The University and Debt: Thinking About Neocolonialism in the United States
NOVANEWS
By Paddy O'Halloran
(Image: Jared Rodriguez / Truthout)
The long-term experience for most university students in the United States is, arguably, less about learning than about debt. In the United States, total student debt in 2017 stands at $1.4 trillion. According to Bloomberg, 1 million former students default on their government loans each year. Yet the Trump administration and Department of Education headed by Betsy DeVos, move to weaken protections for student borrowers and support federal funding for the for-profit college industry, notorious for sinking students in debt. While many acknowledge student debt constitutes a crisis, no militant mass movement as seen in Germany, Chile or South Africa has emerged in the United States to challenge the deepening financial bur...