The Raid on Student Aid was postponed yesterday after Republican lawmakers admitted they didn't have the votes to pass the $51 billion in cuts to social programs, which includes $14.3 billion in cuts to student loan programs.
Seattle P-I : Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md., said the budget bill "is still a work in progress" and he still opposes some of its provisions. But he acknowledged that resistance to ANWR drilling unified the GOP moderates in challenging the leadership. "One thread that held us together on this was ANWR. We knew if we could hold together on ANWR all these other provisions would be subject to much closer scrutiny,"
Inside Higher Ed: Several lawmakers noted that they’d heard from students or college officials concerned about the cuts. Way to go, guys!
And now, the bad news: There's one more week in the session, meaning the Higher Ed Act has little or no chance of being reauthorized this year (The last "five-year" reauthorization was in 1998.) Pell grants will continue to be underfunded.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Thursday, November 10, 2005
France Eats its Young? What about US?
Thought-provoking piece on the economic roots of the French riots--specifically, the lack of job opportunities for young people, especially minorities. "Among the young, immigrant men who live in satellite slums, unemployment reaches 40 percent."
I disagree with Elisabeth Eaves' diagnosis, though. She says the problem is that the minimum wage is too high--about $10/hr--and there are too many social protections; those already ensconced within the system keep voting for benefits for themselves, even if it strangles productivity. I'm no economist, but we don't have either of those "problems" here in America, and we're not exactly bursting with opportunities for youth either: Half the Black men in New York City aged 16+ are unemployed. Actually worse than these boys who are out burning cars.
I disagree with Elisabeth Eaves' diagnosis, though. She says the problem is that the minimum wage is too high--about $10/hr--and there are too many social protections; those already ensconced within the system keep voting for benefits for themselves, even if it strangles productivity. I'm no economist, but we don't have either of those "problems" here in America, and we're not exactly bursting with opportunities for youth either: Half the Black men in New York City aged 16+ are unemployed. Actually worse than these boys who are out burning cars.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Quit Lit
My acquaintance Izzy Grinspan delves into this subgenre of chick lit ,aka "job horror," which exposes the crappy working conditions so many 20somethings have to deal with, albeit as the background of glamour-obsessed frothy romance. Not exactly Sister Carrie, but a bit of social realism nonetheless.
NYU Grad Students Strike
Here's an amateur photo album of the NYU grad students ON STRIKE TODAY. They had the only grad student union at a private college until their contract expired August 31. In my interpretation, a 2004 decision against students at Brown emboldened the university to ask for a lot of concessions in the new contract, prompting this strike.
Is a union the best solution for graduate student teachers and adjuncts? I confess I'm torn on the issue. I think they deserve better pay and working conditions, but what everyone really wants is to go back to the apprenticeship system with tenure jobs for everybody at the other end, and that's just not going to happen.
Is a union the best solution for graduate student teachers and adjuncts? I confess I'm torn on the issue. I think they deserve better pay and working conditions, but what everyone really wants is to go back to the apprenticeship system with tenure jobs for everybody at the other end, and that's just not going to happen.
A More Diverse, Less Educated, Poorer Future
This new report, "As America Becomes More Diverse: The Impact of State Higher Education Inequality," proves a simple syllogism. 1) By 2020 there will be twice as many minority workers (Hispanic and black), or 37 % of the workforce. 2) Blacks and Hispanics are far less educated than whites. 3) Either we close the racial disparities OR we get ready for a less educated, less competitive workforce with lower earnings.
Summarizes the Chronicle:
if the current educational gap continues, the proportion of the work force with a college education, or even a high-school diploma, would decrease, the report says. The proportion of the work force with less than a high-school diploma would rise to 18.5 percent from 16.1 percent in 2000, and the proportion with a bachelor's degree would fall to 16.4 percent from 17.1 percent....The drop in the share of the work force with college degrees would also lead to a 2-percent fall in personal per-capita income, from $21,591 in 2000 to $21,196 in 2020, in constant dollars. During the previous 20-year period, that figure grew by 41 percent.
Summarizes the Chronicle:
if the current educational gap continues, the proportion of the work force with a college education, or even a high-school diploma, would decrease, the report says. The proportion of the work force with less than a high-school diploma would rise to 18.5 percent from 16.1 percent in 2000, and the proportion with a bachelor's degree would fall to 16.4 percent from 17.1 percent....The drop in the share of the work force with college degrees would also lead to a 2-percent fall in personal per-capita income, from $21,591 in 2000 to $21,196 in 2020, in constant dollars. During the previous 20-year period, that figure grew by 41 percent.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Women "To Come"
Ratio of male to female writers at "general interest" magazines: 324 to 99 (i.e. 3:1). Ruth Davis Konigsberg, a deputy editor at Glamour, is taking names, at The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, and Vanity Fair.
These are the five biggies, the ones that can make or break you as a serious freelance writer, and they pay seriously as well. Personally I have pitched and been shot down at 3 of them, with various degrees of respectfulness.
What does worry me is the lack of an old girl's network. When I look at my personal network of journalistic colleagues and contacts, my own ratio of men to women is about 5 to 1. Many of the women are editors; many have been extremely helpful, even sisterly. Yet of the journalists I personally know around my age who are trying to get taken a little seriously and build a multifaceted career (as opposed to writing sex, fashion, celeb profiles), nearly all of them are men. This dates back to college when my close journalism pals were all boys.
Maybe I need to do a little Maureen Dowd-style friend-making.
These are the five biggies, the ones that can make or break you as a serious freelance writer, and they pay seriously as well. Personally I have pitched and been shot down at 3 of them, with various degrees of respectfulness.
What does worry me is the lack of an old girl's network. When I look at my personal network of journalistic colleagues and contacts, my own ratio of men to women is about 5 to 1. Many of the women are editors; many have been extremely helpful, even sisterly. Yet of the journalists I personally know around my age who are trying to get taken a little seriously and build a multifaceted career (as opposed to writing sex, fashion, celeb profiles), nearly all of them are men. This dates back to college when my close journalism pals were all boys.
Maybe I need to do a little Maureen Dowd-style friend-making.
Lake Woebegone Kids
Another great media-crit piece from Jack Shafer about stupid, groundless press characterizations of generations. On this USA Today story on Gen Y in the workplace:
"They're young, smart, brash. They may wear flip-flops to the office or listen to iPods at their desk. They want to work, but they don't want work to be their life."
A quick scan of buzzwords will tell you all you need to know, really: "multitasking," "tech savvy," "child centered," "high maintenance"...
Shafer adds:
The piece rolls out one generational cliché after another. Scream if you've ever heard one of these gems applied to a previous generation:
"They're young, smart, brash. They may wear flip-flops to the office or listen to iPods at their desk. They want to work, but they don't want work to be their life."
A quick scan of buzzwords will tell you all you need to know, really: "multitasking," "tech savvy," "child centered," "high maintenance"...
Shafer adds:
The piece rolls out one generational cliché after another. Scream if you've ever heard one of these gems applied to a previous generation:
[T]his generation—whose members have not yet hit 30—is different from any that have come before. …
This age group is moving into the labor force during a time of major demographic change. …
Unlike the generations that have gone before them, Gen Y has been pampered, nurtured and programmed with a slew of activities since they were toddlers, meaning they are both high-performance and high-maintenance. …
Uncle Sam persecutes old, sick student loan borrower
An online piece for my Gen Debt column:
James Lockhart is a 67-year-old man with diabetes and heart disease currently living in public housing in Seattle. According to the brief before the Supreme Court, between 1984 and 1990 he borrowed $80,000 in federal student loans to attend various college programs. He never graduated nor found employment except for a few months in 1987. In April 2002, the Department of the Treasury officially informed him that his Social Security disability payments, then $874 a month plus $10 in food stamps, would be cut—“offset”--by 15 percent to pay his old student loans. Lockhart found legal help from the nonprofit group Public Citizen, founded by Ralph Nader.
...
If these trends persist, and if Lockhart loses his case, the Bush administration won’t have to bother with its plans for reforming Social Security. Benefits will be slashed anyway in 20 years to pay off everyone’s old student debt.
UPDATE: According to the Seattle P-I, "Skeptical Supreme Court justices on Wednesday sharply questioned a Seattle man's claim that the government was wrong to tap his Social Security benefits to pay off long overdue students loans.
James Lockhart is a 67-year-old man with diabetes and heart disease currently living in public housing in Seattle. According to the brief before the Supreme Court, between 1984 and 1990 he borrowed $80,000 in federal student loans to attend various college programs. He never graduated nor found employment except for a few months in 1987. In April 2002, the Department of the Treasury officially informed him that his Social Security disability payments, then $874 a month plus $10 in food stamps, would be cut—“offset”--by 15 percent to pay his old student loans. Lockhart found legal help from the nonprofit group Public Citizen, founded by Ralph Nader.
...
If these trends persist, and if Lockhart loses his case, the Bush administration won’t have to bother with its plans for reforming Social Security. Benefits will be slashed anyway in 20 years to pay off everyone’s old student debt.
UPDATE: According to the Seattle P-I, "Skeptical Supreme Court justices on Wednesday sharply questioned a Seattle man's claim that the government was wrong to tap his Social Security benefits to pay off long overdue students loans.
The justices appeared unmoved by arguments that James Lockhart, who is disabled, needed all of his $874 monthly check to pay for food and medication."
Monday, November 07, 2005
Workplace? Fairness?
Great, comprehensive site about employee rights and fairness issues, run by a nonprofit of employment lawyers. They'll also help you decide if you have a case to sue your boss.
The evidence that the vast majority of Americans are giving more and getting less from their jobs isn't just clear, it's overwhelming.
The evidence that the vast majority of Americans are giving more and getting less from their jobs isn't just clear, it's overwhelming.
The Private Loan Problem
Another great story from Business Week, this one on the growth and danger of private loans. What's up with these guys? Do they take seriously the concept of young people as human capital or something?
For cash-strapped undergrads like Jesse, though, often the biggest problem is securing a loan in the first place. Many haven't yet established good credit, and the majority of private loans require a credit check. And even if "credit-risk" students manage to procure a private loan at a high interest rate, a low-paying first job could mean that monthly student loan repayments gobble up 50% of their salary.
Nevertheless, private loans have proven a valid option for students facing the increasing financial demands of higher education. But it's important that students go into the process with both eyes open -- as well as their wallets.
For cash-strapped undergrads like Jesse, though, often the biggest problem is securing a loan in the first place. Many haven't yet established good credit, and the majority of private loans require a credit check. And even if "credit-risk" students manage to procure a private loan at a high interest rate, a low-paying first job could mean that monthly student loan repayments gobble up 50% of their salary.
Nevertheless, private loans have proven a valid option for students facing the increasing financial demands of higher education. But it's important that students go into the process with both eyes open -- as well as their wallets.
Thirty and Broke
A great, detailed article in Business Week
gets to the heart of the Gen Debt problem. In fact, it reads like a precis of my book. The only difference is, I also write about the 75% who don't get a college degree. This article, like many, focuses on the 25% who do.
In myriad ways, the economics of being 30 have changed for the worse. A college degree is now the minimum required to find a place in the working world that affords some job satisfaction and material comfort. But it doesn't offer protection against turmoil in the labor market, as it once did. Nor does it guarantee such things as health insurance or a retirement plan. And real earnings for college graduates without an advanced degree have fallen four years in a row, for the first time since the 1970s.
Paige belongs to the first generation that came of age with the Internet, grew up marketed to at every turn, is too young to remember the Vietnam War, Watergate, or the Beatles: There are all kinds of ways to describe today's 30-year-olds. But what may really come to distinguish them is that they could be the most indebted generation in modern history.
Two new economic realities are at work. Many had to borrow serious money to attend colleges that are ever more costly. And as soon as they entered school, they were offered credit cards; by 30 many have accumulated thousands of dollars of that very expensive debt, too. Imprudent choices sometimes have compounded their troubles. The consequences can be profound: Many of those 30-year-olds feeling unduly burdened by their financial obligations have had to make compromises on some of life's vital decisions.
gets to the heart of the Gen Debt problem. In fact, it reads like a precis of my book. The only difference is, I also write about the 75% who don't get a college degree. This article, like many, focuses on the 25% who do.
In myriad ways, the economics of being 30 have changed for the worse. A college degree is now the minimum required to find a place in the working world that affords some job satisfaction and material comfort. But it doesn't offer protection against turmoil in the labor market, as it once did. Nor does it guarantee such things as health insurance or a retirement plan. And real earnings for college graduates without an advanced degree have fallen four years in a row, for the first time since the 1970s.
Paige belongs to the first generation that came of age with the Internet, grew up marketed to at every turn, is too young to remember the Vietnam War, Watergate, or the Beatles: There are all kinds of ways to describe today's 30-year-olds. But what may really come to distinguish them is that they could be the most indebted generation in modern history.
Two new economic realities are at work. Many had to borrow serious money to attend colleges that are ever more costly. And as soon as they entered school, they were offered credit cards; by 30 many have accumulated thousands of dollars of that very expensive debt, too. Imprudent choices sometimes have compounded their troubles. The consequences can be profound: Many of those 30-year-olds feeling unduly burdened by their financial obligations have had to make compromises on some of life's vital decisions.
National Tuition Endowment Premieres Legislation
"Students nationwide mobilize to return the $30 billion dollars of waste in the federal aid system to students by writing the National Tuition Endowment Act."
This project started at Columbia U. Lots of info/background research at the site, and
find the full text here:
This project started at Columbia U. Lots of info/background research at the site, and
find the full text here:
A BILL
To establish a National Tuition Endowment using the income and savings generated from the federal student financial aid system to provide grants to students. ..Saturday, November 05, 2005
Counter-recruitment Resources
I got some rather angry emails for my counterrecruitment column, I guess from the 37% of Americans who still support Bush and the war in Iraq. Apparently it is "socialist" of me to think that high school kids in Washington Heights should have something to do after school besides dressing up and playing Army.
Anyway, a few people also wrote asking for more information on counterrecruitment. Here are a few links:
The Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (objector.org) is a great place to start.
Also try the Campus Antiwar Network (campusantiwar.net), Leave My Child Alone (leavemychildalone.org) which is for the opt-out campaign for high schoolers, and the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition, which is having a national Not Your Soldier day of action November 17.
LINKS FIXED-Thanks
Anyway, a few people also wrote asking for more information on counterrecruitment. Here are a few links:
The Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (objector.org) is a great place to start.
Also try the Campus Antiwar Network (campusantiwar.net), Leave My Child Alone (leavemychildalone.org) which is for the opt-out campaign for high schoolers, and the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition, which is having a national Not Your Soldier day of action November 17.
LINKS FIXED-Thanks
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Washington Post editorial on student loan & the budget
"The Senate is likely to vote today on a budget reconciliation measure in which the largest source of "savings" by far comes from the student loan program.
...
Should anyone on the Hill care to point it out, there is an obvious source of genuine savings in the student loan program: Offer students small incentives to choose direct over subsidized loans. But are there fiscal conservatives, in either party, who are willing to risk the wrath of lenders and say so?"
...
Should anyone on the Hill care to point it out, there is an obvious source of genuine savings in the student loan program: Offer students small incentives to choose direct over subsidized loans. But are there fiscal conservatives, in either party, who are willing to risk the wrath of lenders and say so?"
Dream World
Bush says: "What's the biggest threat to the American way of life? It's not terrorism--it's having an uneducated and undercompetitive population floundering in the global economy!"
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Student Loan Resistance
These two sites, Student Loan Hell and Student Loan Slave, are great grassroots community resources for those angry/depressed/can't-take-it-anymore about student debt.
That's good, but we'll need millions
"WASHINGTON, D.C. - Hundreds of college students rallied on Capitol Hill today in opposition to a plan by Republican leaders in Congress to make over $14 billion in cuts - the largest cuts ever - to the nation's student aid programs. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House education committee, and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a member of the education committee, joined the student rally."
Monday, October 31, 2005
Fighting the War at Home
My latest Gen Debt column focuses on counterrecruitment, which has grown into a huge national movement. For a look at the other side, read this extremely friendly profile in the NYT of a successful Army recruiter in Harlem. He keeps himself in "diamond stud earrings, vintage X-Men comic books and sports jerseys that can cost up to $400 apiece" by sending his fellow poor and working-class Hispanics to Iraq.
Sarcasm becomes reality
From the hed and lede of my story about grad students' woes, which appeared last spring:
Wanted: Really Smart Suckers: Grad school provides exciting new road to poverty.
Here's an exciting career opportunity you won't see in the classified ads. For the first six to 10 years, it pays less than $20,000 and demands superhuman levels of commitment in a Dickensian environment...
From the Burlington Free Press and Rutland Herald next week, as part of Campus Equity Week:
College Faculty Wanted
Individuals to teach part time at the college level...No health care, subsidized pension or other benefits. No recall rights or any other form of job security guaranteed...Part-time instructors will have no paid office hours, no academic freedom protections and will not participate in department meetings.
Wanted: Really Smart Suckers: Grad school provides exciting new road to poverty.
Here's an exciting career opportunity you won't see in the classified ads. For the first six to 10 years, it pays less than $20,000 and demands superhuman levels of commitment in a Dickensian environment...
From the Burlington Free Press and Rutland Herald next week, as part of Campus Equity Week:
College Faculty Wanted
Individuals to teach part time at the college level...No health care, subsidized pension or other benefits. No recall rights or any other form of job security guaranteed...Part-time instructors will have no paid office hours, no academic freedom protections and will not participate in department meetings.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
For Halloween, a scary glimpse of the future
When you get old, the government can take your social security payments to pay off your old delinquent student loans.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Galley Cat
I got five colorful, neat, smooth copies of my book in the mail today. Well, the galleys, anyway. They are my personal copies-- a few dozen others will be going out to editors, reviewers, academics I interviewed, friends in the journalism business, some famous writers I admire, and my folks.
Picking up this small object which represents a year and a half of work was a truly surreal experience. I almost don't want to look at them--I can't believe the pub date is almost here.
Picking up this small object which represents a year and a half of work was a truly surreal experience. I almost don't want to look at them--I can't believe the pub date is almost here.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Is College Worth It?
Interesting article in the Chronicle last week by William Strauss and Neil Howe, authors of Generations and Millennials Rising. Title: The High Cost of College: An Increasingly Hard Sell.
Great quote:
Many [Gen-Xers, as parents of college kids] will ask whether student loans are, in fact, "financial aid" or rather just an inducement to enroll — much as car loans are not "car aid" but a mere inducement to buy a car.
Another great quote:
The longstanding assumption about the collegiate earnings premium is due for a high-stakes reassessment in this new era of high tuition, high debt, and parents with a keen eye on the bottom line.
Great quote:
Many [Gen-Xers, as parents of college kids] will ask whether student loans are, in fact, "financial aid" or rather just an inducement to enroll — much as car loans are not "car aid" but a mere inducement to buy a car.
Another great quote:
The longstanding assumption about the collegiate earnings premium is due for a high-stakes reassessment in this new era of high tuition, high debt, and parents with a keen eye on the bottom line.
New Advocacy Group
The Student Aid Alliance is a new coalition of dozens of college, professor, and student groups in Washington trying to "Stop the Raid on Student Aid."
Student Loan Cuts Get Even Bigger
From my Chronicle of Higher Ed news email this morning:
* REPUBLICAN LEADERS of the House education committee unveiled a bill on Tuesday that would trim up to $15-billion from the government's student-loan programs over the next five years. The reductions would meet the panel's obligations as part of a broader Congressional effort to reduce the federal budget deficit. -->
The new cuts are mostly more expensive consolidation and taking money from the direct-loan program.
* DIRECT LENDING TO COLLEGE STUDENTS has cost taxpayers more than originally forecast, but still, per loan, it has cost one-fifth of what guaranteed lending has over the past decade, according to a Government Accountability Office report released belatedly on Tuesday.
UPDATE: Here's the link to that GAO report.
* REPUBLICAN LEADERS of the House education committee unveiled a bill on Tuesday that would trim up to $15-billion from the government's student-loan programs over the next five years. The reductions would meet the panel's obligations as part of a broader Congressional effort to reduce the federal budget deficit. -->
The new cuts are mostly more expensive consolidation and taking money from the direct-loan program.
* DIRECT LENDING TO COLLEGE STUDENTS has cost taxpayers more than originally forecast, but still, per loan, it has cost one-fifth of what guaranteed lending has over the past decade, according to a Government Accountability Office report released belatedly on Tuesday.
UPDATE: Here's the link to that GAO report.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Mau-Mauing the Non-College Kids
Tonight I was invited to cover a reception for Generation Engage, a new organization, founded 10 months ago, that aims to involve non-college 18 to 24 year olds--the "forgotten half"--in the political process.
Now, having attended Yale, I developed a tolerance--even a sympathy--for the children of the rich and illustrious. They have an uphill battle to convince anyone that they ought to be taken seriously. But when you are two sons of one macher (in this case Adrian and Devin Talbott, sons of Strobe Talbott), is it such a good idea to recruit Justin Rockefeller (son of Sen. Jay) and Cate Edwards (daughter of former Sen. John) as your co-leaders?
And then, when you hold your big fundraising reception in the Ralph Lauren store, full of beautiful preppy clothing and beautiful preppy cater-waiters? Where the overheard conversation sounds like this: "blah blah blah St. Albans. blah blah blah Shah of Iran"? Where not a single invited guest appears to be, themselves, a non-college young person? And have David Lauren (son of Ralph) welcome everyone? Where your keynote speaker, President Bill Clinton opens, "I have known Devin and Adrian since they were infants, so I would have been here no matter what"? Well, it becomes really hard to take you seriously.
I repeat, I think the basic idea of what they are doing, and the people they are targeting, are great, although I find the staunchly nonpartisan, civic engagement model a bit wan and tepid next to bolder partisan efforts on the left and right. Even Rock the Vote , nominally nonpartisan, has not been afraid to get out there on the issues that actually affect young people.
Still, Gengage says they are in this for the long haul, not just one election cycle, and that will give them time to refine their approach and see what works. Maybe they will find the right issues to draw in young people. Above all, they have the money and connections to bring attention to the issue, at least the kind of fleeting, polite attention that money and connections can buy.
And I have to confess, I don't normally cover parties, or the type of politics that is conducted via handshakes and small talk. It might just be me who is naively expecting some congruence between the venue and atmosphere of a $300-per-person event and the cause it is ostensibly furthering. I think the off-key feeling for me could be summed up in this exchange with a young member of Generation Engage. I said I heard about the group when I got an email from Justin Rockefeller, "who had seen this article I wrote for the Washington Post." "Oh," he said, smiling. "Did you go to school with Justin?"
Now, having attended Yale, I developed a tolerance--even a sympathy--for the children of the rich and illustrious. They have an uphill battle to convince anyone that they ought to be taken seriously. But when you are two sons of one macher (in this case Adrian and Devin Talbott, sons of Strobe Talbott), is it such a good idea to recruit Justin Rockefeller (son of Sen. Jay) and Cate Edwards (daughter of former Sen. John) as your co-leaders?
And then, when you hold your big fundraising reception in the Ralph Lauren store, full of beautiful preppy clothing and beautiful preppy cater-waiters? Where the overheard conversation sounds like this: "blah blah blah St. Albans. blah blah blah Shah of Iran"? Where not a single invited guest appears to be, themselves, a non-college young person? And have David Lauren (son of Ralph) welcome everyone? Where your keynote speaker, President Bill Clinton opens, "I have known Devin and Adrian since they were infants, so I would have been here no matter what"? Well, it becomes really hard to take you seriously.
I repeat, I think the basic idea of what they are doing, and the people they are targeting, are great, although I find the staunchly nonpartisan, civic engagement model a bit wan and tepid next to bolder partisan efforts on the left and right. Even Rock the Vote , nominally nonpartisan, has not been afraid to get out there on the issues that actually affect young people.
Still, Gengage says they are in this for the long haul, not just one election cycle, and that will give them time to refine their approach and see what works. Maybe they will find the right issues to draw in young people. Above all, they have the money and connections to bring attention to the issue, at least the kind of fleeting, polite attention that money and connections can buy.
And I have to confess, I don't normally cover parties, or the type of politics that is conducted via handshakes and small talk. It might just be me who is naively expecting some congruence between the venue and atmosphere of a $300-per-person event and the cause it is ostensibly furthering. I think the off-key feeling for me could be summed up in this exchange with a young member of Generation Engage. I said I heard about the group when I got an email from Justin Rockefeller, "who had seen this article I wrote for the Washington Post." "Oh," he said, smiling. "Did you go to school with Justin?"
Monday, October 24, 2005
The American Dream
These guys sent me a sweet email yesterday. They are 4 22 and 23-year-olds driving around the country in an RV taking the pulse of Americans 18 to 25. They have corporate sponsors but seemingly not a corporate agenda, and they're working on a documentary, a blog & a book.
"The focus is on the way young people view their world and what their hopes are for America, for their community, and for themselves."
Man, I wish I was driving through Montana right now instead of stuck in Manhattan in the middle of the rainiest October on record.
"The focus is on the way young people view their world and what their hopes are for America, for their community, and for themselves."
Man, I wish I was driving through Montana right now instead of stuck in Manhattan in the middle of the rainiest October on record.
Putting off Grad School: Not So Bad
From the Times, a not too judgmental story about the gap years that kids are taking after college to travel, do community service, work outdoors, etc:
"These are not necessarily unfocused people who are putting off launching,"
says a careers office guy from Harvard. "Often they have a plan and they have three or four things in mind that they want to experiment with." Cultural patterns have changed, too, with fewer people getting married immediately after college and fewer taking jobs with companies at which they expect to work for their entire careers, said Lisa Severy, director of career services at the University of Colorado.
The mind-set for many students is "you get your degree and then you think about what you might want to do," she said.
Of course, the story assumes that these kids are headed back to graduate school within a few years. It would be nice if they found at least one person who decided she wants to keep being a potter in New Mexico.
My friend Colleen Kinder wrote a whole book about this, called Delaying the Real World.
"These are not necessarily unfocused people who are putting off launching,"
says a careers office guy from Harvard. "Often they have a plan and they have three or four things in mind that they want to experiment with." Cultural patterns have changed, too, with fewer people getting married immediately after college and fewer taking jobs with companies at which they expect to work for their entire careers, said Lisa Severy, director of career services at the University of Colorado.
The mind-set for many students is "you get your degree and then you think about what you might want to do," she said.
Of course, the story assumes that these kids are headed back to graduate school within a few years. It would be nice if they found at least one person who decided she wants to keep being a potter in New Mexico.
My friend Colleen Kinder wrote a whole book about this, called Delaying the Real World.
Friday, October 21, 2005
Student Loan Scamming
From the Washington Post today, sent by a friend at the Project on Student Debt:
...loopholes in student loan law that still permit a practice known as "recycling," which allows lenders to keep earning a very high 9.5 percent interest rate from the government on new loans...If senators are concerned about students, they should end double subsidies for lenders and give the money to students directly, in the form of Pell Grants. They could also support legislation backed by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to retrieve some of the hundreds of millions of dollars wasted, completely needlessly, on this scam.
While they're at it, House members should put pressure on Mr. Boehner to release the Government Accountability Office report on student loan costs that he commissioned in January.
Way to go, guys!
...loopholes in student loan law that still permit a practice known as "recycling," which allows lenders to keep earning a very high 9.5 percent interest rate from the government on new loans...If senators are concerned about students, they should end double subsidies for lenders and give the money to students directly, in the form of Pell Grants. They could also support legislation backed by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to retrieve some of the hundreds of millions of dollars wasted, completely needlessly, on this scam.
While they're at it, House members should put pressure on Mr. Boehner to release the Government Accountability Office report on student loan costs that he commissioned in January.
Way to go, guys!
Money quote of the day
From the Times' review of "Shopgirl," starring my old college classmate Claire Danes:
With her student loans, her futon furniture, her poky pickup truck and the antidepressants in her medicine cabinet, Mirabelle could be one of countless recent college graduates fumbling through early adulthood in the drifting, wanting state that sociologists used to call anomie.
Debt, a crappy retail job, cheap furniture and an old car. You call that "anomie"? I call that poverty, you patronizing old ...
With her student loans, her futon furniture, her poky pickup truck and the antidepressants in her medicine cabinet, Mirabelle could be one of countless recent college graduates fumbling through early adulthood in the drifting, wanting state that sociologists used to call anomie.
Debt, a crappy retail job, cheap furniture and an old car. You call that "anomie"? I call that poverty, you patronizing old ...
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Low Wage...and Sexy
I was with a friend looking at those stupid Halloween costumes yesterday: sexy nurse, sexy stewardess, sexy devil, sexy cat. All of a sudden, there she was: a sexy...barista. Very short apron and hat in Starbucks green.
Young women toiling in low-wage, no-benefit service jobs behind counters all over America, rejoice: you are now officially fetish objects.
Update: Nina Lalli of the Voice onthe stupidness of sexy costumes.
Young women toiling in low-wage, no-benefit service jobs behind counters all over America, rejoice: you are now officially fetish objects.
Update: Nina Lalli of the Voice onthe stupidness of sexy costumes.
Students Speak Up
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Stuffing The Numbers
Direct loans--student loans lent directly by the federal government--are more efficient and 12 times cheaper for taxpayers than the loans that Sallie Mae earns billions on. The banks' profits basically = federal subsidies. The government's own numbers, in a report released September 29, say so. And Congress is keeping that report secret until October 28--2 days after the HEA goes back to the House committee, quite possibly for more cuts to student loans. The whole story, plus an alert to write your Congressperson, is at Student Loan Watch.
Why wouldn't Congress want an estimated $17 to $60 billion in free money to apply toward more student aid? The same $reason$ Congress tends to pass laws that favor other highly profitable corporations. See this Chronicle of Higher Education investigation for details:
.... over the last year and a half, officials with the loan industry and proprietary institutions [for-profit colleges] have given, individually and through political-action committees, or PAC's, almost $1 million in campaign contributions to the 49 members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, according to Federal Election Commission records through the end of May. More than half of the money, about $540,000, has gone to the two Republican lawmakers in charge of drafting the higher-education legislation -- Reps. John A. Boehner of Ohio, who heads the full committee, and Howard P. (Buck) McKeon, who leads the panel's subcommittee on higher education.
Why wouldn't Congress want an estimated $17 to $60 billion in free money to apply toward more student aid? The same $reason$ Congress tends to pass laws that favor other highly profitable corporations. See this Chronicle of Higher Education investigation for details:
.... over the last year and a half, officials with the loan industry and proprietary institutions [for-profit colleges] have given, individually and through political-action committees, or PAC's, almost $1 million in campaign contributions to the 49 members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, according to Federal Election Commission records through the end of May. More than half of the money, about $540,000, has gone to the two Republican lawmakers in charge of drafting the higher-education legislation -- Reps. John A. Boehner of Ohio, who heads the full committee, and Howard P. (Buck) McKeon, who leads the panel's subcommittee on higher education.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Trend in Student Aid: Downward
The new annual report by the College Board, Trends in Student Aid 2005, came out today.
A factoid from the press release:
Between 1996-97 and 2001-02, total grant aid for undergraduates grew twice as fast as total borrowing, but since 2001-02, that pattern has reversed. In 2004-05, the percentage of total undergraduate aid in the form of grants declined for the third year in a row.
Here's some comments by Bob Shireman of the Project on Student Debt.
The College Board report shows that the trends in how Americans pay for college continue to tilt heavily toward loans. The largest increase is in private loans, which rose by about 30 percent in just one year, a strong indicator that more families are finding that they have little choice but to borrow in order to cover the rising cost of college.
The College Board report documents the continued rise of loans and the relative decline of need-based grants, meaning that the people who struggle hardest to get a college education have fewer and fewer options.
A factoid from the press release:
Between 1996-97 and 2001-02, total grant aid for undergraduates grew twice as fast as total borrowing, but since 2001-02, that pattern has reversed. In 2004-05, the percentage of total undergraduate aid in the form of grants declined for the third year in a row.
Here's some comments by Bob Shireman of the Project on Student Debt.
The College Board report shows that the trends in how Americans pay for college continue to tilt heavily toward loans. The largest increase is in private loans, which rose by about 30 percent in just one year, a strong indicator that more families are finding that they have little choice but to borrow in order to cover the rising cost of college.
The College Board report documents the continued rise of loans and the relative decline of need-based grants, meaning that the people who struggle hardest to get a college education have fewer and fewer options.
Your Crappy Summer Job--now on Reality TV
On MTV, psyched college girls are competing in "Miss Seventeen," a reality show where the prize is...an internship at Seventeen magazine. Forget the retro, sexist overtones of the whole pageant idea. In this junior miss version of the Apprentice, after all the no-doubt humiliating stunts they'll have to pull, couldn't the prize be an actual, paying job?
From the Seventeen website:
Only college students, eligible to receive school credit for their work are accepted. The internship is unpaid.
From the Seventeen website:
Only college students, eligible to receive school credit for their work are accepted. The internship is unpaid.
Student Borrowers Lose Out in Budget Process
As my last column pointed out, Katrina may lead to even more cuts to student aid, now through emergency "budget reconciliation" bills.
From a MoveOn email this morning:
Emergency campaign to save health care, student loans, and pensions
Here's a brief description of the budget process: Last spring, Congress passed a budget and tax blueprint calling for three major changes: $35 billion in cuts to vital national services, $70 billion in new tax cuts, largely for the wealthy, and an additional $35 billion tacked onto the deficit. This was bad policy before Katrina, but now it's a catastrophe. Responsible leaders on both sides of the aisle have called for canceling this process, called "budget reconciliation," in light of the cost and increased need created by the hurricane.
But instead of changing course, top Republicans are now using Katrina to argue for $15 billion in additional cuts to the services that the hurricane victims and other vulnerable Americans depend on the most.
From a press release today by the US Students Association and the State PIRG's Higher Education Project:
...the reauthorization of the 1965 Higher Education Act continues to be defined by a budget resolution that is at odds with the goals of the Act. As you know, many of America’s students and families find themselves struggling with college debt and affordability. Yet the budget resolution and reconciliation process asks that students, already in a financial hole, dig deeper.
Given the challenges facing students we believe it is imperative not to pay for tax cuts and disaster relief out of their pockets. Where efficiencies and savings can be identified in the student loan programs, we ought to direct these savings to students and to making higher education more affordable.
From a MoveOn email this morning:
Emergency campaign to save health care, student loans, and pensions
Here's a brief description of the budget process: Last spring, Congress passed a budget and tax blueprint calling for three major changes: $35 billion in cuts to vital national services, $70 billion in new tax cuts, largely for the wealthy, and an additional $35 billion tacked onto the deficit. This was bad policy before Katrina, but now it's a catastrophe. Responsible leaders on both sides of the aisle have called for canceling this process, called "budget reconciliation," in light of the cost and increased need created by the hurricane.
But instead of changing course, top Republicans are now using Katrina to argue for $15 billion in additional cuts to the services that the hurricane victims and other vulnerable Americans depend on the most.
From a press release today by the US Students Association and the State PIRG's Higher Education Project:
...the reauthorization of the 1965 Higher Education Act continues to be defined by a budget resolution that is at odds with the goals of the Act. As you know, many of America’s students and families find themselves struggling with college debt and affordability. Yet the budget resolution and reconciliation process asks that students, already in a financial hole, dig deeper.
Given the challenges facing students we believe it is imperative not to pay for tax cuts and disaster relief out of their pockets. Where efficiencies and savings can be identified in the student loan programs, we ought to direct these savings to students and to making higher education more affordable.
Monday, October 17, 2005
Speaking for The Forgotten Half
I've emailed back and forth with Justin Rockefeller, who has founded a new nonprofit called Generation Engage, which is refreshingly focused on getting non-college youth involved with politics.
from the site:
As young Americans – new voters, emerging professionals, and members of the rising labor force – the future at stake is our own. The policies, issues, and values debated by our nation’s leaders determine the quality of jobs available to us, the laws that govern our lives, the security of our nation, and the kind of America where we will raise our children.
from New York magazine:
We’re targeting young people who aren’t in college. We hope to hire young community leaders in every state to do things like identify local hot spots—Internet cafés, bars, pool halls—and turn them into places where people talk politics.
from the site:
As young Americans – new voters, emerging professionals, and members of the rising labor force – the future at stake is our own. The policies, issues, and values debated by our nation’s leaders determine the quality of jobs available to us, the laws that govern our lives, the security of our nation, and the kind of America where we will raise our children.
from New York magazine:
We’re targeting young people who aren’t in college. We hope to hire young community leaders in every state to do things like identify local hot spots—Internet cafés, bars, pool halls—and turn them into places where people talk politics.
John Edwards wants College for Everyone
An interview with the former senator on Campusprogress.org, a great all-around resource for political motivation. If you are a young progressive, check it out.
Glad to see him highlighting access to higher education as a crucial part of his general anti-poverty message.
We were also wondering if you could talk to us about your College for Everyone program in North Carolina that you launched a few weeks ago.
This is an idea that I talked about in my own presidential campaign. The idea is that any young person who has taken college prep work, who is qualified to go to college, and has stayed out of trouble, and is willing to go to work ten hours a week [will] be able to go their first year of college completely for free—tuition books etc, paid for. And what we’ve done to test the validity of this idea is found a place in eastern North Carolina , one the poorest counties in North Carolina , but the community is committed to doing something about their kids having a chance. And what we’ve done is, in Greene County , privately, we’ve raised the money for it to implement the program. In Greene County if you have taken all the prep courses, not gotten into trouble and commit to work ten hours a week, then your tuition and books will be paid for. The idea is many young persons who would not have gone to college will get a chance to go.
Glad to see him highlighting access to higher education as a crucial part of his general anti-poverty message.
We were also wondering if you could talk to us about your College for Everyone program in North Carolina that you launched a few weeks ago.
This is an idea that I talked about in my own presidential campaign. The idea is that any young person who has taken college prep work, who is qualified to go to college, and has stayed out of trouble, and is willing to go to work ten hours a week [will] be able to go their first year of college completely for free—tuition books etc, paid for. And what we’ve done to test the validity of this idea is found a place in eastern North Carolina , one the poorest counties in North Carolina , but the community is committed to doing something about their kids having a chance. And what we’ve done is, in Greene County , privately, we’ve raised the money for it to implement the program. In Greene County if you have taken all the prep courses, not gotten into trouble and commit to work ten hours a week, then your tuition and books will be paid for. The idea is many young persons who would not have gone to college will get a chance to go.
Privatization of Public Higher Education
From the Times this morning:
Taxpayer support for public universities, measured per student, has plunged more precipitously since 2001 than at any time in two decades, and several university presidents are calling the decline a de facto privatization of the institutions that played a crucial role in the creation of the American middle class.
It's not like we have to wonder what a fully private higher education system would be like. For the rich: luxury brand names like Swarthmore or St. John's College, at luxury prices:
$27, 516/yr average in 2004. Yes, there's loans and yes, there's scholarships for the lucky few strivers. For everyone else: Shady, Scandal-ridden for-profit colleges at a still-steep average price of around $12,000 a year.
Taxpayer support for public universities, measured per student, has plunged more precipitously since 2001 than at any time in two decades, and several university presidents are calling the decline a de facto privatization of the institutions that played a crucial role in the creation of the American middle class.
It's not like we have to wonder what a fully private higher education system would be like. For the rich: luxury brand names like Swarthmore or St. John's College, at luxury prices:
$27, 516/yr average in 2004. Yes, there's loans and yes, there's scholarships for the lucky few strivers. For everyone else: Shady, Scandal-ridden for-profit colleges at a still-steep average price of around $12,000 a year.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
More on the Spellings Higher Education Commission
I was interviewed for this article on the website of Higher Education Washington, which publishes a newsletter on student lending and other insiderish info. Bryn Lansdowne actually talked to the members of the commission, which is more than I did before I wrote my Tom Paine piece. David Ward, of the American Council on Education, astutely identified the main topic before him and the rest of these guys: the public interest in higher education.
...The question of private versus public gain in higher education institutions needs to be addressed by the commission.“No one really knows what that proportion should be,” Ward said. Ward, the only representative of mainstream higher education policy [that's taken from my article, by the way],
said he plans to keep the public sector in mind during his membership on the committee.“I am much more alert to the interests of higher education, which often involves the public interest,” Ward said.
College is a public good. The benefits accrue not only to the graduate, but to her family and her community. In this way, college is sort of the mirror opposite of prison. As Jennifer Gonnerman has movingly written about, when someone goes off to prison, his mother loses a son, his child loses a father, his community loses a worker, and he loses time. All at a cost to the state of $25,000 a year--five times the average public university tuition.
...The question of private versus public gain in higher education institutions needs to be addressed by the commission.“No one really knows what that proportion should be,” Ward said. Ward, the only representative of mainstream higher education policy [that's taken from my article, by the way],
said he plans to keep the public sector in mind during his membership on the committee.“I am much more alert to the interests of higher education, which often involves the public interest,” Ward said.
College is a public good. The benefits accrue not only to the graduate, but to her family and her community. In this way, college is sort of the mirror opposite of prison. As Jennifer Gonnerman has movingly written about, when someone goes off to prison, his mother loses a son, his child loses a father, his community loses a worker, and he loses time. All at a cost to the state of $25,000 a year--five times the average public university tuition.
Future of the Housing Market?
This NYT Mag cover story about McMansion developers is notable for this prediction about the state of housing for Gen Debt (ok, a little younger):
In the past couple of years, [home building exec Bob] Toll and his deputies have begun analyzing European housing data to see if they hold any lessons for a maturing American housing market. ..I asked Toll what our children - my kids are both under 8, I told him - would be paying when they're ready to buy. "They're going to live with us until they're 40," Toll said matter-of-factly. "And when they have their second kid, then we'll finally kick them out and make them pay for the house that we paid for. And that house will cost them 45 to 50 percent of their income."
I grew alarmed. Was he kidding? He assured me he was not...And that average, million-dollar insane home in the burbs? It's going to be $4 million."
I am writing this blog post from my 275-sq-ft! 1-bedroom in downtown Manhattan. Half the rent on this place is a third of my income (I actually pay a little less; my fiance pays more). To buy a place of a reasonable size in this neighborhood would start at 7 times our income and go up from there.
In the past couple of years, [home building exec Bob] Toll and his deputies have begun analyzing European housing data to see if they hold any lessons for a maturing American housing market. ..I asked Toll what our children - my kids are both under 8, I told him - would be paying when they're ready to buy. "They're going to live with us until they're 40," Toll said matter-of-factly. "And when they have their second kid, then we'll finally kick them out and make them pay for the house that we paid for. And that house will cost them 45 to 50 percent of their income."
I grew alarmed. Was he kidding? He assured me he was not...And that average, million-dollar insane home in the burbs? It's going to be $4 million."
I am writing this blog post from my 275-sq-ft! 1-bedroom in downtown Manhattan. Half the rent on this place is a third of my income (I actually pay a little less; my fiance pays more). To buy a place of a reasonable size in this neighborhood would start at 7 times our income and go up from there.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Yay Boston!
I'm honored to be featured in a little piece in the Boston Phoenix, the alt-weekly, about "10 journalists under 35 to watch" or some such. It's an interesting and eclectic bunch--I was especially intrigued by the new-media guys like Adrian Holovaty and Matt Thompson .
Not only is the first time I've been the subject of an article, it's the first time anyone has identified me as a blogger. I guess that's a milestone.
Not only is the first time I've been the subject of an article, it's the first time anyone has identified me as a blogger. I guess that's a milestone.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
New Project on Student Debt
It's not like we had a great national debate about whether we wanted to impose huge debts on young people. We just woke up one morning and it had happened. -- Pat Callan President, National Center on Public Policy and Higher Education
This great quote is one of many to be found on the new website for the Project on Student Debt. Finally, we have a serious research nonprofit devoted to the cause of excessive student loans and their impact on higher education. I expect to be linking to them often in the future.
This great quote is one of many to be found on the new website for the Project on Student Debt. Finally, we have a serious research nonprofit devoted to the cause of excessive student loans and their impact on higher education. I expect to be linking to them often in the future.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Counterrecruiter Confrontations
In a preview of my next weeks' column, Inside Higher Ed reports on two campus confrontations between military recruiters and protesters that led to intervention by campus police and later, bigger, protests. What interests me? The 2 campuses were George Mason University, a large public university in Virginia* with over 29,000 students , and Holyoke Community College in Holyoke, MA. Here you have a student movement that evidently reaches young people of widely varied social backgrounds and political stripes**.
*This post originally, erroneously said "west virginia," and two commenters pointed out that the university in question is actually located in a fairly liberal part of VA. Point taken. You can read more about the confrontation in question here; the campus newspaper seems fairly sympathetic to the arrested guy, and another student is organizing a counterprotest on his behalf.
**I would hate to be the one to characterize the South as monolithically Republican. My larger point, which I think still holds, is the economic difference between university and community college students, who have nonetheless both found a common cause. In the New York area, there have been actions at Columbia U and Bronx Community College.
Financial Crises at CUNY, SUNY
According to this NYT article, New York's public universities are in deep financial trouble. From the president of the faculty union:
"We have reached the point of crisis,"
"We have reached the point of crisis,"
"Students are paying almost 50 percent of the operating costs," she said. "Professors have not had a raise in four years. Our salaries are not keeping pace. And we can't recruit new faculty."
According to state data, students at CUNY's four-year colleges paid less than $1,500 in tuition and fees in 1990, while the state provided $7,023 per student. In 2003, tuition and fees had risen to $4,300 while the state subsidy per student had fallen to $5,846.
There is no room in the 4-year public colleges for increasing numbers of community college students who want to transfer and get their bachelor's degree. SUNY is the country's largest public university system, with 400,000+ students.
This story points up something people don't often realize about higher education operating costs: the extent to which subsidies diminish the costs to students. Without increased public support for higher education, we could be looking at another doubling of the tuition charges in the next ten years.
PS: CUNY's union is talking strike.
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Getting Closer
I went over the copy editor's remarks and put in some last changes to the manuscript on Thursday--all day long, at the Riverhead office. I'm so excited for the book to really come out. Less than four months now.
The opening piece in the New York Times Magazine today was all like, "What's up with this emerging adulthood thing? Isn't it just an artifact of the Boomers' alarmist perception of young people?" Which is good as far as it goes. But all too familiarly, the writer, Ann Hulbert, whose most common subject is parenthood, glosses over the political and economic aspects of the phenomenon, in the final paragraph, thus:
[Turn of the century writer Randolph Bourne] went on to make a point that seems especially relevant these days, when college kids are saddled with debt - an adult experience if ever there was one - and young people are juggling jobs and lives in unscripted ways. For 25-year-olds looking back on life since 17, Bourne reflected, there are "so many crises, so many startling surprises, so many vivid joys and harrowing humiliations and disappointments, that one feels startlingly old; one wonders if one will ever feel so old again."
I can certainly relate to the description of the emotional state of being 25--the age I am today. Yet I think Hulbert makes a serious mistake to separate the effect (young people vague, unfocused) from the underlying causes (college debt, juggling jobs). It's like saying, oh, those Dust Bowl Okies! So unrooted! So confused! Such nomads!
Of course, that's just why I'm writing this book.
The opening piece in the New York Times Magazine today was all like, "What's up with this emerging adulthood thing? Isn't it just an artifact of the Boomers' alarmist perception of young people?" Which is good as far as it goes. But all too familiarly, the writer, Ann Hulbert, whose most common subject is parenthood, glosses over the political and economic aspects of the phenomenon, in the final paragraph, thus:
[Turn of the century writer Randolph Bourne] went on to make a point that seems especially relevant these days, when college kids are saddled with debt - an adult experience if ever there was one - and young people are juggling jobs and lives in unscripted ways. For 25-year-olds looking back on life since 17, Bourne reflected, there are "so many crises, so many startling surprises, so many vivid joys and harrowing humiliations and disappointments, that one feels startlingly old; one wonders if one will ever feel so old again."
I can certainly relate to the description of the emotional state of being 25--the age I am today. Yet I think Hulbert makes a serious mistake to separate the effect (young people vague, unfocused) from the underlying causes (college debt, juggling jobs). It's like saying, oh, those Dust Bowl Okies! So unrooted! So confused! Such nomads!
Of course, that's just why I'm writing this book.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
US Military Recruits--Getting Dumber?
Smart story on Slate about an ominous US Military decision to lower the academic and mental aptitude standards for its recruits. They're doing this because they're running way low on recruits (my next Voice column is about the counterrecruitment movement, which takes some credit for that). Currently, contrary to popular perception, the ranks of the Army are comparable in racial/ethnic mix and academic achievement to the population of 18-24 year olds as a whole (although the recruits do differ from the gen population in geographic distribution, of course gender proportion, and most importantly class.)
The unpopularity of the war has forced the military into a corner. Either lower the quality of recruits (which they're trying now) introduce a draft (which Fred Kaplan says could happen only in a "genuine national emergency"-it may be sooner than we think) or go to the Bush administration and say we can't maintain current military commitments. What you would prefer may depend on the probability that you might find yourself on the front lines.
The unpopularity of the war has forced the military into a corner. Either lower the quality of recruits (which they're trying now) introduce a draft (which Fred Kaplan says could happen only in a "genuine national emergency"-it may be sooner than we think) or go to the Bush administration and say we can't maintain current military commitments. What you would prefer may depend on the probability that you might find yourself on the front lines.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Katrina and College Aid
My latest column looks at how the hurricane has affected higher education. To me, the most shocking part of this story is not the shortsightedness of federal aid but the haphazard nature of the budget process. Basically, because the higher education act happens to still be up for debate, the Senate decides to scoop some more money out of it and put it into the new Katrina pot, because it's just easier than, say, reopening the pork-stuffed transportation bill.
Maybe I'm really naive, but this is dumb.
Maybe I'm really naive, but this is dumb.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Bad Education: A Response
I wanted to respond to the following comment on my Tom Paine piece:
Anya, I very much enjoy your writing. In this article, you write: "He's up against Richard Vedder of the American Enterprise Institute, an economist who has written a book and testified before Congress on his very convenient view that federal student aid is bad for affordability, because it encourages colleges to raise prices, and should therefore be curbed immediately." Doesn't Mr. Vedder's view have a great deal of credibility? If possible, please say a little more about why you disagree with Mr. Vedder. Thanks.
Dr. Richard Vedder is a conservative economist at Ohio State University (American Enterprise Institute, National Review) who describes his theory of why college costs so much in his book Going Broke by Degree and in this testimony before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. He argues that there are inefficiencies in the higher education market. The ready availability of federal student aid makes students insensitive to price increases, which short-circuits the normal process of competition on price, and in turn encourages colleges to raise their tuition year after year without providing comparable improvements in quality.
I might be willing to agree with him, to a point. I think inefficiencies arise in the higher education market because students and parents are not fully informed about lower-cost college options, such as public vs. private schools, distance learning, vocational schools, and community colleges, and social stigmas also prevent people from shopping around. Also, the average higher education "customer" is not very well informed about the relationship between the tuition bill and the education they're getting, which allows schools to raise prices basically with impunity. Finally, the sources of funding and directions of spending for the average public university are so varied that it would be surprising if inefficiencies did not creep in--universities are often spending money on nonessential programs that don't serve the needs of their communities, and everyone likes to complain that bureaucracy and admin costs have gone out of control. I even agree with Vedder that it might not be a bad idea to put even more federal education aid in the hands of students, as a kind of voucher system.
Where Dr. Vedder and I differ fundamentally is in our views of the nature and purpose of higher education. Dr. Vedder complains that universities do not resemble businesses. "There is no clearly defined "bottom line" in traditional universities," he writes. "Did Stanford University have a good or bad year in 2003? How would we know?"
To me, one of the major values of our university system is its nonprofit, noncommercial status.
The university is one of the only institutions we have left in this society that is a truly public sphere. An institution like Stanford ought to measure its performance goals in generations, not in a single year.
Secondly, Dr. Vedder actually suspects that higher education's "negative externalities" may outweigh its "positive externalities." That is, the bad effects of universities, like higher taxes and the occasional campus riot, are worse than the effects of producing skilled workers, nourishing pure scholarship, shaping future citizens. I wish I could say that he is making this argument facetiously, for if not, why does he not resign his own senior faculty position? (I note he is teaching no classes this year, a deplorable example of the general productivity decline of which he complains.)
To sum up:
I don't want a guy making decisions about higher education at the highest level who doesn't see the difference between a university and a business, and I reiterate that it's very convenient for Spellings to appoint someone who thinks increased federal aid is a bad idea, whereas the vast majority of people in the field think it's called for.
Anya, I very much enjoy your writing. In this article, you write: "He's up against Richard Vedder of the American Enterprise Institute, an economist who has written a book and testified before Congress on his very convenient view that federal student aid is bad for affordability, because it encourages colleges to raise prices, and should therefore be curbed immediately." Doesn't Mr. Vedder's view have a great deal of credibility? If possible, please say a little more about why you disagree with Mr. Vedder. Thanks.
Dr. Richard Vedder is a conservative economist at Ohio State University (American Enterprise Institute, National Review) who describes his theory of why college costs so much in his book Going Broke by Degree and in this testimony before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. He argues that there are inefficiencies in the higher education market. The ready availability of federal student aid makes students insensitive to price increases, which short-circuits the normal process of competition on price, and in turn encourages colleges to raise their tuition year after year without providing comparable improvements in quality.
I might be willing to agree with him, to a point. I think inefficiencies arise in the higher education market because students and parents are not fully informed about lower-cost college options, such as public vs. private schools, distance learning, vocational schools, and community colleges, and social stigmas also prevent people from shopping around. Also, the average higher education "customer" is not very well informed about the relationship between the tuition bill and the education they're getting, which allows schools to raise prices basically with impunity. Finally, the sources of funding and directions of spending for the average public university are so varied that it would be surprising if inefficiencies did not creep in--universities are often spending money on nonessential programs that don't serve the needs of their communities, and everyone likes to complain that bureaucracy and admin costs have gone out of control. I even agree with Vedder that it might not be a bad idea to put even more federal education aid in the hands of students, as a kind of voucher system.
Where Dr. Vedder and I differ fundamentally is in our views of the nature and purpose of higher education. Dr. Vedder complains that universities do not resemble businesses. "There is no clearly defined "bottom line" in traditional universities," he writes. "Did Stanford University have a good or bad year in 2003? How would we know?"
To me, one of the major values of our university system is its nonprofit, noncommercial status.
The university is one of the only institutions we have left in this society that is a truly public sphere. An institution like Stanford ought to measure its performance goals in generations, not in a single year.
Secondly, Dr. Vedder actually suspects that higher education's "negative externalities" may outweigh its "positive externalities." That is, the bad effects of universities, like higher taxes and the occasional campus riot, are worse than the effects of producing skilled workers, nourishing pure scholarship, shaping future citizens. I wish I could say that he is making this argument facetiously, for if not, why does he not resign his own senior faculty position? (I note he is teaching no classes this year, a deplorable example of the general productivity decline of which he complains.)
To sum up:
I don't want a guy making decisions about higher education at the highest level who doesn't see the difference between a university and a business, and I reiterate that it's very convenient for Spellings to appoint someone who thinks increased federal aid is a bad idea, whereas the vast majority of people in the field think it's called for.
Monday, October 03, 2005
Katrina and New orleans culture
This article by Michael Tisserand, the editor-in-exile of New Orleans' alt-newsweekly, the Gambit, is the most astute take I've seen yet on what's at stake in salvaging New Orleans culture. Most of us, far and near to it, don't even know what we've lost.
Bad Education
My first original piece for Tom Paine.com is up today. It's about the Department of Education's new Commission on the Future of Higher Education. Even though I used the editorial space to point out all of the commission's flaws ( a somewhat narrow definition of "21st century" as "engineering", no funding increases, the possibility of testing and accountability measures for colleges) I still think it provides a good opportunity for other education advocates to talk about what we would like to see change in the higher education sector. I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea to involve CEOs in a discussion with academics, to find out what experience and qualifications they want from new hires. (Microsoft and the Gates Foundation, in particular, are doing interesting things in this area.) And government and colleges could stand to have a more functional relationship where the value of higher education is cherished, instead of it being seen as a "cash cow" or "budget balancer" for state budgets.
Them that's got, shall get
I have a big story on the Voice website today about what I saw when I was down in Baton Rouge, where they have registered about 8,000 Katrina kids in the public schools. Basically, it seems that the same people are being forgotten who are always being forgotten. This is Louisiana after all.
On the other hand, this disaster has raised a really good discussion about the social safety net, bringing a lot of conservative policies into serious question. The victims of Katrina need affordable health care, and the government is the only one who can realistically provide it on the scale necessary. They need affordable housing--ditto. (The link is to an editorial by the super-conservative Heritage Foundation which has joined in an ideologically diverse coalition to support Katrina federal housing vouchers). They are unfairly victimized by the new bankruptcy law--so is everyone. Basically, Katrina is just a large acute impossible-for-conservatives-to-ignore version of life: the unavoidable, unpredictable misfortunes that threaten everyone and require a collective response.
(sermon over) (Krugman's version of same)
On the other hand, this disaster has raised a really good discussion about the social safety net, bringing a lot of conservative policies into serious question. The victims of Katrina need affordable health care, and the government is the only one who can realistically provide it on the scale necessary. They need affordable housing--ditto. (The link is to an editorial by the super-conservative Heritage Foundation which has joined in an ideologically diverse coalition to support Katrina federal housing vouchers). They are unfairly victimized by the new bankruptcy law--so is everyone. Basically, Katrina is just a large acute impossible-for-conservatives-to-ignore version of life: the unavoidable, unpredictable misfortunes that threaten everyone and require a collective response.
(sermon over) (Krugman's version of same)
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Teaching America
Finally, a story about young adults doing something good--spending two years teaching in poor schools after college graduation. I believe John Kerry proposed expanding this idea into a full national service program, providing money for college to those willing to do some do-gooding afterwards. Not a bad approach to youth underemployment.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
My So-Called Job
There's a new comedy coming out called Waiting which is set among young service-industry workers. The poster makes it look like an '80s sex comedy, like Porky's, except college has been replaced by a McJob and the plot turns on whether or not the main character will rise above the dead-end service world and make something of himself. Topical, no?
Friday, September 23, 2005
Boomers Die in Viceland
Vice Magazine is one of my favorite media guilty pleasures. They may produce photo shoots of dead rats and people sleeping in vomit, but they are always funny and clever. Their latest themed issue, WE HATE YOUR PARENTS, TOO is all about how whiny, self-involved and greedy baby boomers are. Sure it's mean and unfair but it's nice to see a glossy magazine take the piss out of the older generation for once. Especially when it takes on things like Vanity Fair's stupid story and essay contest "What's on the mind of America's Youth Today?" which they summarize as "We used to change the world by going to big parties, doing drugs, and fucking. All they do is go to big parties, do drugs, and fuck."
Smart Young Women, Dumb Idea
I was super annoyed by this story that appeared on the front page of the New York Times Monday (and stayed on the "most emailed articles" list all week), Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood ,
about how the smartest girls are planning to become stay-at-home moms because "you can't be the best career woman and the best mother at the same time."
1) This story doesn't at all recognize that being able to stay home is for rich people. Most mothers of even young children work. They work because they have to.
2) The story doesn't ask young men about their behavior or assumptions, except for one girl's comment that guys think women who aspire to be wives are "sexy." What happened to encouraging fathers to be more involved?
3) Both the writer, Louise Story, and the women she interviews take it as a given ("obvious") that working results in an inferior outcome for children. Not so!
4) I hate to see this kind of message out there for people like my sister, an 18-year-old freshman at Yale. When you are still forming your career aspirations and the pressure to be the "best" at something is so great, it is easy to fall back on daydreams about retreating into that perfect family life. When I was 6, no lie, I decided I would marry a rich man because only rich wives don't have to work. I would have maids to do my housework, leaving me plenty of time to play games and make up stories.
In the real world, most of us are not the absolute best at anything. But it doesn't mean we should close off our ambitions.
But after I got all worked up about it, Jack Shafer of Slate's Pressbox column wrote an awesome takedown of the story, pointing out that it is based on no real numbers and relies on "weasel words" like "Many" to disguise that fact.
about how the smartest girls are planning to become stay-at-home moms because "you can't be the best career woman and the best mother at the same time."
1) This story doesn't at all recognize that being able to stay home is for rich people. Most mothers of even young children work. They work because they have to.
2) The story doesn't ask young men about their behavior or assumptions, except for one girl's comment that guys think women who aspire to be wives are "sexy." What happened to encouraging fathers to be more involved?
3) Both the writer, Louise Story, and the women she interviews take it as a given ("obvious") that working results in an inferior outcome for children. Not so!
4) I hate to see this kind of message out there for people like my sister, an 18-year-old freshman at Yale. When you are still forming your career aspirations and the pressure to be the "best" at something is so great, it is easy to fall back on daydreams about retreating into that perfect family life. When I was 6, no lie, I decided I would marry a rich man because only rich wives don't have to work. I would have maids to do my housework, leaving me plenty of time to play games and make up stories.
In the real world, most of us are not the absolute best at anything. But it doesn't mean we should close off our ambitions.
But after I got all worked up about it, Jack Shafer of Slate's Pressbox column wrote an awesome takedown of the story, pointing out that it is based on no real numbers and relies on "weasel words" like "Many" to disguise that fact.
Monday, September 19, 2005
The Other "Generation Debt" book
I just got this press release about a new book by a small publisher of financial advice for teens and young adults. Its title? The Money Guide: Financial Advice for Teens and Generation Debt.
From the press release:
Many of these young people graduate from college with a mountain of student loan debt and face a constant barrage of advertising and financial misinformation that is intended to load them with consumer debt. The American dream--to buy a house, support a family, send kids to college, retire in style--seem (sic) acutely, distressingly out of reach.
Sound familiar? I'm happy that this concept is getting out there, but I'm a little surprised to see the phrase "Generation Debt" already in use in another book title. I guess I better work harder to get the word out.
From the press release:
Many of these young people graduate from college with a mountain of student loan debt and face a constant barrage of advertising and financial misinformation that is intended to load them with consumer debt. The American dream--to buy a house, support a family, send kids to college, retire in style--seem (sic) acutely, distressingly out of reach.
Sound familiar? I'm happy that this concept is getting out there, but I'm a little surprised to see the phrase "Generation Debt" already in use in another book title. I guess I better work harder to get the word out.
Fun Books Column
I reported this column my last week in San Francisco, the week before the storm hit. When you live in a city that beautiful, it's easy to understand why you might want to work a little less and enjoy life more.
Get out of Town!
I got this comment about my column on young expats:
I gotta say, living abroad is looking better and better right now.
Dear Ms. Kamenetz,
I just read your great article on moving abroad. You
might also mention Istanbul as a place where young
people from all over are finding their niche. I have
lived here for more than 20 years, raised my children
here (where they received an education that would have
been impossible, without winning the lottery (and even
then) in the US). People came to America to find a
better life. It is crucial that the country understand
that people will leave for the same reason. Young
people have much to offer the world, in addition to
finding more sane, more civilized (especially in terms
of work to life ratio) lives for themselves
I gotta say, living abroad is looking better and better right now.
Dear Ms. Kamenetz,
I just read your great article on moving abroad. You
might also mention Istanbul as a place where young
people from all over are finding their niche. I have
lived here for more than 20 years, raised my children
here (where they received an education that would have
been impossible, without winning the lottery (and even
then) in the US). People came to America to find a
better life. It is crucial that the country understand
that people will leave for the same reason. Young
people have much to offer the world, in addition to
finding more sane, more civilized (especially in terms
of work to life ratio) lives for themselves
I'm Back
I've been offline the past three weeks due to Hurricane Katrina. The week of the storm, I filed several dispatches for the Village Voice which you can find here, here and here. Then I flew down to Louisiana with my parents and wrote this from Baton Rouge and this from New Orleans. By grace, our house was mostly spared. I look forward to returning in a month or so to write about the rebuilding process.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Hurricane Katrina
https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp
I grew up in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana. My family moved to New Orleans in 1993 and I have always considered it my home. I'm getting married there next fall. I'm having trouble even imagining the devastation that has struck the city in the past two days--no power for a month! 100,000 people without homes! Please, if you are reading this, consider donating to the Red Cross.
I grew up in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana. My family moved to New Orleans in 1993 and I have always considered it my home. I'm getting married there next fall. I'm having trouble even imagining the devastation that has struck the city in the past two days--no power for a month! 100,000 people without homes! Please, if you are reading this, consider donating to the Red Cross.
Monday, August 29, 2005
Private Universities: Rolling Naked in Cash?
A senior at NYU wants to photograph a fellow student naked and covered with $32,000 in cash on a dorm room mattress. The cash represents the high price of tuition, room and board at the private university.
Young People--Passive?
I had an editorial in the Washington Post's Outlook section yesterday. I was asked to do a piece on youthful idealism and activism, somehow addressing the question "Where's the passion?" I ended up positing that the young people of today are just as active, on a per-capita basis, as the youth movement of the '60s to whom we are endlessly compared, but our emphasis is different, plus we are not getting the same attention because the boomers are still the star of the show.
It was an interesting experience, since I don't usually write straight-up editorials; revisions were mainly aimed at getting my voice into the story more. It was fun writing for a national paper; I got over 40 emails from people of all ages, most of which have been positive. All in all, though, it reminded me why I feel more comfortable doing reporting and relying on facts and artfully presented details. When you start writing straight advocacy journalism, it feels good to come out and say what you think (the war was a mistake). But you are inevitably standing on shaky ground when you base your arguments on things like opinion polls and the number of people who marched down Lake Shore Drive in Chicago in 1968.
I think I would like to leave that stuff to the professional opinion mongerers. Not that I don't have plenty of theories to share.
It was an interesting experience, since I don't usually write straight-up editorials; revisions were mainly aimed at getting my voice into the story more. It was fun writing for a national paper; I got over 40 emails from people of all ages, most of which have been positive. All in all, though, it reminded me why I feel more comfortable doing reporting and relying on facts and artfully presented details. When you start writing straight advocacy journalism, it feels good to come out and say what you think (the war was a mistake). But you are inevitably standing on shaky ground when you base your arguments on things like opinion polls and the number of people who marched down Lake Shore Drive in Chicago in 1968.
I think I would like to leave that stuff to the professional opinion mongerers. Not that I don't have plenty of theories to share.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Private Loans Suck
From the Newhouse News Service today:
Proliferating Private Loans Put Crushing Burden on Students
With the cost of higher education skyrocketing and federal student loans capped at 1992 levels, more students are turning to private loans to pay for trade schools and even traditional colleges. The loans are the fastest growing type of student aid, and lenders are scurrying to cash in on the highly profitable products, offering easy online access or jockeying to get on a school's list of preferred lenders.
The trend alarms financial aid advisers who fear students are unwittingly taking on too much debt. Some, like Perry, eventually fail to repay the loans on time. That trend could worsen if interest rates continue to rise.
---
Some trade schools have deliberately pushed private loans to expand their market to students with poor credit histories, and they're coming under increasing regulatory scrutiny about their recruiting and loan disclosure practices.
Financial aid counselors worry that students unwittingly get themselves too deep in debt with private loans and will default in coming years, particularly if they get a low-wage job or go through a protracted layoff.
Interest rates on these loans can go as high as 26.5% !!! And students (and parents) often don't know the difference between these private loans and regular federal loans.
Proliferating Private Loans Put Crushing Burden on Students
With the cost of higher education skyrocketing and federal student loans capped at 1992 levels, more students are turning to private loans to pay for trade schools and even traditional colleges. The loans are the fastest growing type of student aid, and lenders are scurrying to cash in on the highly profitable products, offering easy online access or jockeying to get on a school's list of preferred lenders.
The trend alarms financial aid advisers who fear students are unwittingly taking on too much debt. Some, like Perry, eventually fail to repay the loans on time. That trend could worsen if interest rates continue to rise.
---
Some trade schools have deliberately pushed private loans to expand their market to students with poor credit histories, and they're coming under increasing regulatory scrutiny about their recruiting and loan disclosure practices.
Financial aid counselors worry that students unwittingly get themselves too deep in debt with private loans and will default in coming years, particularly if they get a low-wage job or go through a protracted layoff.
Interest rates on these loans can go as high as 26.5% !!! And students (and parents) often don't know the difference between these private loans and regular federal loans.
College Groups Say: Change HEA!
Seven groups representing colleges have issued a position paper asking the Senate to come up with a better version of HEA reauthorization than the House did. Their priorities are this:
The Ed Dept. is supposed to cut $13 billion. $11 billion of that is currently coming from programs that help kids pay for college. Only $2 billion is coming out of teachers' pensions; surely you can think of a more equitable distribution.
The House bill favors for-profit schools and includes a couple of sneaky changes that will make direct loans look more expensive vis-a-vis private loans. Who benefits from that? That's right, the lenders, higher education's biggest lobbyists.
I'll be interested to see what the Senate comes up with.
The Ed Dept. is supposed to cut $13 billion. $11 billion of that is currently coming from programs that help kids pay for college. Only $2 billion is coming out of teachers' pensions; surely you can think of a more equitable distribution.
The House bill favors for-profit schools and includes a couple of sneaky changes that will make direct loans look more expensive vis-a-vis private loans. Who benefits from that? That's right, the lenders, higher education's biggest lobbyists.
I'll be interested to see what the Senate comes up with.
Monday, August 22, 2005
Selling the Army
I predict military recruitment and counterrecruitment will grow to a major national issue in the coming year. It's urgent, not just because young people are fighting and dying in an unjust war, but because of the hole it shows in America's priorities: Instead of investment in and opportunity for young people, the best-funded arm of the government offers enlistment.
Today, here is Seth Stevenson in Slate on the new Army commercials: lame and disingenuous. And here is Bob Herbert in the Times:
The youngsters recruited most relentlessly are those from small towns, rural areas and impoverished urban neighborhoods. They are kids who are not well-to-do, and who don't have much of a plan for their future. The military, with its uniforms, its slick ads and its video games, can look very good to these unsophisticated youngsters.
Today, here is Seth Stevenson in Slate on the new Army commercials: lame and disingenuous. And here is Bob Herbert in the Times:
The youngsters recruited most relentlessly are those from small towns, rural areas and impoverished urban neighborhoods. They are kids who are not well-to-do, and who don't have much of a plan for their future. The military, with its uniforms, its slick ads and its video games, can look very good to these unsophisticated youngsters.
With a series of television ads, the Army is also trying to win over what it calls the "influencers," the parents and other adults who have been counseling youngsters to stay away from the military. That campaign was packaged by the Leo Burnett agency, which has the following to say about itself:
"Leo Burnett USA creates ideas that inspire enduring belief for many of the world's most valuable brands and most successful marketers, including McDonald's, Disney, Procter & Gamble, Marlboro, Altoids, Heinz, Kellogg, Nintendo and the U.S. Army."
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Ted Kennedy on New Student Loan Bill
A guest op-ed by the Democratic senator on the advantages of direct loans over Sallie Mae et al.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Half of Freshmen Unprepared
And we're not talking about a lack of extra long twin sheets. According to the New York Times:
Only about half of this year's high school graduates have the reading skills they need to succeed in college, and even fewer are prepared for college-level science and math courses, according to a yearly report from ACT, which produces one of the nation's leading college admissions tests.
The report, based on scores of the 2005 high school graduates who took the exam, some 1.2 million students in all, also found that fewer than one in four met the college-readiness benchmarks in all four subjects tested: reading comprehension, English, math and science.
You can see what Bill Gates means when he says America's high schools are obsolete and are ruining the lives of millions of young Americans every day.
Only about half of this year's high school graduates have the reading skills they need to succeed in college, and even fewer are prepared for college-level science and math courses, according to a yearly report from ACT, which produces one of the nation's leading college admissions tests.
The report, based on scores of the 2005 high school graduates who took the exam, some 1.2 million students in all, also found that fewer than one in four met the college-readiness benchmarks in all four subjects tested: reading comprehension, English, math and science.
You can see what Bill Gates means when he says America's high schools are obsolete and are ruining the lives of millions of young Americans every day.
Bills Arrive With No New Aid
With the reauthorization of the Higher Ed Act a year or two late now, families are getting the bills for another year of school with no more aid. According to this press relase, AlternativeStudentLoans.com is ready to help! Just watch out when you borrow from these banks--the interest rates are higher than with federal loans and they often offer fewer repayment options.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Student Debt Promoted to Serious National Concern
From a press release in my inbox this morning:
The Pew Charitable Trusts announces the Partnership to Reduce the Burden
of Student Debt. The two-year, $3.5 million initiative joins the
Trusts-funded Retirement Security Project as part of the Trusts' focus
on issues related to family financial security...
The Pew Charitable Trusts announces the Partnership to Reduce the Burden
of Student Debt. The two-year, $3.5 million initiative joins the
Trusts-funded Retirement Security Project as part of the Trusts' focus
on issues related to family financial security...
Working with other funders and non-profit organizations, the
Partnership to Reduce the Burden of Student Debt will collaborate with
leading experts from across the nation to conduct nonpartisan research
and analysis and identify practical policy options and ways to pay for
them with current taxpayer dollars.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
$11 Billion Student Aid Cut
All Wrong Again on Gen Debt
"Babies of the boomers are going bust," laments the Cox News Service . Great, they're finally getting it, I think hopefully. Think again. Once more it's a story about "spoiled" kids spending too much: "It's part consumer culture brainwashing, part entitlement."
Consumption patterns are simply an insufficient and wrongheaded explanation for the inferior economic standing of young people. People are graduating with $20,000+ in student loan debt and real income that's stagnant or declining compared with 30 years ago. I'd like to believe that solving the problems of Generation Debt was as easy as telling people to cut up their credit cards, but it just ain't so.
In a way, this story itself is the product of consumer culture brainwashing. Just as most people, when they hear the word "save," actually think of spending a (reduced) amount on some product, the Cox News Service finds itself unable to conceive of a debt problem that's not caused by spending too much discretionary income. Where did our nation's prosperity go? We charged too many Jamba Juices. Oops.
Consumption patterns are simply an insufficient and wrongheaded explanation for the inferior economic standing of young people. People are graduating with $20,000+ in student loan debt and real income that's stagnant or declining compared with 30 years ago. I'd like to believe that solving the problems of Generation Debt was as easy as telling people to cut up their credit cards, but it just ain't so.
In a way, this story itself is the product of consumer culture brainwashing. Just as most people, when they hear the word "save," actually think of spending a (reduced) amount on some product, the Cox News Service finds itself unable to conceive of a debt problem that's not caused by spending too much discretionary income. Where did our nation's prosperity go? We charged too many Jamba Juices. Oops.
Friday, August 12, 2005
How to Pitch a Story
I got three emails this week from acquaintances seeking advice about the whole writing game. I always find this simultaneously flattering and humbling. Flattering, because obviously they think i'm doing something right, and humbling, because I really don't feel all that successful! I'm still starting out and I make mistakes all the time.
Still, i think this could be a good space to answer questions with what I do know. Someone emailed to ask me how you write a pitch.
1) You have to be very familiar with the specific publication, and what they want. Most take queries by email, but some still want a packet of material mailed in, including clips.
2) Make sure you know what editor you're pitching to. You can often derive email addresses from the businesspeople on a publication's masthead ; assume that the address format will be the same for all names listed. As a last resort, you can call and ask who handles what.
3) You need to know whether the publication, or anyone else, has covered your idea before, and if so what makes this version new. The pitch should be fleshed out. It doesn't hurt to make a phone call or two.
4) Pretend your story's already been assigned. How long will the story be? What section will it go in? Mention this in your review.
5) Things that in my opinion are almost impossible to pitch: movie reviews (the lead time is too great), anything involving a celebrity who is not your relative, and some theory you have about something. Things that are great to pitch: A new idea which you have previously overlooked evidence for. A subculture or underworld that you have unique access to. Any story with a compelling main character. Whatever the editor happens to be in the mood for right at that moment.
Other writers: let me know if you have anything to add.
Still, i think this could be a good space to answer questions with what I do know. Someone emailed to ask me how you write a pitch.
1) You have to be very familiar with the specific publication, and what they want. Most take queries by email, but some still want a packet of material mailed in, including clips.
2) Make sure you know what editor you're pitching to. You can often derive email addresses from the businesspeople on a publication's masthead ; assume that the address format will be the same for all names listed. As a last resort, you can call and ask who handles what.
3) You need to know whether the publication, or anyone else, has covered your idea before, and if so what makes this version new. The pitch should be fleshed out. It doesn't hurt to make a phone call or two.
4) Pretend your story's already been assigned. How long will the story be? What section will it go in? Mention this in your review.
5) Things that in my opinion are almost impossible to pitch: movie reviews (the lead time is too great), anything involving a celebrity who is not your relative, and some theory you have about something. Things that are great to pitch: A new idea which you have previously overlooked evidence for. A subculture or underworld that you have unique access to. Any story with a compelling main character. Whatever the editor happens to be in the mood for right at that moment.
Other writers: let me know if you have anything to add.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
OR Students Protest Loan Changes
A small protest--2 dozen students--in Portland yesterday about the lame student aid provisions in the new House bill. (Look for my upcoming column about it in the Voice this weekend).
Student groups and higher education lobbyists have been disappointed that lawmakers failed to propose enough aid to keep pace with rising costs and did not take more dramatic steps to reduce government subsidies that flow to lenders.
Oregon PIRG organized the protest. From what legislators' offices tell me, the State Public Interest Research Groups are one of the only real voices for students in Washington. Student-led groups, where are you?
Student groups and higher education lobbyists have been disappointed that lawmakers failed to propose enough aid to keep pace with rising costs and did not take more dramatic steps to reduce government subsidies that flow to lenders.
Oregon PIRG organized the protest. From what legislators' offices tell me, the State Public Interest Research Groups are one of the only real voices for students in Washington. Student-led groups, where are you?
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Reproduction of Disadvantage
Inside HigherEd, a great resource on all issues higher education, flags a new report from the National Center for Education Statistics showing that being the first in your family to go to college means a much harder road to graduation.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Evidence of Existence
Rachel Kramer Bussel, a fellow Voice columnist, just emailed to say that she saw the book Generation Debt on Amazon.com. Whoa! Exciting. Just $16.47 with Super Saver Shipping! Maybe I can save time on all the editing I'm doing now by preordering a copy!
Kicking High School Students
I think Slate is excellent, and I know they take pride in framing their stories in a contrarian way. But they took this article , about American vs. international test scores, and labeled it "American High School Kids aren't Stupid--They're Lazy."
The point Alexandra Starr is making is a good one: that American students have no incentive to do well on international assessments, so they may not reflect their actual ability as well as ACT scores and state graduation exams do. But illustrating the story with a Mad Magazine caricature of a slouching wastoid kid and calling him "lazy" is just taking another easy knock on kids.
The point Alexandra Starr is making is a good one: that American students have no incentive to do well on international assessments, so they may not reflect their actual ability as well as ACT scores and state graduation exams do. But illustrating the story with a Mad Magazine caricature of a slouching wastoid kid and calling him "lazy" is just taking another easy knock on kids.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
High School: Could it be Worse?
Crisis in Education Report: Our High Schools May Not Adequately Prepare Dropouts for Unemployment (The Onion, natch)
Some educators say the report paints too bleak a picture of schools' efforts to instill students with a lack of ambition.
Some educators say the report paints too bleak a picture of schools' efforts to instill students with a lack of ambition.
"We are doing a terrible, terrible job," said James Dunham, the principal of HS 445 in New York. "We literally could not be doing any worse."
Dunham highlighted the fact that the hallways of his school are lined with vending machines that sell nothing but unhealthy snack products such as soda and potato chips, both of which acclimate students to the diet of a jobless lowlife.
Internal Conflict
My new column, about interns on Capitol Hill, is featured on the Voice home page today. I really enjoyed talking with these driven, ambitious kids. It reminded me that the members of Generation Debt aren't wasting time being angry--they're just anxious about their chances, and hopeful that they'll find their place and do great things.
Big Oops on Consolidation
There was a lot of hype (including mine) about how important it was to consolidate your student loans and lock in that 2.77% rate before it went up. Now this article says that 1000s of students are being charged the new higher rate, possibly for months, while their consolidation applications work their way through the system. The lenders say they're just overwhelmed by the backlog. Sooo convenient.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Squeezing Federal Student Aid
H.R. 609, the bill that would reauthorize the Higher Education Act, passed along strict party lines in House committee Friday. The HEA was originally passed by Lyndon Johnson and contains all the student aid programs we know and love; the current reauthorization is a year overdue (priorities, anyone?). Here's the House Democrats on what's wrong with this bill from a students' p.o.v.; most notably, a nearly $11 billion funding squeeze.
Friday, July 29, 2005
Loving the Freaks
Attended a fascinating talk today by the authors of Freakonomics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (who I did a little work for, back in 2002, and who was incredibly kind and set me up with an internship at the Voice.) Steven Levitt, if you haven't read the runaway bestseller or one of the many, many reviews or their column in the NYT Magazine, is an economist & applies rigorous data analysis to quirky, emotionally revealing situations. For example: one paper which he said today was one of his favorites looked at the economics of a crack gang and found that street-level dealers make about the same amount of $ as fast-food workers, which explains why they live with their mothers (a point well illustrated on The Wire.)
I was really interested in something Dubner said (which makes it kinda relevant for this blog):
He hopes the book's success will make attractive to journalists the idea of actually crafting fact-based stories. Don't just follow the 3-examples-makes-a-trend rule; in big dull government reports like this one lie thousands of untold stories.
I was really interested in something Dubner said (which makes it kinda relevant for this blog):
He hopes the book's success will make attractive to journalists the idea of actually crafting fact-based stories. Don't just follow the 3-examples-makes-a-trend rule; in big dull government reports like this one lie thousands of untold stories.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Young Adults are Petty Thieves...
says the New York Times Styles section. They take peanut butter, disposable razors, and even underwear from their parents' houses!
The interesting thing about this annoying, youth-smearing story is that it's exactly like the story they ran last week about people stealing from posh restaurants and hotels. Both of them are about stupid, spoiled, privileged yuppies with no morals. Yet the kids story drags in the fine research of Frank F. Furstenburg and the Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood to somehow prove that the rotten behavior of the junior yuppies is a universal, generational thing. Even though Furstenburg is careful to point out in his book, which I cite in my book, that the phenomenon of "emerging adulthood" is caused by economic factors, not psychological ones.
The interesting thing about this annoying, youth-smearing story is that it's exactly like the story they ran last week about people stealing from posh restaurants and hotels. Both of them are about stupid, spoiled, privileged yuppies with no morals. Yet the kids story drags in the fine research of Frank F. Furstenburg and the Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood to somehow prove that the rotten behavior of the junior yuppies is a universal, generational thing. Even though Furstenburg is careful to point out in his book, which I cite in my book, that the phenomenon of "emerging adulthood" is caused by economic factors, not psychological ones.
Book Update
All this week, I've been contacting the people quoted in my book to verify facts and get formal permission. It's just one step in a process that will apparently result in galleys by September (a galley is basically a bound manuscript that goes out to reviewers and blurb-ers, even though it hasn't been copy edited or finished with notes or anything). Every step closer to publication--a cover design, another revision--fills me with trepidation. And excitement.
Monday, July 25, 2005
Trust Fund Backlash
Most of the people who have written in about the "Rich Little Poor Kids" story seem to agree with this person, but he put it especially well:
I'd like to know the motivation behind your story. Granted everyone needs to be treated with respect and not be judged by their bank account. It seems that you are attempting to garnish these men and women with sympathy so that we can say that they are "just like us".
Ironically enough, the feelings of low self esteem, feeling dependant and feeling different from peers are synonymous with those who are on the bottom end of the economic scale. As a society we tell them to fight against their circumstances and that with hard luck they can become successful. Meanwhile you article seems to suggest that a "trustafarian" should be held with the same regard as the young man who has to work two jobs so that his cabinet has enough top ramen for the week.
It it difficult for all of our to find our way. I understand that those who have privilege have increased expectations and that it is hard for others to relate to their issues. I guess I wish I could search for my niche and know that my rent is paid for regardless of my discovery.
J.IIIzo
Queens
I'd just like to respond that I wasn't suggesting any kind of equivalency of virtue or level playing field between people who have to struggle and those who have it easier. But just as this guy points out, the emotions in both situations are often the same.
I'd like to know the motivation behind your story. Granted everyone needs to be treated with respect and not be judged by their bank account. It seems that you are attempting to garnish these men and women with sympathy so that we can say that they are "just like us".
Ironically enough, the feelings of low self esteem, feeling dependant and feeling different from peers are synonymous with those who are on the bottom end of the economic scale. As a society we tell them to fight against their circumstances and that with hard luck they can become successful. Meanwhile you article seems to suggest that a "trustafarian" should be held with the same regard as the young man who has to work two jobs so that his cabinet has enough top ramen for the week.
It it difficult for all of our to find our way. I understand that those who have privilege have increased expectations and that it is hard for others to relate to their issues. I guess I wish I could search for my niche and know that my rent is paid for regardless of my discovery.
J.IIIzo
Queens
I'd just like to respond that I wasn't suggesting any kind of equivalency of virtue or level playing field between people who have to struggle and those who have it easier. But just as this guy points out, the emotions in both situations are often the same.
Dirt Poor Rock Stars
This guy Camper English, a nightlife writer from San Francisco, wrote an awesome new book called Party Like A Rock Star--Even if You're Poor as Dirt about saving $ on all the fun stuff: clubs, rock shows, free drinks, thrift stores, workouts, etc etc. A nice reminder that being part of Gen Debt isn't all about packing a PB&J sandwich for lunch. On his site he keeps a blog with new tips all the time.
Rich Little Poor Kids
My newest Generation Debt story has been up for three days and I've already gotten three emails about it, which is pretty good. The topic, kids with trust funds, was originally suggested by my editor. It's an interesting twist on the usual Gen Debt column. The wealthiest young people obviously don't share the same material problems that are common to most of us, yet they have similar emotional problems of feeling dependent and sometimes directionless.
What really surprised me about this story was how hard it was to find subjects. People didn't want to talk to me, and when they did, they were often cagy--and I was really surprised to find myself being overly sensitive, even deferential, to them! They were far more concerned with their anonymity than the welfare moms or anyone else I've interviewed. Money and class have a potency in our society that you can't really feel until you address them directly.
Let me know what you thought of the story.
Anya Kamenetz
What really surprised me about this story was how hard it was to find subjects. People didn't want to talk to me, and when they did, they were often cagy--and I was really surprised to find myself being overly sensitive, even deferential, to them! They were far more concerned with their anonymity than the welfare moms or anyone else I've interviewed. Money and class have a potency in our society that you can't really feel until you address them directly.
Let me know what you thought of the story.
Anya Kamenetz
Thursday, July 21, 2005
The Dropout Crisis
Crucial op-ed from Bob Herbert in the NYT today about America's horrible high school graduation rate: Two out of three. (What it doesn't mention: this is a decline from the 1969 peak grad rate of 77%.) Herbert has really been out in front on these generational issues.
Why is the education of America's young people so important?
"It may sound like hyperbole," said Mr. Vander Ark [of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation], "but this is the economic development issue for our society, and it is the social justice issue of our times. It is the most important long-term issue for the civic health of the republic."
Less educated Americans, compared to the rest of the world = a poorer, more racially divided, less competitive, less safe, less democratic country.
Why is the education of America's young people so important?
"It may sound like hyperbole," said Mr. Vander Ark [of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation], "but this is the economic development issue for our society, and it is the social justice issue of our times. It is the most important long-term issue for the civic health of the republic."
Less educated Americans, compared to the rest of the world = a poorer, more racially divided, less competitive, less safe, less democratic country.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Student Loan Loophole
Not only do student loans cost students billions to pay back, the federally subsidized program is designed in a sort of confusing, ramshackle way so that lenders can exploit it to reap billions in profit. On Monday, the Washington Post wrote an editorial about the closing of one stubborn loophole:
In principle, Congress shut down this scam -- which allows lenders to use an outdated law that guaranteed them 9.5 percent interest rates -- last year. But in practice, payments to student loan companies holding 9.5 percent interest loans have continued to expand, thanks to a process known as "recycling," which keeps the old interest rate in play. According to StudentLoanWatch.org, which watches the numbers carefully, the costs to the taxpayer of the "recycled" loans in 2005 were slated to exceed that of 2004.
That cost is nearly $1 billion a year, Student Loan Watch says.
In principle, Congress shut down this scam -- which allows lenders to use an outdated law that guaranteed them 9.5 percent interest rates -- last year. But in practice, payments to student loan companies holding 9.5 percent interest loans have continued to expand, thanks to a process known as "recycling," which keeps the old interest rate in play. According to StudentLoanWatch.org, which watches the numbers carefully, the costs to the taxpayer of the "recycled" loans in 2005 were slated to exceed that of 2004.
That cost is nearly $1 billion a year, Student Loan Watch says.
Student Loan Watch
This is an interesting blog with all kinds of info on student loan policy, specifically the way that commercial lenders are riding the "gravy train" of federal subsidies. The site is run by The Institute for College Access and Success, a year-old nonprofit that works on rising student debt, something called college access marketing, as well as more cost-efficient student loans. They've gotten good coverage, in The New York Times as well as the Washington Post (above).
Here's a link to a 2004 policy paper by the Institute's director titled "Straight Talk on Student Loans." It advocates cutting middlemen (the lenders) out of the student loan business, and lending all the money to students direct from the feds, as is already done with about 1/4 of loans through the direct lending program. I think this is a capital idea, although I also think energy should be directed to increasing aid, not just better loans.
Here's a link to a 2004 policy paper by the Institute's director titled "Straight Talk on Student Loans." It advocates cutting middlemen (the lenders) out of the student loan business, and lending all the money to students direct from the feds, as is already done with about 1/4 of loans through the direct lending program. I think this is a capital idea, although I also think energy should be directed to increasing aid, not just better loans.
Student wants Free Education
I received this email from Nathan Dickerson, at the University of Kentucky, who I met last week at the Campus Progress conference. Please comment if you have any interest in his ideas.
:
Hey Anya,
Thanks so much for not only taking the time to attend the Campus
Progress National Conference but also speaking with me (the student
from the University of Kentucky) and so many others. I wanted to tell
you how much I personally appreciate your column, Generation Debt. As
a student who received a full tuition scholarship plus other aid for
housing, etc, I can't complain too much about my debt situation. My
sensitivity to the issue of education inequity was fortunately only
developed when I watched a few of my friends, who usually lived a few
hours away in larger cities, pursue Ivies and equally expensive
pseudo-Ivies. It was quite disheartening to see the college hype in
high school reduced to a matter of money more than mind, a perplexing
end to what I had hoped would be a progressive, enlightening, and
meritocratic salvation from the working class conformist values of
Spottsville, Kentucky. Reading The Ambition Tax [by Brendan Koerner] was the first
thoughtful articulation of my frustrations--which luckily don't equal
tens of thousands of dollars--that made so much sense I began to
wonder why I had never encountered any ideas like it before in the
polarized struggle I felt between "real work" pragmatism and
educational utopianism. In short, keep up the good work.
Also, I'm very seriously considering creating a progressively minded
podcast that would kick off with an analysis of the issue of higher
education. My idea is not incredibly fleshed out, and I still would
need to overcome some technical hurdles as well as to create a
definite brand for a series of shows. However, if I put in some
effort, I may be able to pull it off and get a team of articulate and
proactive students to help me out. I've been thinking about the
crucial first podcast that could be used to energize and interest
students, and I'm wondering if I should push or at least analyze the
idea of federally-sponsored higher education at public institutions.
Would you have any thoughts on this? I realize it is unrealistic in
the present budgets, but the idea of free education could be used to
bargain at least a better deal than students receive now.
Additionally, the economic shift toward a creative class could justify
producing a more highly educated work force.
:
Hey Anya,
Thanks so much for not only taking the time to attend the Campus
Progress National Conference but also speaking with me (the student
from the University of Kentucky) and so many others. I wanted to tell
you how much I personally appreciate your column, Generation Debt. As
a student who received a full tuition scholarship plus other aid for
housing, etc, I can't complain too much about my debt situation. My
sensitivity to the issue of education inequity was fortunately only
developed when I watched a few of my friends, who usually lived a few
hours away in larger cities, pursue Ivies and equally expensive
pseudo-Ivies. It was quite disheartening to see the college hype in
high school reduced to a matter of money more than mind, a perplexing
end to what I had hoped would be a progressive, enlightening, and
meritocratic salvation from the working class conformist values of
Spottsville, Kentucky. Reading The Ambition Tax [by Brendan Koerner] was the first
thoughtful articulation of my frustrations--which luckily don't equal
tens of thousands of dollars--that made so much sense I began to
wonder why I had never encountered any ideas like it before in the
polarized struggle I felt between "real work" pragmatism and
educational utopianism. In short, keep up the good work.
Also, I'm very seriously considering creating a progressively minded
podcast that would kick off with an analysis of the issue of higher
education. My idea is not incredibly fleshed out, and I still would
need to overcome some technical hurdles as well as to create a
definite brand for a series of shows. However, if I put in some
effort, I may be able to pull it off and get a team of articulate and
proactive students to help me out. I've been thinking about the
crucial first podcast that could be used to energize and interest
students, and I'm wondering if I should push or at least analyze the
idea of federally-sponsored higher education at public institutions.
Would you have any thoughts on this? I realize it is unrealistic in
the present budgets, but the idea of free education could be used to
bargain at least a better deal than students receive now.
Additionally, the economic shift toward a creative class could justify
producing a more highly educated work force.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Intergenerational Redistribution
Interesting article in the New York Times today looks at generational equity from a new angle. It seems that grandparents, increasingly well-off, are more and more often bankrolling things like college and private school tuition for their grandchildren, whose own parents don't have the resources. The following paragraph could have come straight from my book:
This generation of 20- and 30-somethings are taking longer to finish their education and reach self-sufficiency. "Our culture has changed so that education is priced so high, and lasts so long, that this phenomenon of economic dependency lasts much longer than it used to," said Professor Bengtson, himself a grandfather who goes to Santa Barbara each week to spend a day or two with his year-old granddaughter, Zoe Paloma Lozano.
My own maternal grandparents paid for my Yale education, lock, stock and barrel; the alternative would probably have included loans. Just like the families in the article, I feel that combination of gratitude and sometimes uncomfortable dependence. Families have always done their part to cushion their members from economic hardships--in previous generations, the help usually flowed from children to parents. But the result is rarely emotionally simple.
This generation of 20- and 30-somethings are taking longer to finish their education and reach self-sufficiency. "Our culture has changed so that education is priced so high, and lasts so long, that this phenomenon of economic dependency lasts much longer than it used to," said Professor Bengtson, himself a grandfather who goes to Santa Barbara each week to spend a day or two with his year-old granddaughter, Zoe Paloma Lozano.
My own maternal grandparents paid for my Yale education, lock, stock and barrel; the alternative would probably have included loans. Just like the families in the article, I feel that combination of gratitude and sometimes uncomfortable dependence. Families have always done their part to cushion their members from economic hardships--in previous generations, the help usually flowed from children to parents. But the result is rarely emotionally simple.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Taking the Progressive Debate to Campus
I was privileged today to be a panelist for the Center For American Progress's first annual Campus Progress national student conference. Everyone there, over 500 students, was really jazzed that there finally seems to be a response to the need for grassroots progressive (the new word for "liberal") leadership development, in thinktanks and on campuses, to counter the incredibly successful effort on the right that has been kicking our ass for 30+ years.
It was a great experience personally seeing President Clinton and Thomas Frank speak. It was great to meet my fellow panelists, Benoit Denizet-Lewis of the New York Times Magazine and Sarah Wildman of The American Prospect and many other publications, who are showing that you can make a living writing about gay rights, Muslim-Jewish relations and other important stuff. But most of all it was great talking to the students. A guy came up to me from the University of Kentucky and said he's been reading my series and he wants to use higher education financing as a progressive wedge issue on his conservative campus, to motivate students. I think that's some awesome thinking.
PS. Shout out to my New Journal alumni (the best literary nonfiction magazine about Yale and New Haven, bar none)!
It was a great experience personally seeing President Clinton and Thomas Frank speak. It was great to meet my fellow panelists, Benoit Denizet-Lewis of the New York Times Magazine and Sarah Wildman of The American Prospect and many other publications, who are showing that you can make a living writing about gay rights, Muslim-Jewish relations and other important stuff. But most of all it was great talking to the students. A guy came up to me from the University of Kentucky and said he's been reading my series and he wants to use higher education financing as a progressive wedge issue on his conservative campus, to motivate students. I think that's some awesome thinking.
PS. Shout out to my New Journal alumni (the best literary nonfiction magazine about Yale and New Haven, bar none)!
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