We Don't Need No Education

Former Education Secretary, and current "folksy" Senator, Lamar Alexander warns of a new government takeover - of the student loan industry. As usual with these things, the numbers are on his side, but no one will care: Why Make The Government the Prime Source for Student Loans?

Here is what the administration and congressional Democrats have told us about this latest attempt: Starting in July, all 19 million students who want government-backed loans will line up at offices designated by the U.S. Education Department. Gone will be the days when students and their colleges picked the lender that best fit their needs; instead, a federal bureaucrat will make that choice for every student in America based on still-unclear guidelines. They say that this will save taxpayers up to $87 billion in subsidies that now go to "greedy" banks. In gleeful anticipation, members of Congress have lined up to spend those billions on Pell Grants and almost a dozen other programs. Banks are punished. Students are helped. Members of Congress look good.

Here is what they haven't told us: The Education Department will borrow money at 2.8 percent from the Treasury, lend it to you at 6.8 percent and spend the difference on new programs. So you'll work longer to pay off your student loan to help pay for someone else's education -- and to help your U.S. representative's reelection.

Those are good points, but you have to wonder if there are enough practical minded adults in the United States for whom that would be a compelling argument. Certainly the young adults cannot grasp the concept that they will ultimately pay for their "low cost" loans. Even a lot of parents would not want to give up "low cost" college loans from the government. Rhetorically, at least, it's easy enough to waive aside Alexander's numbers with any one of many blithe assurances. Conservatives never win these arguments because the default argument is always the same: crocodile tears over "lost opportunity" (I coulda been somebody, if only I'd been to college!) and media stories about GOP heartlessness. Not fair, I agree, but that's where we are.