[quote=Eugene]I have to disagree with you all, at least with regard to loans for professional schools (law, business, med).

The way things are, all capable students can attend these schools without regard to their ability to pay, poorer and stronger students are offered scholarships financed by money from richer and weaker students, graduates get well-paid jobs and the ability to pay off their loans within years after graduation.

Remove student loans, tuition comes down, scholarship pool shrinks. Richest students benefit because they get to pay less. Poor students lose, because there’s less money available for need-based scholarships. The whole system becomes less equitable and produces less qualified professionals.[/quote]

Eugene, if loans to pay for education expenses were more restricted, then it would have to become more focused on the students who were the poorest and most likely to succeed (as measured by earning enough later on to pay it all back with interest).

I don’t see any problem with requiring middle class people to postpone buying a new car in order to pay more for their childrens’ college expenses. And I don’t have a problem with denying financial aid to a poor person who may not be determined enough or capable enough to put the education they are looking for to good-paying use. Not everyone is smart enough or ambitious enough to justify giving them $100,000 for more education.