Category: education

Truly Investing In A College Education

Monday I wrote about a proposal in the State of Oregon to adopt an investment-style model for financing college costs at Oregon’s public universities that would allow students to attend with no up-front cost, but would require students to commit to paying a percentage of their future earnings over a number of years. In that post I highlight some concerns about how such a program would/should be structured, but don’t confuse that with thinking the program is a bad idea. In fact, it’s a proven concept–at least when the people running it have a strong incentive to make sure it works.

There is actually at least one for-profit business that provides exactly the kind of college investment funding that the Oregon proposal considers…and it has been operating for over a decade.The company (Lumni) was highlighted in a May 2011 New York Times op-ed along with a follow-up piece. Moreover, Lumni has thus far proven a financial success for students and for investors (yes, it’s an actual investment company), despite the fact that it focused primarily on investments in Latin America, where one might expect it to be more difficult to enforce long-term investment contracts, particularly of the “venture capital” type. Lumni now also offers contracts in the US.

I am not endorsing Lumni and I would caution anyone to do their homework before entering into such a contract with any company, but the longevity of the company suggests that such an investment model for college costs is not only viable, but viable for the private sector. Which may beg the question of whether a State or its universities should be trying to manage such an investment operation themselves.

An Investment Model For College Tuition

As I wrote in a previous post (here), financing college costs is best thought of as an investment in human capital: What’s the cost of college? What’s the cost of financing? What’s the expected return on investment? Does it make sense to finance so much many for such a return? Sadly, too few parents and colleges help students seriously consider those decisions–nor the consequences of choosing poorly. (Of course, it’s in the college’s best interest not to.) Consequently, college grads in the US have over $1 trillion in outstanding student loan debt–and for many, little realistic hope of getting out from under it before their own children, or grandchildren, are college-age.

The State of Oregon last week passed a proposal that could radically change the way students pay for public colleges in that state, using an investment model in the human capital students develop. It looks like it could be a great step in a helpful direction…but a step with some serious potential flaws depending on how the actual program is put together. Continue reading “An Investment Model For College Tuition”

Misguided Student Loan "Solutions"

ABC News is reporting that Congress is set to take up a student loan fix, but it’s difficult to fix a problem you have yet to define–much less understand. But when has that ever stopped Congress before?

What is the “student loan problem” to be fixed? The immediate issue is that the interest rate for new federally subsidized loans is set to double on July 1, from 3.4% to 6.8%. Republicans are offering a plan that would keep rates from going up as much in the short-term, but could potentially increase several years down the road (assuming Congress wouldn’t step in to stop it then…as they’re trying to now). Democrats, on the other hand, simply want to extend the current 3.4% rate…ostensibly for just two years, while working on a long-term fix (a familiar tune). Democrats believe that, by keeping the price of student loans artificially low, they are helping the average person or family better afford college.

And this is the point where economic reality (and the real student loan problem) is promptly ignored. Continue reading “Misguided Student Loan "Solutions"”

The Real Problem With Student Loans

Suppose you want to make an investment in a long-term asset that pays off over the next 45 years. You go to the bank and ask for a loan to pay the up-front cost of the investment with the promise to pay the funds back once the asset begins paying returns.  The bank offers to loan you the funds at an interest rate of X% that reflects the risk-adjusted cost of making the loan based on the riskiness of the asset and your likelihood of repayment.

In any normal context, you would look at the interest rate, look at the expected payoff of the investment, and determine whether or not the investment still made sense given the cost of borrowing the money. If the cost of the loan to make the investment was higher than the expected payoff, then you would either seek a cheaper loan or you would forgo the investment.

That is, unless it’s a student loan. And THAT is why we have a student debt problem. Continue reading “The Real Problem With Student Loans”