Since many state universities are upping the cost of tuition in a misguided effort to give students "the same education they would get at Harvard or Yale," it's nice to see that the new Democratic congress is doing something to help students. But as Gadfly points out, cutting interest rates does nothing to address how ridiculously expensive going to college is.
State universities are supposed to give students who may not otherwise be able to afford higher education the ability to go to school. They are essential to fighting poverty as it is very difficult, especially for minorities and women, to get decent jobs without a college education.
College is very expensive, as well it should be. Education is (allegedly) the most important thing a person can give him/herself. But the best thing that can be done for this is to teach students how to pay for college.
Part of the problem is that there is not enough emphasis placed on those programs that are in place to help students pay for college. How many scholarships are high school students actually told about before they graduate? How much advertising do we see (on the radio, television, or in newspapers) for some of these grants or scholarships? How many guidance counselors help pre-college students in finding grants and scholarships that they can apply for?
And, of course, there are student loans. Most students don't like the idea of having to take out a student loans and start off their independent life in debt. But those loans can work for you. You can pay on the interest of the loans, and receive a tax break. A lot of loans are deferred so students don't have to begin paying on them until well after they graduate. Meanwhile, they stay on your credit report in good standing, which does help some.
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"Dream as though you'll live forever, but live as though there's no tomorrow" --James Dean
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/fanaile-essence
Many high school students are made aware of scholarship opportunities, and undergraduates are generally given plenty of advice through department and financial aid emails. However, private scholarships tend to be extremely competitive and have narrow eligibility guidelines. In addition, they tend to be for quite small amounts - usually less than $1000. As state universities push even in-state costs up above 10,000 a year, not only do the scholarships help less, they become more competitive.
Scholarships are quite well advertised through the appropriate venues - financial aid offices and websites like fastweb. If organizations and individuals were having difficulty finding students to give awards to, they would certainly turn to media such as newspapers. This is apparently quite unnecessary. And frankly, many organizations providing scholarships have limited funds. Advertising them would cost money they would rather pay towards students' educations.
And yes, having good credit is important. But having upwards of 10 grand in debt doesn't really help your credit.
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Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
-Voltaire