider their business model. 

Well I respect the creativity you guys show in paying for college. Sounds like you are throwing up serious proposals.

But we part company at your assumption that market demand should be the single or dominant factor in determining whether a degree is "necessary" or "worthless."  

You are assuming that vocational training is the point of schooling beyond HS, getting the knowledge and skills that employers want you to have. 
I am assuming that education is important, and that it should not be solely or even predominately determined by constantly shifting market demands. It concerns a kind of knowledge and values supposed to span generations and link learners to past and present as citizens. It is not directly for employers, nor determined by them. It less about getting a job than about the life for which one gets a job.

This point would not apply to trade schools, whose goal is and has always been training, not education.