How America's student debt problem has led to a shortage of teachers

The country’s crushing student loan debt has been dominating education news — from the campaign trail to the recent resignation of a Trump administration senior student-loan official who called the student-loan system “fundamentally broken,” to the recent contempt of civil court charge against U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the Education Department for collecting loan payments from thousands of students defrauded by for-profit colleges.
There’s good reason for the widespread concern — U.S. student debt has roughly tripled since 2006, and about 43 million student loan borrowers carry a debt burden of more than $1.6 trillion. Even as higher education is increasingly essential in our new global economy, college costs more each year. And college graduates take their loan debt into consideration when they decide on what professions to pursue. Until the country addresses the cost of higher education and the burden of student loan debt, we will continue to see shortages of well-prepared professionals in key public sectors that pay less than many private sector jobs.
Teaching is one of those sectors. The profession—which has struggled with deep shortages in recent years—has been hit hard by the high cost of education, with more than two thirds of those who choose to go into education taking on an average debt of about $20,000 for a bachelor’s degree and $50,000 for a master’s degree. This debt load is especially problematic since teachers, on-average, make 30% less than peers with similar degrees and even less if they choose to work in poorly resourced, high-need communities.

Maddog wrote:And now the question is, "why is college so much more expensive than it used to be?"

Ben Reilly wrote:

Maddog wrote:And now the question is, "why is college so much more expensive than it used to be?"

I'm sure you have a rights-respecting theory as to why.

Maddog wrote:

Ben Reilly wrote:
I'm sure you have a rights-respecting theory as to why.

I have a reason based on sound economic reasoning.

1. Higher demand. There has been a push during the past 30 years to get everyone into college, even if they have no business being there. Higher demand for a good or service increases the price.

2. Subsidies. The amount of grants and loans available have expanded exponentially. Subsidies almost always increase prices.

These two factors working together is what has made higher education cost far more now, than when I was a student.

Problem is, politicians are not fans of economics. They prefer comforting lies to their constituents to keep getting reelected.

And expecting a majority of voters to do their own research on such matters is a pipe dream.  

Ben Reilly wrote:

The country’s crushing student loan debt has been dominating education news — from the campaign trail to the recent resignation of a Trump administration senior student-loan official who called the student-loan system “fundamentally broken,” to the recent contempt of civil court charge against U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the Education Department for collecting loan payments from thousands of students defrauded by for-profit colleges.
There’s good reason for the widespread concern — U.S. student debt has roughly tripled since 2006, and about 43 million student loan borrowers carry a debt burden of more than $1.6 trillion. Even as higher education is increasingly essential in our new global economy, college costs more each year. And college graduates take their loan debt into consideration when they decide on what professions to pursue. Until the country addresses the cost of higher education and the burden of student loan debt, we will continue to see shortages of well-prepared professionals in key public sectors that pay less than many private sector jobs.
Teaching is one of those sectors. The profession—which has struggled with deep shortages in recent years—has been hit hard by the high cost of education, with more than two thirds of those who choose to go into education taking on an average debt of about $20,000 for a bachelor’s degree and $50,000 for a master’s degree. This debt load is especially problematic since teachers, on-average, make 30% less than peers with similar degrees and even less if they choose to work in poorly resourced, high-need communities.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lindadarlinghammond/2019/11/17/burdensome-student-loan-debt-is-contributing-to-the-countrys-teacher-shortage-crisis/
The TL/DR on this one is that in America, higher education is so expensive that people go into a great amount of debt to afford it, and they don't pick lower-paying jobs like teaching because they want to be able to afford their loan payments -- which is pretty sad.
Thanks to edds for finding this one.

Ben Reilly wrote:

Maddog wrote:And now the question is, "why is college so much more expensive than it used to be?"

I'm sure you have a rights-respecting theory as to why.