**Previously Recorded by Phyllis Schlafly, 6-2-16**
When I worked my way through college in the 1940s, tuition was about $250 a year. My children’s tuition was nearly $2,500 a year, and my grandchildren’s college tuition each cost between $20,000 and $40,000 a year. College is has become so expensive that, according to a Gallup survey, only about half of today’s graduates think their degree was worth the cost. The more debt the student incurs, the more likely he is to doubt that he received his money’s worth.
The total amount of student debt in the United States is a staggering $1.2 trillion, which exceeds even the annual discretionary spending of the entire United States government, including military spending. College debt burdens more than 40 million Americans, and more than 4 million are in default on their student loans. Student loan debt is now more than 50% higher than the total credit card debt held by American consumers. Many students are saddled with more than $50,000 in debt, and they don’t have any good job prospects to help them pay down that debt.
Students can pursue good majors in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), but even then the future is bleak. Employers use foreign labor in those fields, exploiting the H- lB visa and other programs to hire workers who are bound to employers like indentured servants, and more profitable than American college graduates. Large health systems such as the Mayo Clinic are bringing in foreigners to practice medicine in the United States. Minnesota reportedly has more than 400 immigrant physicians who are not yet licensed to practice medicine, but plan to be. There’s a shortage of good residency programs for Americans who graduate from medical school, but then are unable to get the training necessary to start their careers. Yet employers are bringing in foreigners to fill those residency positions.
