Most PA. state-owned universities seeing drops in enrollment, including 12% at Kutztown

[JPZenger]

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=515881

The only two state-owned universities that are still growing - West Chester and Bloomsburg - attract many out of state students.

State budget cuts resulted in tuition increases, layoffs and program cuts. For some of these universities, another severe round of layoffs is now happening.

[ebbie15644]

1. kids and their parents can't afford it anymore.

I was noticing this a couple of years ago when I was career planning for teenagers in high school. It seems out of reach for them anymore.

[Hestia]

2. It's happened in Ark. too - all colleges, even 2 year, are down 10-14%. If it cost almost as much to

go to a 2 year college as it does to go to a state college, something needs to change. People aren't willing to take on that much debt anymore and you sure as hell don't know how much it will cost, i.e. this summer with the GOP jerking students around on the interest rate.

It's not really a loan if you can't shop around and transfer the balance to a lesser interest rate, that you cannot discharge in bankruptcy and are on the hook for double the tuition in interest payments - call it what it is - eternal servitude to debt.

An in-law has been pay for 20 years on her 2 year college tuition because the loan program she went with keeps hiking up her interest rate - she will never be out from under it and is now working 2 jobs just to be able to keep her own apt. She does not qualify for the new program that extinguishes debt after 10 years because she has been paying too long on her loan. The weekly newspaper here even featured her in one of their issues re: student loan debt. Extremely sad story that too many young people are living under now.

[Curmudgeoness]

3. Eternal servitude to debt.

That hits the nail on the head.