The cost of a college education has increased exponentially over the last 30 years thanks to easy college loans, increased grants, and the housing bubble.

With only 40% of student debt being actively paid back, this problem is growing worse quickly. Bankruptcy laws need to be changed immediately. Banks and colleges would drastically scale back lending, which is a good thing. College demand would drop, and colleges would be forced to live within realistic means again.

The American Dream has become buying it all today and paying for it tomorrow…with interest. Houses, cars, clothes, college education. The average household spends thousands on interest every year. No wonder the financiers are getting richer!

Is there really no other way for an accredited university to educate people without the overhead and costs which make $30,000 a year the “minimum cost”? What if student loans were no longer enabled, and people had to save up and pay cash? Isn’t it possible that new institutional forms would arise to meet the demand for education which isn’t funded by loans?

Not surprisingly, Generations X and Y are getting themselves into huge financial trouble. Our public schools must step up to give our kids a practical, real-world financial education if America’s cycle of financial illiteracy is to be broken.