{"id":3886,"date":"2026-07-07T07:06:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T07:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3886"},"modified":"2026-07-07T07:06:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T07:06:51","slug":"the-government-is-pulling-student-loan-money-from-worthless-college-degree-programs-and-its-about-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3886","title":{"rendered":"The government is pulling student loan money from worthless college degree programs \u2014 and it’s about time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Students will no longer be able to take out federal loans to pay for degree programs that fail to provide them a return on investment, thanks to a new federal policy that went into effect on July 1.<\/p>\n

Read more Belgium does Donald Trump dance goal celebration during embarrassing USA World Cup rout<\/a><\/p>\n

And it\u2019s about time.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a response to a shocking fact: Graduates of more than 800 college programs across the country \u2014\u00a0including at institutions like the University of South California and New York City\u2019s New School \u2014 make less than the average high-school grad four years after getting a degree, despite all that time, effort and tuition money.<\/p>\n

Now the American government will have no part in propping up degree programs that may not even lead to a livable wage. A provision of the Big Beautiful Bill cuts them off from federal aid access if they can\u2019t break the non-grad salary baseline.<\/p>\n

Programs that fail the test for two out of three consecutive years will no longer be able to bury kids in debt \u2014 at least not on the taxpayer\u2019s dime.<\/p>\n

These Big Beautiful Bill revisions represent \u201cthe biggest set of changes to financial aid in decades,\u201d according to Robert Kelchen, head of the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. And change is much needed. <\/p>\n

Teens and twentysomethings should be protected by the federal government from making a catastrophic financial decision, like taking on debt to finance a degree that ultimately could decrease<\/em> their earnings potential. But until now the government has been enabling those decisions by underwriting loans without regard to the value of the investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes complete sense from a student perspective and also from a taxpayer perspective [to stop giving] money to programs that leave students financially worse off,\u201d Michael Itzkowitz, president of the HEAGroup, said.<\/p>\n

The HEA Group, a policy organization focused on higher education and economic mobility, used Education Department data to compare average graduate earnings from some 32,000 bachelor degree programs around the country with average high school graduate wages in the same states.<\/p>\n

According to the findings, 804 programs \u2014 2% of all undergraduate programs which graduate 40,000 students annually \u2014 were flagged as potentially failing the new policy changes, including several at high-profile universities.<\/p>\n

Graduates with music degrees from the University of Southern California, Juilliard and the New School earned less on average four years after graduation than high school graduates \u2014 making $34,124, $32,842 and $32,930, respectively.<\/p>\n

Graduates of the Fine and Studio Arts program at New York City\u2019s Cooper Union pulled in just $24,920 on average four years out, and students with degrees in Liberal Arts as well as Fine and Studio Arts from Bard College made slightly below the typical high school grad, at $34,571 and $34,667, respectively.<\/p>\n

Read more Folarin Balogun goes out with a whimper for USMNT in World Cup loss after red card controversy<\/a><\/p>\n

The Post reached out to these schools for comment. <\/p>\n

Mark Kantrowitz, author of \u201cHow to Appeal for More College Financial Aid,\u201d says that we can expect to \u201csee some chaos resulting from\u201d these new changes. The Department of Education will analyze tax records from the Treasury Department to calculate the return on investment for students by school and program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe may see some colleges discontinuing some of their programs when they see significant shifts in enrollment and borrowing patterns,\u201d Kantrowitz said. \u201cThe higher-cost colleges that have the least generous financial aid [are] going to be the most impacted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Itzkowitz says that the new earnings provision actually is exactly what students are asking for: \u201cIf you speak to any [college] student \u2026 they will want to earn more than someone that has a high school diploma. They would probably [not] want to attend a program if the majority of students can\u2019t even earn that amount.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Andrew Gillen, an educational researcher at the Cato Institute, says the changes from the Big Beautiful Bill \u201cdon\u2019t go far enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could still have programs that just barely increase their graduates\u2019 earnings but load them up with so much debt that it\u2019s still a terrible financial investment for the student and for the taxpayer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Yes, it might be uncomfortable or even emotional for some in academia to acknowledge that many degrees, particularly in the humanities, are poor investments for many students. But it\u2019s time we confront that truth so that students can make informed decisions about their futures.<\/p>\n

The student loan system enabled by the federal government spent years foisting debt onto teenagers who were told that college is the singular pathway to success, without ever asking whether the programs accomplished what they promised.<\/p>\n

Predictably, schools raised tuition, passed the bill over to the taxpayer, and buried kids in debt that they can\u2019t repay. That\u2019s why more and more young people are concluding that college simply isn\u2019t worth it and dismissing the value of education altogether.<\/p>\n

More responsible federal lending can prevent young people from throwing the baby out with the bathwater and help us reach a healthier middle ground \u2014 where colleges have a duty to make their product worth it, and students can pursue education with the confidence that they\u2019ll be better off for it.<\/p>\n

Read more Heated USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino takes out frustrations on water bottles after second Belgium goal<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students will no longer be able to take out federal loans to pay for degree programs that fail to provide them a return on investment, thanks to a new federal policy that went into effect on July 1. 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