Money Quote: "Student loan debt is just flatly out of control. I understand why this has happened, and I understand why it's hard to get a handle on, but we're going to regret it if we don't do something about this. We're training a whole generation to be wary of going to college, and for those who do, we're forcing them to start out their lives living under a mountain of debt. This is a recipe for disaster....It's also yet another fault line between young and old that's not likely to turn out well. My generation got a cheap college education when we were young, and we're getting good retirement benefits now that we're old. Pretty nice. But now we're turning around and telling today's twenty somethings that they should pay through the nose for college, keep paying taxes for our retirements, and oh by the way, when it comes time for you to retire your benefits are going to have to be cut. So sorry. And all this despite the fact that the country is richer than it was 50 years ago, and will be richer still 50 years from now."
Highly recommend taking a look at the charts in the article.
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"Student Loan Debt is a Beast. Here are Elizabeth Warren's, President Obama's, and the GOP's Plans to Fix It," by Erika Eichelberger, Maggie Severns, and Brett Brownell (Mother Jones)
Money Quote: "Over the past 25 years, the cost of going to college has spiked 440 percent. Since 2004, student loan debt in this country has tripled, and now stands close to $1 trillion."
Just. Simply. Staggering.
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Money Quote: "'I expect one or two, and maybe as many as 10, law schools to close over the next decade,' said Brian Leiter, a professor of jurisprudence at the University of Chicago Law School and director of its Center for Law, Philosophy and Human Values."
1? 2? 10? At minimum.
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"Report sounds alarm bells about student loan interest rates hikes," by Sarah Rohrs (Times-Herald)
Read the story of Renee Schomp, a recent University of Michigan grad, with student loan debt which she could "probably buy a really nice home with the amount." She plans on sitting for the California bar exam and once she passes and has her bar license to work for in the public sector and focus on migrant worker issues.
And she is worried about her interest rate doubling. That should really be far down on her worry list.
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"How the Law School Where I am an Associate Dean Justifies It's Existence," by Luke Bierman of Northeastern University School of Law (Business Insider)
Money Quote: "You can already see a way forward in England and Australia, where lawyers are applying data mining techniques to contracts much the same way Sabermetrics mines data on hitting and fielding in baseball....While the use of technology to make some forms of legal work more efficient will mean certain kinds of legal jobs go away, it also creates new opportunities for lawyers. Those opportunities include acting as a bridge between the worlds of business and law and serving as being ethicists who can help institutions of all kinds determine the best courses of action for their long-term fiscal AND social stability."
Sounds like he just made a case for a computer science degree to me. Exactly which institutions are concerned with social stability these days?
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Money Quote: "Law schools' nine-month-after-graduation employment statistic isn't going anywhere just yet."
Latest update on efforts to move the goal posts.
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"Offer rates at top law schools are better than at some elite kindergartens, blogger observes," by Debra Cassens Weiss (ABA Journal)
Money Quote: "Getting into a top law school is easier than getting into kindergarten at a private school in New York City...."
Maybe the law schools could create a new K to JD admissions program. Admission to kindergarten also gives you a seat in law school.
The link on the Leiter quote article seems to be broken. I wanted to know why, exactly, a real-life journalist would call that guy, but alas, can't get it to open.
ReplyDeleteFixed, thanks.
DeleteI hear they bagged and gagged ol' Mr. Infinity. Is this true?
ReplyDeleteDetails?
Delete