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Last year, a deal was struck by the Congress to stop doubling of Stafford Loan interest rates from 3.4 to 6.8 per cent. This increase has been effectively stalled for another year. Students across the country rejoiced at this.

So many of our graduates are now threatened by the crushing student loan debt and this step by Congress is seen as a positive step towards lowering the cost of higher education. This bipartisan compromise was praised by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

When you look at it closely however, it seems not to be a long term solution but a short term fix for a temporary problem. Any effective, long term reforms must necessarily be accompanied by painful reforms in the system.

Traditionally, Americans have always believed that the golden ticket to the American Dream is to get an accredited university’s bachelor’s degree. It is for this very purpose that post-secondary academic degree of some kind is pursued by at least 70% of high school graduates.

In spite of this positive aspect, an alarming number of students are dropping out of colleges. Experts explain this phenomenon in simple language. Only fifty eight students out of every hundred students attending college graduate and out of those only thirty eight of them use their degrees to find jobs in relevant fields.

Of late, college degrees are earned by graduates who do not use them in spite of taking out thousands of dollars loan to pay for them. The direction in which the labor market is moving is now unpredictable. There is no demand for degrees we use from the economy.

This is evident with the labor bureau statistics that shows that by the end of this decade, jobs that require four year or more bachelor’s degrees will be 3 out of 30. The push for universal enrolment by the Obama administration thus seems to be a wrong decision. 

Policies are being publicly pursued by the White House to produce the highest number of graduates by 2020. Through this initiative, we are doing more harm than good. Administrative costs are going up and millions of Americans are finding college education increasingly inaccessible.

As compared to 1982, there has been a 475% increase in college costs says the Heritage Foundation. Price tag of colleges is hugely inflated and it is time Americans are seriously told to consider whether it is worth investing money and time in college education for certain careers.

Peter Thiel, the innovator was praised by Bill Glod, an Institute for Humane Studies mentor and researcher. He says that Peter Thiel has always advocated that industrious and hard-working Americans do not benefit from college education. They would rather start making money immediately after completing high school.

He encourages his idea by giving young Americans the eponymous fellowship. A one-time $100,000 check is given every year to 20 people under the age of 20. Using this money, they are encouraged to start their own business.

In today’s situation, personal economic success does not depend on college education. Before it is too late, we hope at least our next generation figures this out.