In the news today a study shows that 30% of students with loans are dropping out and end up with no degree and lots of debt. Here is an essay I wrote a few months back on this topic. When I hear people say that they cannot afford to go to college I just flat out do not believe them. What they may be saying is that they cannot afford to go to the college of their choice and that I can believe. In today’s America there is a college within driving distance of almost every town and kids can stay at home and go to a local school. Their parents can continue to supply room and board as they have and the child can work summers and part time and earn enough to provide for their books, tuition and fees along with enough to pay for their transportation cost. Tuition and fees run about $5,000 per year here in Minnesota. Upkeep, gas and insurance cost about $2,500 per year. Working at a fast food or equivalent place earning $8 per hour this $7,500 can be earned in about 1,000 hours. A kid can work 100 hours per week for ten weeks in the summer. I lived in Springfield, IL when I was growing up and I graduated from high school in June of 1955. At that time there was no college in the state capital of Illinois and so I had to go away to school. I worked full time and went to school part time at Miami University of Ohio and after nine years I graduated with a BS in Chemistry. There were no student loans and I was not smart enough to get a scholarship so I paid my own way, something that I am very proud of to this day. When I graduated I had a job with nine years work experience and money in the bank. Today with the student loan programs the kids graduate in four or five years but have no work experience, lots of debt and often no job. I believe these student loan programs are just one more example of the unintended consequences of good intentions. Those who believe in the government taking care of the citizens will defend this program but they often times are more interested in maintaining control over people than helping people help themselves. These loan programs were started along with many other government programs in the Great Society and as soon as they were available most colleges started to increase tuition to accommodate for the excess cash that would be forthcoming from the government. Most informed elected officials know all of this but they are not interested in changing it because it was power and control they were after and that is what this program gives them. Recent proposed changes to move these loans from the private to the public sector further increases their control.