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By John Darling For the Tidings January 07. 2015 7:49PM College debt load balloons: What could, should be done? Southern Oregon University Students work in the computer lab. Daily Tidings file photo A generation or two ago, college was an affordable investment in young people’s future, enabling them to get well-paying and plentiful jobs, pay taxes and help fund the college of the next generation.  With the trend toward tax-chopping and state disinvestment in higher education, that compact between society and young adults is gone. Students may not have money for college but they are told that, instead, they do have the years to pay off crippling debt.  By the numbers: 69 — The percent of grads from public colleges with debt. $30,000 — Average debt of grads from public universities. 165 — The percent rise in tuition cost in the last 20 years. $1 trillion, plus — The total of college debt in the U.S., doubled from 2007. $679 billion — The total credit card debt in the U.S. $783 billion — The total vehicle debt in the U.S. $37 billion — The total of Pell grants for low-income students now, up from $14.8 billion in 2002. $3,131 —  Average annual tuition for two-year colleges. $8,655 — Average annual tuition for four-year public colleges. $29,056 —  Average annual tuition, private colleges. What do you think about the enormous burden of debt on young people for college? What will this do to American society and economy? What should we do about it? Sabrina Erickson — We need cheaper tuition. It means paying more taxes so our children can have a future without debt. I went to community college for a year in California. I came here and it was a lot more expensive, so I’m reluctant to keep going. I want to study herbal medicine but the cost is discouraging my generation from going to school. We’re dumbing down our society. Anne Richards — I like the idea of what Germany is doing, paying for everyone’s college, including people visiting the country. Oregon announced an optimistic plan for free tuition a few years ago, but we didn’t hear anymore about it. It’s tragic what happened to the old compact. I went to Cal State at $43 a term. The demise of it is part of the whole fear-based right wing leaning that started with loss of middle-class jobs and people listening to Fox News. We have to learn the hard lesson that over the long run, if you pay for things, instead of always tax-cutting, you save money and give people futures, instead of them falling into the social safety net and expensive prisons. "Rabbitt" (Jane Babbitt) — It’s crazy, a backward economy. It’s punitive for people trying to better their lives and be useful members of society. My daughter is 38 and still paying off the college loan. I went to Stevens College in the '60s and escaped debt. It wasn’t prohibitive then. Higher education is a great investment and community colleges are wonderful. But people with master’s degrees are now working fast food, unable to get in and get real wages. It gets impossible to get out from under the debt. It doesn’t make much sense. I don’t know the solution. Maybe revenue from the lottery or marijuana. Young people are getting the short end of the deal for trying to do the right thing. We should value education and we don’t any more. Maja Addington — I lived in Europe and am half Swedish. I can’t help but compare us with Sweden, which is almost free, and Germany which is totally free. We have the right to educate our young. It’s crazy our young generation has to go in debt. I finished my master’s degree in psychology in 2009 and I’m $40,000 in debt. The debt is bigger than what you can earn. I don’t know the solution. We need to stand together and maybe everyone not pay the debt. We need to look at other countries. They’re making it work. We’re ruled by debt in this country. A lot of people are living off the grid to get away from it. Debt keeps the banks going, though. Who benefits? I don’t know. I don’t think it’s me. — Reach Ashland freelance writer John Darling at [email protected]. http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20150107/NEWS/150109878 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->