Cohort Default Rate (CDR) is the federal government's standard accountability metric for colleges. It refers to the percentage of a college's graduates from a specific year who default on their student loans. The problem is it's a super-easy test to pass: As long as fewer than 40 percent of your alumni default on their student loans within three years of entering repayment, and as long as your CDR doesn't go above 30 percent for three straight years, you're good. That's why only 11 colleges have been penalized in the last decade--even though almost 500 colleges had CDRs over 25 percent in … [Read more...] about Repayments Rates are More Telling than Default Rates
Thriving at College
Earnings Boost from Major, Not Choice of College
One of the myths I challenge in Beating the College Debt Trap is the notion that it's worth taking on significant debt to attend a prestigious university because the extra earnings you'll reap make it worth the huge price tag. Wrong. Nine times out of ten, that you go to college (and graduate) matters more than where you go to college. In fact, if future earnings were the sole criterion (not recommended), your choice of major makes a bigger difference than your choice of college. That's what a new study from the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program concluded. … [Read more...] about Earnings Boost from Major, Not Choice of College
Living With Your Parents: How to Make It Work
Boundless just published an article I wrote for them on living with parents as a young adult--the good, the bad, how to make it work. Here's the opening: So it happened. You thought you'd be on your own by now, but you're not. Whether you're trying to land a steady job, get out of debt, or finish college on the eight-year plan, if you're living with your parents as a 20-something, you're not alone. More than a third of 18 to 31 year olds are living with their parents, according to the Current Population Survey. Maybe you can't move out — and shouldn't. Your parents' health or finances are … [Read more...] about Living With Your Parents: How to Make It Work
Student debt traps parents and kids
Josh Boak's Associated Press article on the multigenerational effects of high amounts of student debt is making the rounds, and for good reason. Here's a sample of what Boak reports: … [Read more...] about Student debt traps parents and kids
When Success Leads to Failure
Jessica Lahey's new book, The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed, looks superb. It's a theme I tried to hit hard in my preparing teens for college book. An excerpt of Lahey's book recently appeared in the pages of The Atlantic. Here's an excerpt of the excerpt: The truth—for this parent and so many others—is this: Her child has sacrificed her natural curiosity and love of learning at the altar of achievement, and it’s our fault. Marianna’s parents, her teachers, society at large—we are all implicated in this crime against learning. From her … [Read more...] about When Success Leads to Failure
College is Not a Commodity
Fantastic article in the Washington Post by Hunter Rawlings, president of the Association of American Universities and a former president of Cornell University and the University of Iowa. When we talk about the value of college, it's easy to compare schools based on metrics (graduation rates, student earnings, default rates, etc.) and forget that it's the effort from individual students that makes the difference. Excerpt: Unlike a car, college requires the “buyer” to do most of the work to obtain its value. The value of a degree depends more on the student’s input than on the college’s … [Read more...] about College is Not a Commodity