Let colleges raise tuition all they want. We only need access to a free online university. Then they will have to become more competitive with their services and prices! I do not need to attend Harvard and sit at a nice oak desk with that best accommodations our nation can or can’t afford. All I need is the access to the information required for any degree program and public space to do the skills testing and lab work.

Take Obama’s $4000.00 college tuition and buy a nice computer and save the rest for broad ban connection for the number of years you need. Then demand that we build a free online university for all not just the lucky few who get the grants, loans etc and can afford time away from their family and employers. We should not have to expect everyone to run their precious family life around a desperate series of student loan obligations and more begging at the feet of the university system.

Our nation can put together the best minds and give us all everything we need at a fraction of the 850 billion we currently spend sending people to schools.
 

SURELY WE CAN DO BETTER THAN THIS!

 

If we want to consider Democracy to mean more
than just another means of exclusion not inclusion,
we make education available for all!

Uncle Sam owes me nothing but access that is technologically possible today. I can show the government that I do not need someone to hold my hand all the way through my learning experiences.

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Much like the problems recently experienced by mortgage holders, the same type of crisis may soon occur once current students go into repayment on their long-deferred student loans. Predatory lending practices for student loans are just as widespread as for mortgages; however, this market has yet to get the attention it deserves. Many students had no choice but to take the loans to finish school but with a weak job market once these loans go into repayment upon graduation many students may have no source of income to repay the loans, or the payments may simply be too high. A program to consolidate private education loans into one, low-cost, loan along with federal student loans should be made available and allow for flexible repayment terms that are based upon level of income and overall debt. A custom tailored repayment plan should be permitted on a per-student basis allowing for graduated repayment of both federal and private loans as students progress through their careers. 

The payout for a highschool student is almost the same for a four year degree student over the life time-this is a sin:

Artical is here:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/CutCollegeCosts/IsCollegeWorthTheMoney.aspx

By limiting the cost of student loans we make them more unavailiable.  We must instead focus on lowering the cost of school and the availiability of work.  

I agree with kcolagio plan. It would make sense to have a government loan system for higher education. We invest billions of dollars into wasteful systems, there's no way this money could be as poorly allocated as those.

The entire private loan system is, essentially, a scam. This is not a service that needs to be provided by the private sector. Surely, it's in the national interest to have a highly-educated workforce.

This program, in context, would cost the government very little and grant a great return. An entire generation of college students are already or will be crippled with large student loans and underemployment.

My most immediate concern with its imlpementation is that colleges would then have no incentive to keep cost down. However, if the government loan system became the 800-ponid gorilla in the room, it wouldn't necessarily need to regulate to keep the costs within reason. Education, particularly at small liberal arts colleges, is expensive by its very nature. They shouldn't be undercut. However, what's more important is that we invest in the future of the young people in this country. There are plenty of programs that exist already that ignore the costs because they exist out of necessity. This is another one of those situations.

One of the more ridiculous parts of paying back student loans these days is that many recent graduates (myself included) have three or four separate agencies holding our loans. (The repayment of Subsidized Stafford,  Unsubsidized Stafford, and Perkins loans is seperate and many students have some of each) As intrest rates drop, students considering going into graduate school at some point are discouraged from consolidating undergraduate loans because consolidation forfeits the rights to defer loans upon re-enrollment.

It would be a relief on current students and recent graduates to be able to consolidate loans to newer, lower interest rates without losing the benefits of the original federal student loan programs.

A free Online University available to all will bring the University system in line with the needs of Americans. But the biggest need is to ensure everyone has access regardless of ability to take the 150 thousand dollar loans to get the good paying jobs.

We have a situation where education in America is a "Pay-to-Play" system that only allows the privileged the access to high paying jobs. Yea some make it through-with much effort, but this is not what should be expected in a Real Democratic Society.

A free Online University can give everyone access at anytime in their lives to a future that they can have and the only requirement is that they work for it.
 

American do not need to play the "rat race" with student loans and grants.

A free online university is possible with only 40 - 80 million which is nothing compared to the 850 billion our government gives our educational system every year and this does not include the 100 thousand we pay as families.
 

In all a free Online University will bring Real Democracy to America
by giving everyone the opportunity to strive towards their career goals.

See my post:
http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/ideas/viewIdea.apexp?id=087800000004loz

I agree. I went to a private university for 4 years and have almost $50,000 worth of student loan debt. I can't even pay my student loan payment because I don't make enough to pay the minimum payment. I received scholarships but those did not keep up with the increasing amounts of student loans. I was considered an dependent and that lowered the amount of financial aid that I received because of my mom's income and she never put a dime towards my education. At this rate, I will never be able to see the light of day. I went to school to get a better job and that hasn't happened and now I am an educated debtor who wants to be able to pay off the student loans. Why is the minimum payment for student loans not consistent with what you actually have as your income? They create your payment based on some calculator that doesn't keep up with the real world economics. Why can't the United States provide free education like other countries?  Why are their qualified candidates for jobs walking around with PHDs who can't find a job and are burdened by their student loans? Please help with the burden of student loans for myself and others.

Over a trillion dollars has been spent to bail out rich owners of banks that rightfully deserved to be taken over by the FDIC for their gambling-induced insolvency.  The money we have spent on banks far exceeds their value (as evidenced by plummeting stock prices), and we will never see most of this money again.  If we can lose half a trillion to prop of wall street, the we can afford to inact Student Loan Debt Forgiveness.

An investment !