More on Student Loans

In his syndicated column, Jacob Sullum runs through the arguments against student loans and the unintended effects they may have on education costs.

A story in today's Washington Times does a bit more of the math: If the Dems manage to pass a law cutting interest rates on need-based loans from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent, "It ultimately would save the average student borrower about $4,400 over the life of a loan." Recall that college grads on average make $1 million more over their lifetimes than high school grads.

The cost of the program, which would be phased in slowly until 2011? The Dems say "$5.85 billion over five years. The National Taxpayers Union said the original version from last year would have cost $37 billion." It's not clear what NTU estimates the current version will cost.

Last year, Kerry Howley looked at the panic over Generation Debt and concluded that college kids with $20,000 to pay off in loans were likely to do pretty well after all.