Speaking as someone with a useless degree paid for in part with student loans, I hold myself responsible for the debt.

I have never missed a student loan payment. I have never blamed the government or bank for making it possible for me to go to school. Sure, it ended up being a lousy investment but that's not their fault.

For a time, I did blame the college for selling me a bad "product". I clearly remember my college advisor telling me when I graduated I would make easily $45,000 a year at my first job. That did not happen.

Today, I do not blame the school. I should have done more research into the school, the degree I was getting, and career options after graduation. I know a lot of people that feel differently, but think of it this way....

If you met a man selling magic beans, beans that would change your life (make you rich, smart, etc.), and you paid him $100,000 for those beans only to find out they were useless, who would you blame? Immediately, you might be upset at the man. Why is he defrauding people? But honestly, isn't the fault really with you? Why did you think there was a magic pill (bean) that would change your life so drastically? Did you do any research? Read any magic bean reviews?

I do believe that colleges mislead students, a lot of their advisors are as bad as used car salesmen, but at the end of the day you're responsible for your life the decisions you make. A college doesn't come up and hold you at gunpoint to force you to sign a student loan agreement.

Perhaps it's time for the government to get out of the student loan business.

If we're going to blame someone, what we need to do is look at the entire government/university collusion which has taken place over the past 60 years or so. If we look back, we see that it used to be that only a relative handful of people went to acquire higher education simply because most jobs didn't really need it. (I would also argue that the quality of education being obtained through primary education was also much better.) But then after WWII, we started seeing many universities turn from education facilities into profit centers, especially via the rise of sporting events (football). As the technology behind the sporting events increased, so have the costs that go with having a competitive team. It's not uncommon for a top-tier school in the Group of Five conferences to be paying $3-4 million per year for the coach alone for 14 (hopefully) games. I'm not going to comment as to the actual value, I just bring it up because this is a primary driver for the costs of the institution which only partially get covered by ticket sales.

Then you have a second prong and that is the government subsidization of education via grants (Pell) and student aid, which - contrary to what people actually believe - actually make higher education more expensive as has been shown in many scholarly articles.

The last piece is that businesses have bought into the notion that somehow having a bachelor's degree is now the minimum bar of entrance into the workforce - even for jobs that don't really benefit from much of the "core" mandated by University accreditation boards. I get how a degree in Accounting is beneficial for the accountants, business management for managers, and specific training for doctors and lawyers, but there are many other programs which are pretty useless. Graphic designers would be far better suited to learn by internship/apprenticeship than learning from outdated tools and old design style. All of the computer professions are a complete joke being taught at the university. (I knew more than most of my professors in my classes, but I needed that piece of paper!) I think that as an education model, we'd do well to encourage more trade schools and apprenticeship programs than to continually churn out pieces of paper. But those pieces of paper are big money to the colleges, electoral leverage for politicians, income for the banks (student loans are immune from bankruptcy proceedings), and a perceived necessity for businesses. It's a big rat race where the real cheese is kept in a room high above the fray, with only its aroma to keep us turning that little wheel.

They need to make it a priority to be sure students are seeking job specific majors. We pay for our children's college, so they can graduate and get a job. The counselors are not oriented in this way.

What a fantastic idea!!! I feel this case could actually be won in a legitimate court. Of course then everyone that ever went to college would file suit to get on the bandwagon.

I like the idea of imposing a sliding scale of justifiable loan amounts tied to the demonstrated pay scale for the profession associated with a particular degree. Medical, business, and STEM degrees would permit the larger student loans, with education next. Social justice education would be at the bottom of the pile.

I went to college long before the government got into the student loan scam business. When I went, you paid as you went and I used a mixture of saved money from a variety of jobs, money my grandparents gave me and housing provided by my aunt and uncle. You went to school until you graduated or the money ran out. I fell into the latter category and dropped out after 4 semesters due to lack of funds. Many lifetimes later, I finished my degree courtesy of the United States Navy and it's College Afloat and Overseas programs. I also had an accomplished career in the military that has given me lots of good and bad memories. So, I now have 2 degrees, not worth much and work only part time repairing the machines we use all the time but it pays the bills. I guess I got what I wanted, a career that will never go away because somebody has to repair the machines that replace the workers.

Let's see, who is responsible for the changes in student loan funding back in 2004/2008? Certainly not the colleges and universities because they provide a service that those loans are used towards. Perhaps our government's decision to overstep their boundaries and legislate to make college "affordable" for everyone is the real problem here. Its great to want everyone to go to college, but bottom line, when the government tries to get involved instead of letting the market place take its natural course, you get useless degrees as a result of useless money being thrown around like it grows on trees...I'm sure uncle sam is still funding projects (and grants) towards this end as well.