While it's easy to shame the sleazy loan servicers, the problem has been caused by easy credit for students. Colleges should require much large down-payments, and they should be a lower price. College unions have encouraged inflation of prices, college officials have spent billions on infrastructure that could be used to keep prices low. Until the easy flow of student loan money is choked off, we can not solve the education crisis facing our country.
"Students attend college for different reasons."
Generally as we head into the 2018-19 School Year, many school districts will be dealing with declining student enrollment, leading to many teacher positions becoming unfilled and staff being moved around. Some of this has to do with the population declines in the state, and the aging of the state's population -- fewer people are having children and more people are leaving the state. Reds represent a heavy loss in projected student population while greens represent a large percentage gain in student population.
Data Source: NYSED, 2018-2019 New York State Property Tax Report Card. http://www.p12.nysed.gov/mgtserv/propertytax/
This map shows the Total School Aid given to schools, excluding Building Aid and Reorganization Incentives. Greens and blues represent a decrease in aid compared to last year, while oranges and reds represent an increase in aid. As much aid funding is dependent on the number of students in the schools, many schools with declining aid also have a declining student population.
Data Source: NYSUT. Enacted Budget Profile. https://www.nysut.org/~/media/files/nysut/news/2018/201819enactedbudgetprofile.xlsx?la=en
"Academics and administrators also sense the importance of signaling, even if they won't admit it. Why else would they bother to combat cheating? If school were merely a place for students to invest in their skills, cheaters would literally "only be cheating themselves," spending time and tuition for naught. If, however, school is primarily a place to convince firms you're worthy of employment, cheating has a slew of victims. The cheater who successfully impersonates a good student doesn't just rip off whoever hires him. He also taints the prospects of all his peers who toiled for their degrees."
It varies in our state on how much local schools are funded via local property taxes versus state aid. Generally, downstate and more affluent suburbs rely more on local property taxes then upstate communities. The school districts in the Adirondack Park and Catskill Park are heavily reliant on property taxes -- but they also receive significant amounts of aid in form of property taxes paid on state land in those school districts.