FutureU hosts Jeff Selingo and Michael Horn discuss the rising costs in higher education and the loan forgiveness programs that seek to address the symptoms of the phenomenon. They are joined by William Troutt, former chair of the National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education, and Harvard University President Susan Dynarski, two veterans of the college cost debate
“You look, the overwhelming majority of college and universities really are struggling with this question of cost and haven’t found a way to rethink their offerings in a more cost-effective way,” Troutt said. Dynarski draws an even starker picture, linking rising costs, student borrowing and the Great Recession. “People borrowed to go to community college to retrain after they had lost a job, and then, often typically without a degree, exited into a historically bad labor market and defaulted pretty quickly on the loans that they had acquired.”