Could the College Debt issue create a future brain drain?

[JPnoodleman]

I had a most, well dire, thought recently.

With the crippling nature of Student Loan Debt, and the practical reality that the United States NEEDS educated young people, what might become of the country should we fail to really solve this? Okay, fullstop, no debt forgiveness, no free college, ect.

Would not this create financial pressure to just simply leave the country and never return to avoid paying it back? Thus a brain drain, and a youth drain as students seek out greener pastures in other countries leaving us with a remarkably older population and only young ill educated workers left.

[pugetres]

1. Why would

we need college education for our working class when we have H1-B visas?

/sarc

[JPnoodleman]

3. Imports may work for a time,

But as the brain drain flees elsewhere the lot of other States may rise by an influx of educated idea people.

If today Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Bolivia could import a highly skilled workforce that America basically doesn't want? Well Eh, so be it.

[Bigmack]

2. When I think of the talent....

...academic and mechanical... that our system wastes, I get sooo pissed.

Our young minds are our greatest national resource, and we're ignoring them, if not destroying them.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

10. Same with a lot of older people.

A whole lot of us Baby Boomers got very good college educations. We were the most educated generation in history. A lot of us went to grad school. But we got thrown away out of the job market for being "too expensive" because the cheap bastards didn't want to pay us what we were worth. And also if we were brighter than the boss, we might make them look bad or confront them.

I got a BA and a JD that were in supposedly employable fields that didn't even get me a job interview. So before people rant about useless liberal arts degrees, my BA was in biology which is STEM, not liberal arts or fine arts.
A lot of times I would leave the doctorate off my resume because it would make my chances of getting a job worse. For a long time people were spreading the idea that "If you get a Juris Doctor or an MBA you are sure to get a job." Nope.

My husband has two physics degrees. Physics is supposed to be a highly paid career. He didn't make the kind of money that is alleged to be made today. I don't know where they come up with their figures. Of course the idiots in Congress stopped funding the Supercollider in Waxahachie that would have employed a whole lot of physicists. So instead the smart young people went to CERN in Switzerland.

I guess the idiots in Congress didn't understand that funding science projects in Texas spreads around the wealth and creates wealthy communities. There's one south of Houston around NASA Mission Control that includes several towns. Webster, Friendswood, and Clear Lake City. Mission Control ended up in Texas due to the influence of Senator Lyndon Johnson, Sam Rayburn(Speaker of the House) and Albert Thomas in Congress.


Not using the brains of young people, or middle aged people, or older people, is common. I got a college education without incurring a lot of debt because college was a lot cheaper when I went. My vocational school associate's degree was the only one that got me a job and a career. It's really discouraging because I LOVED school, loved reading and learning, and that's why I was a college bum. I've been retired a number of years. Job hunting absolutely destroyed me emotionally. I felt like there was a brick wall between potential employers and me telling them what I could do for them. I'd worked around lawyers my entire life. They just didn't seem to listen. Probably because there are too many law schools cranking out too many graduates.

[truebluegreen]

4. Of course.

In a way, that is what it is designed to do: as the late great Molly Ivins said, the rich don't want your kids educated, they want them trained.

It is clear to see in the present situation, let alone the future.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

5. the demograpic bomb in other advanced countries is going to create a brain drain

Immigration and professionally speaking, the barriers to entry for Americans working abroad are few.

I don't think very many people are going to be inspired by Philip Nolan over student debts though.

[Orrex]

6. I don't think so.

It's just that those smug assholes who can't stop scolding people for failing to be debt-free are lowering our overall intelligence.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. It already is imho

especially since a few countries, like Germany, are going, come over, get an education.

[xocet]

9. Germany is a wonderful place to go for that, but students from the US might not be adequately...

prepared for the German university system depending on the field of study that is to be undertaken.

[AZ Progressive]

13. Its easier IF you already have a degree, and have a degree in a field that has a shortage of workers

Seems that there are only four ways to immigrate to an industrialized nation: be rich, find someone (at least middle class) that will marry you, work for a multinational corporation that will be able to transfer you there, or get a college degree in a field that has a shortage of workers (and thus get employed.) Canada and Australia allow you to get in if you are a highly skilled worker, but there's a long waiting list (last that I read.)

[JI7]

11. brain drain usually refers to certain areas of study, not just any and all college degrees

[Califonz]

12. There exist universities in Europe that conduct classes in English

I've not done a cost-benefit analysis, but it's gotta be cheaper than $40,000/year at some obscure private school in the US.

[angrychair]

14. Well, based on my OP today

I guess, as far as HRC supporters are concerned, we should shutup, realize our lot in life, learn a manual labor job like ditch digging and just let the rich and elite, the people that can actually afford to go to school, take care of all the important stuff.

Here is my post from earlier today. If none of you have read or actually posted on it, it is an eye-opening insight into what HRC supporters really think of poor people:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511149336

[Flying Squirrel]

15. Or they just skip college

I told my daughter to avoid student loans at all costs and just be a part time student. At that rate it'll take a very long time to get any kind of degree but at least she won't be in debt for the rest of her life.

[Igel]

16. Sure.

Then again, college debt isn't what it's sold as. (And I use the words "sold as" intentionally" here.)

The numbers spouted are real, but need context. Often they're overall debt for certain classes of colleges, and that includes medical and legal school debt, grad school debt, not just undergrad debt.

It includes wise debt and foolish debt. That means it's the kids who take out every cent of loan money they can when they don't need to. I went through my undergrad days going out once a month; in grad school, living on cheap cheese and beans and taking the bus or just biking, no car. Most undergrads had cars and insurance, went out a couple of nights a week, refreshed their wardrobes seriously every fall, etc. Most of those expenses could be covered to a great extent by loans, but I refused loans I didn't need for survival, books, and school.

It includes debt for 6-year art history and film majors and 4 year engineering majors.

It includes debt for expensive schools and for cheaper schools.

It includes debt for those who graduate magna cum laude and those who scrape by with Ds until they finally max out their brains as seniors and drop out.

It includes debt for those working when they can and those who intern in the summer, take junior year abroad, and who socialize during non-class time instead of work or study. Given that the # of hours studying at college has plummeted but the # of hours working hasn't increased, the result is less income and more of an excuse to spend money.

There are exceptions, the stuff of anecdotes. A friend back in the '70s worked, saved his loan money, invested it, and had a decent amount of interest at the end to put towards buying a new car. He paid off the loan debt in full before the first payment was required because he banked the loan money. A friend in grad school in the '90s bought a new car and a condo; his RAship paid him more than enough so he, too, just collected interest on loans. Loan requirements have tightened, to be sure, but more and more is covered by them so often those requirements miss the mark.

[Sam_Fields]

17. In most countries the debt in the USA can be enforced by their courts.