Student loans

A friend is struggling to send his son to college. I told him that the son bears some responsibility too. "Back in the day," I told him, "students held part-time or full-time jobs so they wouldn't have to borrow (or ask their parents for) the entire cost of school."

In yesterday's Times, Gail Collins explained the birds and the bees to me:

There was a time when kids whose parents couldn’t afford to pay for college just worked their way through. But the price has gone up so fast — more than twice as fast as inflation over the last two decades — that it’s not an option any more, unless the student in question is planning to be a sophomore through 2020, or is exploring the possibility of part-time employment in armed robbery.
Op-Ed Columnist - When Sallie Met Barack - NYTimes.com

She also asks "Does anybody find it strange that Congress is patting itself on the back for passing a law that protects college students from being offered credit cards, while they’re encouraged to commit themselves to tens of thousands of dollars in education debt?"