How to Fix Higher Education in a Few Steps

Here's my Modest Proposal to fix higher education in a few straight-forward steps if I were in charge of things.

First I'd change the tax laws so that if your household income is less than double the poverty line ($30,120 for single households and $40,580 for two-person households) then you would not be subject to Federal taxes. AND if your income level is below this 3-years or more after leaving college then you'd be allowed to declare bankruptcy including any student debt. Right now student debt is exempt from bankruptcy laws and that's not right.

I'd make the change effective immediately and the Federal Government would take the hit for any student debt that has to be written off now. If a person isn't making double the poverty line 3-years after attending college making that person pay off student debt on an education that didn't "work" just exacerbates the problem. Going forward from this year's freshman class onward - the risk of the default would be on the college. And the college ONLY!

The college or university knows that a Gender Studies degree is almost worthless in the marketplace. Why make that budding Starbucks barista pay off hundreds of thousands of dollars in student debt when the college snookered them into taking the loans in the first place? The college would then become more judicious about what degrees they offer and what students they admit.

Second I'd sign an order saying that for all Federal jobs four years of military service with an honorable discharge is now equivalent to a liberal arts degree. And for any open jobs or promotions the person with military experience is to be given preference.

Finally I'd change the tax exempt status of college sports. I would tax all revenue from college sports the same as any other business. I would then take that revenue and divide it into two equal buckets. The first bucket would go towards funding ongoing GI Bill expenses. The second bucket would go to help fund local libraries when true education and intellectual curiosity is often born.

These three steps wouldn't fix all the problems with higher education in the US but I think it would help put higher ed back on the right track.