In America it has always been an article of faith that one should get a college degree. I have said for a decade that, due to liberal professors and a lack of competition or cost controls, traditional college no longer represents the value proposition it once did. Higher education charges tuition at twice the rate of inflation and is not responsible for the products it produces. Colleges are essentially a government monopoly. But since they are government, overseen by government, government lets them get away with little accountability.

As a result of the lack of cost controls and government now monopolizing student loan lending, $1.6 trillion in student loan debt is outstanding. That is about 40 thousand dollars for each sucker…uh, I mean student.

Biden and Kamala tried to pander to the young saps with the debt by pretending they were going to forgive it. What a great life lesson: not being responsible for what you borrow. It was simple. In the woke Biden world, if the gender of your car loan identified as a student loan, then you might own your Nisson Versa free and clear.

Predictably, the courts said Biden couldn’t do that after the election. But for those who borrowed money under Joe Biden, it’s not a bad idea. Generally speaking, you would do well to borrow long-term from someone with Alzheimer’s disease.

It is good that Biden did not get this done; forgiving debt for some slackers would insult anyone who paid off his or her college debt — or did not take on any — and got a real job.

The woke education system has gone unchecked for too long.

Now Senator Liz (“Pocahantas”) Warren taught one class at Harvard. She thinks it is necessary to fund half-million-dollar salaries for professors; otherwise, who would teach kids that greed and wealth are evil?

When I got out of grad school in 1983, college cost $10,000. I worked two part-time jobs and paid for my college. Since then, the cost of college has increased more than twice the rate of inflation (6.9 percent versus 2.9 percent for CPI) and now costs, on average, about $70,000. It would be only $23,000 had colleges kept their costs in line with inflation.

For the last ten years, hospital service costs are up 68 percent and college tuition and fees 73.2 percent. Obviously, where government sticks its nose, it costs us more. By comparison, free-market items like TVs are down 74 percent in cost and toys are down 37 percent over the same period.

If colleges and teachers really “cared about the students and education,” they would keep their costs reasonable and better prepare their graduates. Do not blindly fall for it.

We don’t need another Gender Studies major from UT Martin with $130k in student loans. Apply the basic tenets of economics so children aren’t tenants in their parents’ basements.

Young people are disillusioned. They cannot afford to buy a house, get married or have kids. For many of this lost generation, student loan debt is the only thing in their lives that has truly committed to them long-term. Relationships have come and gone, plants have withered under their care, and even gym memberships quietly expired without protest— but their student loans? For life. Not dischargeable in bankruptcy.

Government reigns in other monopolies. Most recently, Ticketmaster was convicted of monopoly practices. The judge fined the ticket broker $10 million. It turned out that Ticketmaster, after reading the fine print, only had to pay $ 54. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office admitted it made a mistake by booking the court date through Ticketmaster.

The lesson I tell kids: the government is like the Mafia without the predictability. It likes to wet its beak in all the vices: Drugs/FDA; Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; Gambling/ The Lottery; the protection business/FBI Deep State. And no Mafioso portfolio would be complete without loan sharking, a.k.a. student loans. They sign up kids at 18 for lifelong debt. At that age a kid would finance a tattoo.

So, rethink college. Do trade schools, community college, start a business, buy a house. Read Beowulf on your own; you don’t need to pay a hairy-legged, Birkenstock-wearing, tenured professor to give you her interpretation.

And if you need grounding and community, learn about Jesus at church. It will counterbalance what you were taught in college, that Jesus was black, a social worker, from Africa, and a woman.

A libertarian op-ed humorist and award-winning author, Ron does radio and TV commentary. He can be contacted at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on X.