TEXAS, USA — $1.7 trillion dollars – that’s how much student loan debt there is in the United Sates. About 40% of loans are either behind or defaulted, according to the Brookings Institute.
It’s why canceling student debt is a polarizing topic. And one reason Dan Hooper, founder of ScholarShot, wrote a book warning people about systemic issues in Texas' education system.
Armed with the state's own data from the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board along with a hard dose of reality, Hooper says people can protect kids from what he calls the student debt trap.
"If you just go through the system, the way the system is designed, it’s going to chew you up and spit you out and the system will say it’s not our fault," says Dan Hooper.
Dan Hooper is a numbers guy, but he has a way with words!
He left a consulting firm to start ScholarShot, a non-profit helping first-generation college students earn a degree.
"Today, a high school diploma alone is a ticket to poverty and our state does a terrible job transferring kids from a high school diploma to whatever that ticket out of poverty is," says Hooper.
Hooper says it’s a lack of understanding, what’s best for the school rather than what’s best for the student.
"Our universities don’t care whether kids make it or not. Glad to enroll you, happy to take your grants and your loans but they will say, and we’ve heard this numerous times, we are not responsible for the financial or academic outcomes of our students," says Hooper.
What are the outcomes?
- The average debt per degree in the state of Texas is $45,000
- 9 out of 10 at-risk students who get into college will drop out – dropouts have around $17,000 in debt
"They enroll the kids and really treat them like ATM machines and it’s by in large not the fault of our students when they drop out, it’s the system," says Hooper.
Hooper says a shift in the way everyone views college can change the system:
- Celebrate Vocational Certificates – 54% of Texas high school seniors pursue nothing after graduation
- Don’t let well-meaning high school counselors and teachers push you or your student to attend a “shiny object school”. SAT & ACT test scores gathered annually indicate only 24% of high school graduates are ready for a four-year college.
- You don’t need to take on debt to pursue an associate degree or vocational certificate – most students who attend community college qualify for grants.
"It’s a tragic set up, it’s not the kids’ fault, its’ the system again making the system feel good, look good but at the expense of the kids," says Hooper.
ScholarShot’s program has reversed the state’s outcome – 9 out of 10 Scholars earn a degree with their average debt at or lower than fifteen hundred dollars.
You can find his book, 'Fleece U, How American Universities are Robbing our Kids & our Future' on Amazon.
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